Lifted Up

Throughout human existence, there have been various concepts of being healed, or, as the ancient languages are more properly translated, “being made whole”, for that is the proper sense of the ancient words we often translate as “heal” or “healing”. It is a more complete sense – and I think it is fairly easy to see the connection, for a person who is healed has been “made whole” in some sense. The ancients just looked a bit broader than we do today, looking not just at physical healing, but physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing as necessary to make a person whole and complete.

In addition, throughout history, people have looked at various ways that healing happens. At first, healing either happened or it didn’t happen. Then, men and women arrived who developed family recipes for healing drinks, food, and lotions. Other people said that to be sick meant we had upset certain gods, goddesses, or spirits, and sacrifices had to be made to those gods, goddesses or spirits.

Then, beginning seriously about 500 years ago, people began to look for natural causes of illness and the science of medicine began. Drugs and surgery have gradually become the healing method of choice. Yet mature medical doctors will tell you that they have seen healings that they simply can’t explain by science.

For, you see, since the Israelites came out of Egypt, there has been another method used to heal – in specific circumstances and specific places. That method assumes that many illnesses have spiritual roots, and a strong belief that God will heal us will cause actual healing.

In the Book of Numbers, after several small rebellions against the leadership of Moses and Aaron, Israel begins to attempt to move toward the Holy Land from the wilderness. The country of Edom blocked them with a large army, and another man, the king of Arad in the wilderness attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. The Israelites made a vow to God and wiped this country out. And so they proceeded to try to travel around Edom through the wilderness, as described in Numbers 21.

But the people were upset with the conditions. They complained, “There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Complain, complain. They complained enough the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them who bit the people and many of the people died. So the people came to Moses and said, “We sinned with our complaining. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed and God answered.

You see, the Lord knew that the people had lost faith in Moses – and in God. So the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. And those who came by and looked up at the bronze snake lived.

And our scientific 21st Century minds want to know WHY? Why should looking at a bronze snake on a pole heal a person of snakebite? WHY? In fact, even today, the symbol of a snake on a pole is the symbol used by medical doctors.

We have to dig deeper. You see, the snake symbol wasn’t critical, the pole wasn’t critical, It didn’t even matter that it was made of bronze. What WAS critical was that the people of Israel would look UP to the symbol in hope and faith that they would be healed by God.

This isn’t commonly recognized by our scientific society, but God is sovereign. God created everything – including us – and including all the various ways that we can be injured or become ill. Germs were created by God. Even flies and mosquitoes were created by God. And God has control of our immune system and can choose to heal each of us when God chooses. But God does not heal us, God does not make us whole, just because we ask.

God is sovereign. That means that God has all the power under God’s control. Unlike those who believed in magical healing, unlike those who believed that a particular god or goddess could be bribed by an offering, unlike those who believe that a certain potion – or spell – or drug – or procedure will necessarily give a cure, Christians have always remembered that God is in control and has wisdom far beyond us.

And so, in this case of the snakebites, God wanted to teach the Israelites this lesson, that God has the power to send snakes – and to heal snakebite. But it was important for the Israelites to recognize the authority of Moses, that Moses operated under God’s authority – and that God could decide whether or not they lived or died. They could still leave the camp – but God would not protect them as God had protected them since the night they were asked to kill the lamb, put its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their front doors, and roast and eat the lamb as the Angel of Death flew over Egypt killing the first born of those who did not believe, while the Angel “passed over” the families who believed and obeyed.

The snake worked. The people came to the snake and looked up at it, implicitly accepting that God was in control and that Moses was appointed by God.

And about 1600 years later, as described in John 3, Jesus said that He, Himself, “the Son of Man” must be lifted up just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Jesus. Looking up to Jesus means that we have faith in Him, accepting that God is in control and Jesus is the Son of God, God’s representative on earth. Eternal life means a complete healing, being made complete.

And so we turn to Jesus for healing today. Our loved one, indeed we ourselves are frightened, anticipating a possible death – and we look upon Jesus for healing, trusting that He can and will heal us. And He does – sometimes quickly, extraordinarily, in a few minutes – sometimes He uses surgery and drugs and a few days – and sometimes He gives us complete healing in the next life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Have you looked upon the Son? Have you looked up at Him from a position where you are lower, humbled, bowed down, accepting that He is much wiser and stronger and more power that you are?

And do not forget the next verse, verse 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” This is the verse for all people who are frightened of God, who are scared that God will punish, all those people who have prayed for someone to live -a grandmother, a father, a wife, a child, a dog named Old Yeller – and for whom Jesus said, “I think it is better for all concerned to heal this person (or pet) in the next life.”

For God did not send his Son Jesus to condemn us, but to save the world through Him. You know, despite your hurt, it isn’t all about you and your needs. Sometimes someone else needed desperately to learn a lesson about God so they could later join grandmother in heaven. Sometimes, we need to learn some lessons about living without our wonderful puppy. Sometimes, we have leaned too much on our friend’s connections with God and not enough on our own relationship with God, like the people of Israel had relied on Moses’ relationship with God and needed to learn to look up in faith at something that represented Him on earth.

Jesus said that “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” It is time for people to come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. We cannot hide in the shadow of our friends, our parents, our grandmothers and grandfathers for ever. One day, we must walk out of the darkness and into the light, so that we can remember that God can see us, everything we do.

It is only then that, remembering that Jesus came to save us and not condemn us, that we can look to God and say, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. Will you take me back?” And through Jesus, through choosing to follow Jesus, God will accept us back into His arms.

For, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, we were dead in our transgressions and sins. All of us lived in our sins, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desire and thoughts. Just as all the people, we were by nature deserving of God’s wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Grace is God’s free choice to do good to us, especially when we did not deserve good, but deserved punishment.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

It is our faith that we contribute. We look upon Jesus, just as the Israelites looked upon the bronze snake and we have faith that Jesus will rescue us forever. God has said that Jesus is like the bronze snake, but instead of healing us from snakebite, Jesus heals us from death. Jesus makes us whole and give us eternal life.

You see, God’s power and love underlies all healing – sometimes by looking at a bronze snake, sometimes by drugs and surgery, sometimes by simply having faith that Jesus and God can handle it. For that is really what God wants out of us – to turn to God and God’s Son, choosing freely to follow Jesus, bowing down and accepting that God’s Son is so much wiser and more powerful that we are, that Jesus is worthy of being followed where no one else in this world is worthy of being followed.

And when we bow down and look up at Jesus, who has been lifted up – our healing begins. Every time we look up at Jesus, accepting that He is so superior to us, our healing continues. For our hearts reach their proper level – we who are arrogant become properly humble that Jesus should be followed; and we who feel worthless become properly joyful that God has thought us worthy of being saved.

Lift up Jesus. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Look up to Jesus with a deep faith that He will save your soul, healing you for eternity.

Let us sing, My Faith Looks up to Thee #452