"Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live."
This can't have been easy. They must Look on the very death which sin brings upon them. Yet in that acknowledgement they are able to find freedom and life. There is no way to look without acknowledging their guilt. There is no way to receive healing without first coming to terms with the problem. They acknowledge God's judgment and receive life in exchange.
The specific problem of the disobediance of Israel in the desert is symptomatic of the larger problems of sin and death which plague humanity from Adam until today. We must wait for God to hold up the new sign for us to look upon. We can't just look at the serpents. They are just symptoms. We must wait for the action of God.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
On our own we never fully come to terms with the problem. We never see it in the depths of depravity that truly define it. This is why the Son of Man is lifted up. He is innocent and offered out of love for mankind. We now see our own sin and selfishness in the stark relief of the purity and innocence of the Lamb of God. And this would certainly be too much for us to bear were it not an invitation of love, forgiveness, and life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
Because the cross is lifted up we are able to trust and believe in the God who loves us so much. We can see beyond the results of our own failures and hope in his salvation. We celebrate the wonderful humility that makes this possible.
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
We lift high the cross. We gaze upon him whom we have pierced. We join with every tongue in heaven, on earth, and under the earth to proclaim:
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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