FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
September 3
CHRIST UPLIFTED: ‘BEHOLD THE SON OF MAN’- NOT THE ‘MAN OF SIN’! (Part 17)
“Nicodemus saw that the MOST RIGID obedience to the MERE LETTER of the law as applied to the OUTWARD LIFE could entitle no man to enter into heaven. In the estimation of MEN, his life had been just and honorable: but in the PRESENCE of CHRIST he felt that his HEART was unclean, and his LIFE unholy.
“Nicodemus was being DRAWN to Christ. As the Savior explained to him concerning the NEW BIRTH, he LONGED to have this change wrought in himself. BY WHAT MEANS COULD IT BE ACCOMPLISHED?
“Jesus answered the unspoken question: ‘As Moses LIFTED UP the serpent on the wilderness, even so must the SON Of MAN BE LIFTED UP: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3: 14, 15.
Here was ground where Nicodemus was familiar. The SYMBOL OF THE UPLIFTED SERPENT made plain to him the Savior’s mission. When the people of ISRAEL were dying from the sting of the fiery serpents, God directed Moses to make a serpent of brass [not gold, silver, or any precious stones], and place it on HIGH in the MIDST of the congregation. Then the word was sounded throughout the encampment that ALL WHO SHOULD LOOK upon the serpent SHOULD LIVE.
“The people well knew that IN ITSELF the serpent had no power to help them. It was a SYMBOL of Christ. As the image made in the LIKENESS OF THE DESTROYING SERPENT was LIFTED UP for their healing, so One made ‘IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH’ was to be made their Redeemer. Rom. 8: 3.
Many of the Israelites had regarded the sacrificial service as having as having IN ITSELF VIRTUE to set them free from SIN. God desired to teach them that it had NO MORE VALUE THAN THE SERPENT OF BRASS.
“It was to lead their MINDS to the Savior [the Son of man/Son of God]. Whether for the healing of their WOUNDS or the PARDON [forgiveness] of their sins, they could do NOTHING for themselves but show their FAITH in the Gift of God. THEY WERE TO LOOK AND LIVE.” – The Desire of Ages, E. G. White, pp. 174, 175, New Edition, 13th printing, April 1950, Pacific Press Publishing Asso.
(To be continued). Bless all, NMF.