Lift’em High Up!!

“No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”                                                                                                                         John 3:13-15 (ESV)

I recently spent a Saturday afternoon at a Christian Life and Ministry conference in Allentown, PA. and sat in on a seminar on “How to Become a Caring Staff Pastor or Ministry Leader” that was led by Pastor Scott Weldon of the Bethany Wesleyan Church in Cherryville, PA. He told us how to develop a statement concerning your role as you support your Senior Pastor. He shared with us that his was to keep the Senior Pastor’s hands lifted up. I immediately thought of how Moses’ hands had been lifted up and supported by Aaron and Hur as Joshua battled against Amalek. (Exodus 17)
I also thought about how Moses lifted the bronze serpent up…”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.” (Numbers 21:8) The verse falls right in line with the verse I am using for this Freedom Fighter today. In the story of the bronze serpent the manna was running out of ways to prepare it (Manna Burgers?) and the people were growing weary of wandering around Edom. They complained, God sent fiery serpents, they bit people, Israel repented and Moses made a bronze serpent head, placed it on a pole so that all who looked at it lived.

Now move forward to where we find Jesus having His infamous discourse with Nicodemus in which Jesus would reveal that the Cross would be His Messianic Throne. “So must the Son of Man be lifted up” is its announcement and He is making something known. As the bronze serpent healed when it was lifted up so will it be when He is lifted up at the Place of a Skull. It will be by the virtue of His death that will bring a new life to all who would confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart’s that God raised Him from the dead. For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

It strikes me as funny how what has been lifted up high in Heaven was willing to descend down to rub elbows with us. Does it originate out of God’s love for a disobedient world? Does it hinge on saving the lost race of the first Adam? Does it find its root in Abraham’s giving of Isaac, a son whom he loved? We can answer with a solid “YES” here but the view is much vaster than that. Dr. George R. Beasley-Murray wrote, “If the purpose of the mission of the Son is that people may live and not be lost, the possibility of both destinies is clearly implied, and God in His love stands behind both.”

As I think this stuff all the way through, I come to this conclusion. True righteousness gets lifted up each and every time. As Pastor Scott was saying we do what we do without our own agenda’s when we serve in ministry. That can be extended to those who are in the pew every Sunday, who are at Wednesday night prayer group and attend Bible Studies. We are all there to help lift up and hold up righteousness and that righteousness can only be found when we first lift up the Cross before us and we hold it in our sights each and every day. As individuals our strength to do it my falter but with a rock for a seat and with our fellowship in Christ victory is at hand. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter Blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Job 17-19; 1 Corinthians 7:1-19

Quote of the day:  “God prepares a Cross for you that you must embrace without thought of self-preservation.”—Fenelon

Bible Memory: The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words. I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. Psalm 119:57-58