Christian Living

Lifted with Christ

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
01/15/21
Free to Share
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (John 12:32)

Many commentaries that I have read compare these words of Jesus to the bronze snake that Moses had placed on a pole. “And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.” (Numbers 21:9) They have made good use of it by comparing it to Israel’s people who had been bitten by the serpents. The serpent bite made the people sick, and many of them died. The Lord God had Moses place a bronze snake on a poll that the people could look up to and in faith be healed. The comparison is that when we look to Jesus on the cross and believe that He died in our place for the sins we have committed, we too can be healed from our sin sickness.

For this Easter season, we will look at another interpretation of what Jesus was saying to Jerusalem’s people during the Passover celebration and the week of His crucifixion. When we look at the cross of Christ, we see provision for three objects, judgment for the world, the prince of this world rejected, and the souls of men drawn to Christ.

Since Genesis 3, we have known that it was God’s purpose to send Himself as a man in the person of His Son Jesus to be the Lamb of God. The only perfect unblemished sacrifice to take the burden of the world’s sin upon Himself. It was the only way to fulfill the law that the wage of sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

As a man without sin, Jesus was judged for the world’s sin placed upon Him and was condemned in our place. That is the true measure of His love for you, I, and humanity that He would take the punishment and carry the burden of our guilt to the Roman cross and destroy it there with His life. If humanity continues to sin, they will see, as clearly as if it were on them, their eternal doom. We have seen the movie “The Passion,” we have seen the artwork of Jesus on the cross, and we know the suffering that He took in our place. I cannot understand or imagine how a sinner can be so deluded that he will escape that horror when he sees the Son of God hanging on the cross in his place.

The thief on the cross next to Jesus saw the realization of the truth he was to face. He was convicted and knew without the sacrifice of Jesus; he was condemned. Jesus knew that from that day on, humanity would be convinced of the judgment of their sin. The Law of God could not save a soul, and the mercies and judgments of God could not. As broken like the heart of Jesus must have been bearing the sins of the world, He must have also been exalted knowing that humanity now would see their hope for salvation turning to God through Him.

The god of this world whose empire humanity now resides in tempts and rules over humanity’s hearts and minds and is not shakable by humanity’s lone will. Jesus has directly paid the debt Satan has enabled man to pile upon himself, has now been dethroned; God predicted this with the promise of His Word. “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15) This rejection of this world’s god is gained by us when Satan is banished from our hearts.

Christ has given us the power of the Holy Spirit who comes into the heart, renews the mind, and turns the spirit of men from the power of Satan to the power of God. “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Our escape is in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit provides powerful motives to turn from our sin through the conviction of God’s truths and the realization of sins great dangers to us. He endeavors believers to the Savior who died to reconcile us to God and therefore weans us from our sinful desires. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the powerful help of the love of God that inspires our faith in His Word and secures our hope.

By His mercy and grace, the repentant is drawn to the Savior by greater love than ever before known. Thus equipping us to serve the Lord for His good pleasure is a wondrous purpose for living the abundant life through Christ. He is our creator and sets us on our course to calculate the path and enable us to accomplish the work set before us. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Humanity is not compelled to come to Jesus but drawn by the attraction of His pure love. His offer of salvation and eternal life in His Kingdom is not only for the Jew but for all of humanity. But most importantly, His call is for you. “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 2:6)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, March 7, 2019