DAY 4: HE WAS LIFTED UP TO SAVE US
Numbers 21:9, John 3:14-17
I found a snake in my backyard once. I froze. The snake was only about 12 inches long, and I like to think of myself as a rational adult, but it was a snake. They slither and roll and rear up. And this tiny snake did all those things.
In Numbers 21, the Israelites found themselves surrounded by snakes because of their disobedience. In fear and desperation, they recognized their sins and cried out for relief. God told Moses to make a bronze image of a snake, and “whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered” (Numbers 21:9).
It seems strange that this was God’s remedy. An image of a snake? But in John 3:14-15, this imagery is recalled: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” The Son of Man submitted to the cross – lifted up in death – that we might look on Him and live.
So often, we freeze in the face of the slithering sins that slip into our lives. We think – like I did in the face of that tiny snake — that we should be able to outwit them. But the invitation of Jesus — the One lifted up for us — is to look on Him and find forgiveness, healing, and relief. Find life.
REFLECTION
- When you recognize a sin in your life, what is your initial reaction? Do you try to hide it, overcome it, or “fix” it in some way?
- Ask the Lord now if there is any sin in your life that He is inviting you to confess and repent of. Remember that it is His kindness that leads us to repentance, that we might look on Him and live!
- Confess that sin to the Lord. Thank Him for His forgiveness. And ask Him to fill you with the power of His Holy Spirit so that you can walk in freedom and obedience.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you that you love us so completely that you were willing to die the death that we deserved in order to offer us the eternal life that You desire for us to have. Thank you for being willing to be lifted up in death so we might look upon You and live. I love you and I long to walk more freely and obediently in Your ways.
