John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
This passage of scripture was spoken to Nicodemus in response to his earnest desire to know more about Christ. The reference Christ here made is of the experience of the Hebrews, when after an episode of unwarranted murmuring and complaining, poisonous serpents invaded their tents, and very many of them were bitten. In order to stem the tide of fatalities, God instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent and to mount it on a pole, so that everyone who was bitten could look and live. Let's read:
Numbers 21:8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
In our day all of us have been bitten by the real serpent, even satan, in some way or another. Some have been bitten with drugs and alcohol, while others have been bitten by pride and materialism. Many others have been bitten by adultery in its varied forms, while others have been bitten by slander, gossip and evil speaking. Regardless of the type of sting we received, one thing is certain, we will need to look to Jesus and live, for if we presume to find our own remedies for the deadly sting of the serpent, its venom will certainly take its toll, for only Christ is the antidote for sin.
Looking to Jesus therefore means that we are to set aside quality time each day to study His life and character as it is written in the scriptures, and as we do, we become saturated with His own life-giving Spirit, against which, no venom or weapon stands a chance of hurting us. This does not mean that we will be exempt from trials and temptations, just because we look and live. What it means is that we will be strengthened with might in the inner man to fight the good fight of faith, and if God be for us who can be against us?. The apostle Paul rightly put the experience of "looking and living" in its proper context. Let's read:
2nd Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
In our day we are bombarded on every side with distractions and glitter that often tend to remove our focus off of Christ. Our Jobs, our entertainment, our social life, our finances, our retirement, our education, our television screens, and even our charitable deeds, can cause us not to look and live, if we allow them to absorb all of our interest and energies, and therefore it is of the utmost importance that every Christian ask God everyday to give us the will and the discipline to keep on looking to Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture that encourages us to study the character and life of Christ on a daily basis, and if we do, there will be continuous change for the better in our lives. Let's read:
2nd Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
May the Lord enable us to keep on looking, for by so doing we will keep on growing. God bless!