Lifted Up

 

This morning on the deck, in the cool summer morning air, after completing my  fitness walk and getting my first mug of steaming coffee, I turned to my Women of Faith Devotional Bible and decided to read some Scriptures based in both the Old and New Testaments about the healing power of God.  Spiritual healing. 

First was Numbers 21: An easy, short  summary of this is:

The Jewish people...those Israelites, who were being led out of Egypt by Moses (A Christ type in the Old Testament as we know) were complaining about how hard they had it. They were being ungrateful, angry and not willing at all to trust in God. To trust in the path He was laying out before them. So God had sent snakes to bite them. This was God's judgement on them. 

But God, because He is loving, merciful and hears our cries, reached out to Moses and told him to lift up a pole; and God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on the pole  for the people to look at.  They needed to believe that if they looked at this pole with the bronze snake,  that they would be healed of their snakebites. 

Then in John 3: 14-15, Jesus is explaining that the Son of Man (the Son of God....Jesus Himself) would be lifted up on a pole (the Cross at Calvary) and our sins would be washed away if we believed in Him.  That we won't perish but will have eternal life. Satan (the serpent) was defeated at the Cross!! This is our ultimate spiritual healing: eternal life.  All we have to do is accept that Jesus is the Son of God, believe that He died for our sins, and Confess those sins and ask Him to make us clean (be "born again").  This leads to our eternal life. 

Just like God the Father heard the cries for mercy that the Israelites cried, so too does He hear our cries for mercy and forgiveness. And with His everlasting Love, when we repent of those sins, He washes us clean. Our sins are removed from us.  

And three days later....

He is alive! and He's coming back on a white horse riding!

Who are you lifting up today? the serpent (the road that leads to hell) ....or the Savior?? (the road that leads to Heaven)