John 3:9-15
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him."
The Gospel of John especially used the story of Moses lifting up the snake in the desert to foreshadow Jesus Christ being crucified for us, so that whoever believes in him will receive eternal life. At that time, the Israelites were complaining against God in the desert. God sent fiery snakes to bite them. When the Israelites pleaded with God, God commanded Moses to make a bronze snake and lift it up, so that whoever lift up their eyes to gaze at the bronze snake can be healed and restored. This bronze snake symbolizes Jesus Christ because the bronze snake looks like a snake on the outside, but there is no poison on the inside. In the same way, Jesus Christ came into the world to become a man, he has the image of man, but inside he has no sin. Thus, he can become our Savior.
There are a couple of conditions for the Israelite to be healed from the fiery snake bite. First, the person needs to know he got bit. If the person doesn't know he got bit, he doesn't need to lift up his eyes to gaze at the bronze snake. In the same way, when we come before God, if we don't recognize our sins, then there is no way we can come before Jesus Christ. And we won't feel we need to come before Jesus Christ. We need to see the condition of sin that we live in so that we can turn around to come to Jesus Christ. Second, the person needs to know that he can't depend on himself to be saved. The one who was bitten by the fiery snake knows that the only way to be healed is to lift up his eyes to gaze at the bronze snake, as God says. In the same way, for you and me in the midst of sin, we can't depend on our own power to overcome the sin, or depend on any of our good deeds to save ourselves.
Third and finally, the person bitten by the fiery snake needs to gaze by faith. He needs to take the obedient action to look up and gaze to be saved. When we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to also take such action. We need to turn to Jesus Christ, look up and gaze on him, open up our hearts to receive him to enter into our life. Only when we have this kind of obedient action, can we be saved from the control of sin. Hallelujah! May the Spirit of the Lord help us. May our faith be strengthened by God's word!
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