Monday, December 10, 2007

Did Jesus NEED to die on the cross?


An excellent question, one that well deserves a careful consideration. 1. Where does one begin?
2. In what sense do we mean, “need” to die?
3. Did Jesus need to die? And if he did…
4. Did he need to die on the cross?
5. Is there more than one reason why he should die?


1. Where does one begin?

If we believe the scriptures speak authoritively, (and we trust this interpretation) we could put forward a case like this: According to our understanding of the nature of God we accept there are certain characteristics that are intrinsic to Him. We trust the Bible because we believe God can speak, and has spoken to us, and we trust his ability to make known to us what he pleases. So we trust and affirm the certainty of knowing even while we admit that we may or may not know certainly but by degree. We trust his word because we believe of all natures He cannot be deceived, thus ensuring its trustworthiness in as far as we are confident it is His word, trustworthiness in as far as we trust his benevolence toward us and thus does not wish to deceive us. We speak thus of his omniscience. All knowing.
Fundamental to his nature also is the omnipotence of God. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia- Omnipotence (literally, "all power") is power with no limits i.e. unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to God. One aspect of his omnipotence is to be comprehended in his ability (power) to make himself known, heard and understood.
Given these assumptions are true (omnipotence and omniscience) based on correctly interpreting his word and assuming he has made known to us to a degree of certainty that we may live by- it may be well to pause here and anticipate an objection. “Surely this is going round in circles? We trust him because he is all-knowing, all-powerful and benevolent. How do we know these things? Because he has told us so. How do we know he has told us so? Because his word tells us these things! Why should we trust in his benevolence, all knowing all power? etc, etc.
The point being that circular reasoning doesn’t necessarily lead us to a false conclusion. It may in fact introduce us into truths, which we would otherwise dismiss. The one who says, “Trust me” and when asked, “Why should I?” replies “ Because I am trustworthy” is indeed invoking circular reasoning- but is not necessarily telling an untruth. In fact the answer given may underlie the importance and value he is placing on trust and risk, as opposed to the need for certainty. Anyway I digress!

  • Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. (Isaiah 46:10,11)
    These verses (if you will trust them and the interpretation that Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God) testify to the all knowing and all powerful nature of God. But they do more also. They also reveal a necessary corollary of “knowing” and “potency” in the aformentioned senses, and that is of “will”. What would be the virtue of an all knowing, all powerful benevolent God that did not have a “will” to be the executor of these powers? And so we comprehend the personhood of God and more. He not only knows all, and has the potential to do all, he has a plan and it shall happen as he planned it, and neither the will of nature exemplified in the ravenous bird from the east nor the will of the man from a far country will nullify his plan but do, by their contingent wills, accomplish the council of God. This statement is so emphatic that it is repeated no less than three times in different forms:
    · My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure
    · yea, I have spoken I will also bring it to pass;
    · I have purposed it, I will also do it

    Neither is there a valid distinction made between the ability of God to order the universe how he has planned in general and how he ordains the universe as it exists in relation to salvation; as this scripture would have us know- (Isaiah 59:1) Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (There is no warrant for believing that the omnipotent God has limited himself in any general sense with regard to salvation.)

    2. In what sense do we mean, “need” to die?

    Sometimes the quickest way home is the long way round! Given all the above, when it is written “…the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35) We have Jesus’s own validation that not only is it the inspired word of God but as such according to God’s own nature the scriptures are irrefutably true and it follows that the prophetic utterences therein must come to pass. This is the basis on which these things also are written: (Matthew 26:54) But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? Here Christ rebukes the disciple who drew his sword trying to prevent his arrest and subsequent crucifixion. He was rebuked on the basis that it was wrong to contradict the purpose and plan of God and that as such it had to happen, this and other scriptures establish the necessity for Christ to die from the perspective of God’s omnipotence, and faithfulness to fulful his word. Similarly Peter was rebuked for his remarks contradictiong Jesus when he fortold the manner of his future death :Mth 16:16-23.
    (Mark 14:21) The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him:..
    (Matthew 26:56) But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
    (Mark 15:28)And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
    His infamous association with the convicts crucified with him.
    (Luke 18:31) Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. (Luke 18:32) For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: (Luke 18:33) And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
    (Luke 24:46) And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved
    (was necessary for) Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: Christ explaining the necessity of his death from the perspective of prophecy coming to pass.


    3. Did Jesus Need to Die?

    So in order for God to be true, and true to his word, and also that Christ be verified as the living incarnate Word of God (and thereby fulfilling the criteria common to the divine nature) his own spoken references to his death needed to be fulfilled as he uttered it. Christ needed to die and die in the manner he himself foretold.
    (John 18:31) Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: (John 18:32) That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.

    Again in John 3:14 where Jesus spoke these words: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: With these words Christ anticipated his imminent and foreordained death by crucifixion. As the brazen serpent fixed upon the wooden stake or staff represented the curse of sin so Christ who hung on the crucifying tree became the curse on our behalf- "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cor5: 21) and "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, ‘cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:’” Galatians 3:13.Of interest here is to note who was responsible for lifting up the serpent on the tree; Moses of course, and who, or rather what is his office? Moses is most notably the lawgiver, and Christ, made of a woman under the law was condemned by the law, and the law exacted a full price even to the uttermost for the sin that He carried there. It is fitting therefore that the law of God is the reason Christ is lifted up on the cross, and Moses the lawgiver lifts Christ, represented by the serpent, up. So it is entirely in keeping with the idea of redemption and substitution that Christ should be represented albeit in primitive form, by the serpent hanging on a “tree” depicted in this passage. (See also http://struth-his-or-yours.blogspot.com/2007/12/brazen-serpent.html for fuller account)
    Jesus is also represented as the sacrificial lamb prefigured in the Passover Lamb. (Revelation 13:8) And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
    (See also Acts 2:22,23 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:)

    (Matthew 20:28) Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

    4. Did Jesus need to die on the Cross?

    From the point of prophecy fulfilment alone it is clear that Christ was destined for the cross- It must needs be…This saying of Jesus is observed in Matthew 20:17- And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, (Matthew 20:18) Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, (Matthew 20:19) And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
    Also-
    And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, (Matthew 26:2) Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
    5. Is there more than one reason why he should die?

    In summary then Jesus needed to die:
  • In order that God is seen to tell the truth that Christ would appear in History and die an ignominious death.
  • In order that God is seen to tell the truth with regard to his omniscience- the lamb slain from the foundation of the world was “seen” by God from all eternity.
  • In order that God is seen to tell the truth with regard to his omnipotence- not only did God see Christ from all eternity but God also determined his future. God determines history. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
  • In order that the prophets who testified of the coming and suffering and resurrection of Christ were God inspired and therefore spoke the truth.
  • In order that Christ could demonstrate the truth of his unity with the father “I and my father are one” (John 10:30) there was a unity of purpose, (John 8:28,29)… I do nothing of myself; … for I do always those things that please him.
  • To reveal his divine nature. Not only was there a unity of purpose in Christ with the father, but unity of nature, demonstrated when Christ predicted with amazing accuracy the nature and circumstances of his own death and subsequent resurrection and it came to pass as he had said. (John 10:18) No man taketh it (his life) from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
  • In order to show his true humanity. The truth that Christ was indeed a man and suffered death like any other person.

    So far we have looked at the necessity of the crucifixion of Christ from the perspective of prophecy, and the character of God and Christ but we have said very little as regards to the overarching purpose of it all. In point of fact it could well be said that prophecy fulfilment and its subsequent reflection on the character of God is secondary to the purpose for which Christ came. Matthew 20:28 Gives us an insight as to why Christ came into the world- Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. The word minister has been so jargonised today but the original common usage meant to wait upon (as a servant). The word ransom is the Greek lutron {loo'-tron} Definitions: something to loosen with, i.e. a redemption price (figurative atonement): - ransom. (Strongs)One of the most powerful statements signifying the reason for his earthly appearance is found in the foretelling of the suffering Christ written approximately eight centuries before in Isaiah 53. …the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all he… (Christ) hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many[1]
    Both Mathew and Peter refer to the above passage in Isaiah. Peter is particularly cogent with regard to the purpose of Christ’s death on the cross (tree) 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. [2]
    While the word atonement (reconciliation) occurs only a few times in the New Testament the idea is expressed in many ways and by many of the N.T. writers. The system of atonement was well established in the Hebrew Bible and was almost invariably connected with the shedding of blood. The Old Testament concept of redemption is based on the person of the redeemer (go˒el) who had to be a free man himself, who was related by the flesh (a kinsman), and who was willing to pay the price of redemption in order to redeem one from slavery, orphanhood, or widowhood. In the book of Ruth we find this concept as it was practiced in the ancient agrarian culture of Israel illustrated. In the New Testament we see it fulfilled in the redemption which shall be accomplished by Jesus Christ who has become our Kinsman-Redeemer by means of His incarnation and His atonement[3]

    (Romans 3:25,26) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
    The main points of these two verses are: (1) God presented Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice, a propitiation. (2) This sacrifice was one of Christ’s blood. (3) It is appropriated to the sinner by faith. (4) The sacrifice was necessary because in the past God had not fully punished sin. (5) It was also necessary to validate the justice of God. (6) This sacrifice demonstrated that it is God who justifies those who have faith in Jesus Christ.
    God hath set forth to be a propitiation. The Bible is filled with types, which foreshadow future persons or events, and antitypes, which are the real person or events foreshadowed. The type is the arrow; the antitype is the target.
    One of the most unique types in the Old Testament is the mercy seat. This was the lid on the ark of the covenant and was covered with gold. At each end was a golden cherub, whose wings stretched toward the center of the lid. The ark was the meeting place between God and man. It contained the tablets of the Mosaic law (Ex 25:16–22). Therefore, the mercy seat was that which covered the law of God.
    When the translation of the Hebrew Old Testament was made into Greek, which is called the Septuagint, the Greek word chosen to translate “mercy seat” (Heb kaphorah) was hilastērion which means “the place of propitiation.” To propitiate means to appease an offended party and the hilastērion (mercy seat) was the place where, by blood, the sins of Israel were atoned, the penalty paid, and wrath of God (the offended party) was appeased. It is certainly no coincidence that the word Paul uses here to describe Jesus Christ is the same word used for “mercy seat,” the hilastērion. Jesus Christ is our mercy seat. He is the person by whom our sins were atoned, our penalty paid, and the offended party appeased. Jesus Christ is where God meets man.
    [4]





    c laid...: Heb. made the iniquity of us all to meet on him
    [1] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995, S. Is 53:12
    i on: or, to
    [2] The Holy Bible : King James Version. electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version. Bellingham WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995, S. 1 Pe 2:24-25
    [3] KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 1385
    [4] KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 2222

Sunday, December 9, 2007

The Brazen Serpent













“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”John 12:32

It was while Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus that the subject of the lifting up of Christ, appeared. We recall that he had been speaking of the spiritual birth necessary in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Then there was the rebuke "are you a master of Israel and know not these things..." "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" In another place a little further on, it is written "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" There are two important things to note here, Moses wrote of Christ, therefore he knew Him. How? Since Messiah had not yet come in the flesh, these words signify that Moses in the Spirit saw the Messiah to come, he understood the spiritual significance of the Paschal Lamb, the serpent on a pole, to mention but two of many old testament figures or types of the Messiah. The second thing of note here is: that if it was reasonable to expect "a master of Israel" to know these things as Jesus implied, and he did not, then why did he not know? How could it be that a master of Israel did not know what should have been evident? Incredibly the answer to that question lies in the statement Jesus first confronted Nicodemus with. As if to say here comes a man, and I know what he is, and what his questions will lead to, I will give him the answer before he has even asked the question. I refer to Jesus’ statement "Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." To borrow from St Paul's' writings in 1 Corinthians 2:14: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned". So here then is the answer to Jesus' question -(how shall ye believe my words?), the earthly man can only know earthly things, spiritual knowledge is only seen or perceived by spiritually renewed people. Nicodemus needed spiritual re-birth, to see, not only the significance of Jesus’ words, but even the mystery hidden as it were, in the words of Moses whom he professed to follow.
Mathew Henry in his great commentary says this about the passage: “Nicodemus, as others of the Jews, valued himself, no doubt, very much on his first birth and its dignities and privileges,--the place of it, the Holy Land, perhaps the holy city,--his parentage, such as that which Paul could have gloried in, Phil. 3. 5. And therefore it is a great surprise to him to hear of being born again. Could he be better bred and born than bred and born an Israelite, or by any other birth stand fairer for a place in the kingdom of the Messiah? Indeed they looked upon a proselyted Gentile to be as one born again or born anew, but could not imagine how a Jew, a Pharisee, could ever better himself by being born again;” (emphasis mine) See the irony here! Jesus is speaking the unthinkable- that a master of Israel should himself become a proselyte to enter the true Israel. Let this speak to all who mistake religion for the truth or who hold the shadow of things as if they were the things themselves.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (Jn3: 14)


“If Moses is not understood here…”


This is a call to all who are followers of Moses to see and understand and obey what the significance of this event means. If Moses is not understood here, then He who was to come after him will not be known either...
So we return then, to our theme of the lifting up of Christ as pre-figured by Moses lifting up the serpent on a pole in the wilderness.
(Numbers21:1-9). And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said. If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanitess; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah. And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the
Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said. We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

You recall the serpents were biting the people and they were dying. God sent the serpents because of their speaking against God and his anointed, Moses. The serpents represented what? The serpents were the result of their sin - the sting of the serpent meant certain death, the wages of sin is death. The certainty of death; the inescapable consequence of sin is the mark of a curse. What curse? The same one that relates to Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was first, in this garden, that the curse of sin and its relationship to the serpent were inextricably linked. And so also, as the serpent first appeared here, so also Christ: " And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed (Christ); it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel", (Genesis 3). It first appears here also that Christ, hidden as it were in the word 'seed', should be Gods' answer to reversing the curse. But not, it may be seen, without some cost to himself as evident in the phrase 'thou shall bruise his heel. Some translations render the word 'bruise' in the case of the serpent as 'crush', giving the sense of a mortal wound, and in the case of the seed, 'bruise' became 'strike'. Both senses are supported in the original language. This is indeed a developing theme throughout the Old Testament reaching its' climax perhaps in the remarkable detail of Isaiah's prophecies of the suffering servant.

“he that is hanged is accursed of God”

We arrive then, through the ages, to that day in the wilderness where serpents struck the people and they died. Having realized their state, they appealed to Gods' mercy through Moses, who was already well established as a mediator between God and man and so was a type of the Messiah; -The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; Deuteronomy 18:15 (emphasis mine) It is worthy of note here that as Mathew Henry points out this was the last miracle of Moses just as the Messiah also gave the last and greatest miracle-that of healing and eternal cure for the curse and sting of the serpents venom- at the end on the tree.
The people asked that the serpents be taken away- God in his wisdom provided a better way. The serpents remain, just as the law of sin and death, (the curse) remains to this day. But God willing to show his mercy and yet upholding justice has provided a way- the way- Christ. Paul relates in Galatians 3:13,
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, ‘cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:’...". And who but Moses should testify to this fact in Deuteronomy 21: 22,23, who also relates the circumstances surrounding the fiery serpents.
“And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” Also of interest here is to note who was responsible for lifting up the serpent on the tree; Moses of course, and who, or rather what is his office? Moses is most notably the lawgiver, and Christ, made of a woman under the law was condemned by the law, and the law exacted a full price even to the uttermost for the sin that He carried there. It is fitting therefore that the law of God is the reason Christ is lifted up on the cross, and Moses the lawgiver lifts Christ, represented by the serpent, up. So it is entirely in keeping with the idea of redemption and substitution that Christ should be represented albeit in primitive form, by the serpent hanging on a “tree” depicted in this passage.
It is expedient here to point out that it was not only Christ who is represented here in the serpent but
“in Christ shall all be made alive”Adam and all his posterity.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (I Corinthians. 15:22)So through Adam we have all carried the curse, we all bear the stamp of the serpent from generation to generation irrespective of race, color, status or any other external thing. Sin is the great leveler. It was as if, when Adam, our progenitor sinned, a change took place, so deep and far-reaching it could almost be described as genetic. We were sold to sin, shut up to it forever. In light of this, we understand how Christ is referred to as the last Adam, or second Adam. Jesus is the progenitor or firstborn of a new breed in a manner of speaking, and the change is as deep and as far-reaching, in fact eternal. And here lies the foundation for the phrase, "born again". “The first Adam earthy, the last, spiritual, who is Christ.” (l Corinthians.15: 45) On this premise we see that both Adam, with all his posterity, and Christ and all of his, are here represented in the serpent. The difference between a serpent of flesh and the brazen serpent on the tree is a difference in nature but not in form. That is to say "... .Jesus took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men", taking upon himself human nature and yet his nature was also divine, "being in the form ofGod".(Phill2:6,7,8)
In 1 John 3:8-10 we read:
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
He hath made Him to be sin for us

We understand that there are essentially only two generations of man, any other differences and divisions are superficial and mere labels, only these "descendants" are of any consequence. In other words there are only two progenitors or spiritual fathers that ever existed God or the devil. "And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. "(Num21:8) Also embodied wonderfully in this early micro gospel, is the idea of grace, as opposed to works, the idea of justification entirely the work of God. What works were required of the bitten ones, what ceremonial cleansing, what ancient rites were necessary? None, None at all! "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole. And it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Look and live, that is all, look and live. They say seeing is believing and so it is. Look with the eyes of faith and live. Behold oh accursed one, do you feel the sting of sin, is the bondage of the curse heavy upon you? Look on Him who was so covered and wrapped up in the sins of the world, nay not of the world generally only, but yours too, specifically. See how He who knew no guile became so completely enveloped in the poison of the world. He was not merely covered with sin -"He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cor5: 21) And so it behooved Christ to appear figuratively as the serpent on the tree. So completely was He identified with the curse, we may begin to comprehend the heartfelt cry, "My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me" as God turned his face from his beloved- the darling of Heaven. Mathew Henry writes-“He was lifted up as a spectacle, as a mark, lifted up between heaven and earth, as if he had been unworthy of either and abandoned by both. He was lifted up to the Father's right hand, to give repentance and remission; he was lifted up to the cross, to be further lifted up to the crown… He that sent the plague provided the remedy. None could redeem and save us but he whose justice had condemned us… He whom we have offended is our peace..” Do you feel this? Look and live. Does this have some meaning for you; is there a sense that it was on your behalf he did this? Look and live. Rejoice for your name is written in heaven! Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but your Father in Heaven. Why me, you say? For even so, it seemed good in His sight.
Today the strange relationship between the serpent and healing is epitomized in the symbols used in medicine, that of a staff with a serpent entwined around it. May God grant all who come across it, the grace to see the true significance of it. Amen.