and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.
Jesus you take the saraph sting of death and mount it on the cross. You save us from this curse. You "redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole"" (cf. Gal. 3:13).
We cannot follow you as you do this. We belong to what is below and we only see things in terms of the world as it is. We only see things discolored by the curse because we have never known anything else. But as you take this path you are not going to kill yourself. To those of us who belong to this world it looks that way at first. The cross looks like defeat. But you reveal something beyond the curse of sin and death. Only you can do this. It has to be you.
When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
It has to be you Jesus. You are the one whom death cannot hold.
But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him (cf. Act. 2:24)
It isn't just that we see the curse lifted up and paraded before our eyes. It isn't just that the cross reveals a death. It shows forth the death of the one on whom death has no claim. It shows forth the curse upon the one who by rights is free from the curse. It is an "indestructible life" that dies on the cross (cf. Heb. 7:16). We see the one whom the curse cannot best. We see the one whom death cannot defeat. We realize that you are indeed the great I AM. You are the one with the power to say, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:55).
Even while you are still hanging on the cross in agony we can see your victory. Something about the freedom and obedience with which you accept this suffering shows that you can only be who you say you are.
This empowers us to say to you, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" (cf. Luk. 23:42). It helps us to say, "This man truly was the Son of God!" (cf. Mat. 27:54).
Jesus, help us to look upon the one whom we have pierced (cf. Joh. 19:37) and recognize the one that belongs to what is above. Teach us to see that you are I AM, doing only what the Father taught you.
Help us to believe this so that we do not die in our sins. This is why you are here. This is why you are lifted up. This is why you draw us to yourself.
Lord, we believe that you are I AM. We believe you are greater than the curse even as you endure it for us. We begin to see beyond what is down below on this world to the things above. We begin to hope in the things above to save us from the curse of sin and death.
The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.
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