“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’ But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.”
The Gospel of Luke 20:13-16, NKJV
In our last study, we examined several passages showing that God’s beloved Son, Jesus both listened to, and obeyed God’s voice. We saw that in obeying God’s voice, Jesus fulfilled the “will” of the Father – not losing any (people) that the Father gave Him, but bequeathing them everlasting life and promising to raise them up on the last day. Notice the verbiage that He used – He would “raise them up” on the last day. This “raising” will be to Heavenly glory and eternal life (as we will see later). But in order to do that, Christ himself had to be “raised up” in fulfillment of this mission. Let’s explore this.
When we left the last study, I challenged my reader to discover the linkage between the above passage (a parable) and the following passage:
Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.
The Gospel of John 8:28-30, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Do you see it? Look what Jesus is saying in the parable: “But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.” Here, Jesus was describing what would ultimately happen to Himself – He would be killed by the vinedressers. Now look at what He said in the passage in John: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.” Still unclear? Maybe the following passage, where Jesus is speaking to a Jewish leader, Nicodemus, will help:
No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
The Gospel of John 3:13-17, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Notice the words that Jesus uses; these are the same words He used in our earlier passage: “so must the Son of Man be lifted up”. These words may seem to indicate the exaltation of the Son of Man – the act of raising Him up above all others. However; if we examine the context, we are actually given a clue to the more appropriate interpretation: “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness”. Was this a lifting up of exaltation? This was actually the subject of my second blog – the fiery serpent! Rather than revisit the entire study, I’ll simply recap. For further study, follow this link: The Fiery Serpent
The serpent that Jesus is referring to is found in the book of Numbers:
Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
The Book of Numbers, 21:4-9 NKJV
In scripture, the serpent is never an object worthy of exaltation. In fact, it is a symbol of the original fall (as the tempter) and God’s resulting curse. Similarly, hanging on a tree (as was symbolized by the pole) was also a symbol of curse:
“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.
The book of Deuteronomy 21:22-23, NKJV
Notice that this curse is the worst kind of all – he who hangs is “accursed of God”! Yet in the preceding passage, the people are instructed to look upon the serpent in order to live! Let’s see what God was showing His people:
Because of the peoples’ rejection of the will and goodness of God, He sent serpents (symbols of curse and sin) among them. With no other recourse, they cried to God for help. His plan? To give them a view of salvation. The serpent on the pole was a symbol of the curse – of sin in all its vile forms, whose resulting consequence is death. God wanted the people to look at their sin and curse – in order to live. Here is one of the strangest, and most obscure stories in the entirety of scripture. And if we did not have Jesus and the New Covenant to help us understand it, we might never recognize what God was portraying! God has actually given us the key to this passage in the New Testament:
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor) 5:20-21, NKJV
Did you see it? “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us…” Who is the only person that has ever lived that knew no sin? Jesus! What did He become? Sin! God was showing His people a beautiful picture (though grotesque to the eye, beautiful to the heart and soul) of their salvation through His redeeming Son! As the serpent (Sin) was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man (Jesus – who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God) be lifted up that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life! And what is the true will of God as seen in our last study? The will that His beloved Son, Jesus fulfilled? Jesus Himself answered this for us: “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Now, to this point, we have not really examined the idea of our being raised up. The assumption has been that this raising is a good and blessed result. But does the scripture say anything specific about this “raising up”? Let’s examine one passage regarding the concept:
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor) 15:50-57, NKJV
O Death, WHERE is your sting?? You are swallowed up in VICTORY! And we will be raised to GLORY!
Did Jesus have anything else to say about His being lifted up?
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
The Gospel of John 12:32-33, NKJV
By allowing Himself to be lifted up, and made to be sin and a curse for us to look upon, Jesus would draw all peoples to Himself! Why? “that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
So for us to be raised up to glory, Jesus had to be raised up as a curse! He did, indeed listen to His Father’s voice and obey it! What a strange way to save the World! Indeed, as so beautifully stated by the great evangelist, Paul,
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor) 1:18, NKJV
The very power of God!
Before we conclude this discussion, it is appropriate to examine two more passages. Jesus said that by being lifted up, He would draw all peoples to Himself. Who then did He mean? Is this really ALL peoples? The following passages will help us answer this most important question:
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
The Acts of the Apostles 5:30-31, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Paul’s letter to the Galations 3:13-14, NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Do you see it? Christ Jesus hung on the cursed tree (the cross) to draw both Israel and the Gentiles to Himself! This is truly ALL peoples! And as we leave the subject of Jesus’ obedience to the voice of God, I would like to humbly and in a spirit of God’s love, ask my readers, are you one of Jesus’ people? Have you looked to Him – voluntarily hanging on the cross for you – and believed? Are you free from the curse, made free by Jesus’ transformation into sin and His acceptance of the curse on your behalf? Have you indeed received everlasting life, to be raised up in glory on the last day? I pray that you have! Selah!
May God richly bless you in your study of His Word!
YouJi