Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.- Numb. xxi. 6 — 9.
"Soul, whoever thou art, that at any time art bitten with the guilt of sin, or by the prevalent working of any corruption; if thou wilt but look up to Jesus Christ with an eye of faith, thou mayest as certainly expect a cure to be wrought on thy soul as the Israelites, who, in looking up to the brazen serpent in the wilderness, might expect a cure to be done on their bodies. Therefore is salvation tendered upon this act of the soul, in looking up to Christ by an eye of faith, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth," Isa. xlv. 22.
"Therefore, O soul, have a care, thou dost not leave looking up to Christ; there is nothing else will or can damn thy soul, but thy not looking up to Christ, as a Saviour and Redeemer, and resting upon him alone for life and salvation, as one that is "able to save to the uttermost," as the apostle speaks in Heb. vii. 25."
Thomas Worden, The Types Unveiled. Chapter XV:THE BRAZEN SERPENT, ANOTHER TYPE GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS
John 3 is not only about the new birth and the work of the Holy Spirit.
John 3 is about the great things which have happened outside of us and our hearts, things in heaven and earth. John 3 is about Christ and His finished death.
Nobody has gone up to heaven but Christ. But Christ was not only lifted up to heaven but lifted up on the cross. As there is an analogy between the snake lifted up and Christ lifted up to die (just as, so the Son), the "God so loved the world" is not talking about how much but in what manner God has loved those who believe in Him. Christ's death is God's love, and the result of Christ's death is that those for whom Christ died do not PERISH.
John 3: 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have lasting eternal life.
16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son,so that as many as who believe in Him will not perish but have the lasting life of the age to come.
John 3 is not only about the new birth and the work of the Holy Spirit.
ReplyDeleteJohn 3 is about the great things which have happened outside of us and our hearts, things in heaven and earth. John 3 is about Christ and His finished death.
Nobody has gone up to heaven but Christ. But Christ was not only lifted up to heaven but lifted up on the cross. As there is an analogy between the snake lifted up and Christ lifted up to die (just as, so the Son), the "God so loved the world" is not talking about how much but in what manner God has loved those who believe in Him. Christ's death is God's love, and the result of Christ's death is that those for whom Christ died do not PERISH.
John 3: 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have lasting eternal life.
16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son,so that as many as who believe in Him will not perish but have the lasting life of the age to come.
Thanks, Mark!
ReplyDelete