Coming to the Light

April 2, 2000

Numbers 21; Ephesians 2; John 3:14-21; Psalm 107

Nicodemus came to Jesus in the darkness, out of the shadows. He asked Jesus how he could find eternal life. Why he came at night we do not know. Why he told Jesus he believed he came from God we do not know. But we do know that Jesus interrupted Nicodemus to tell him that he had to be "born again" in order to be able to see the kingdom of God.

Then Jesus told him that heaven's light has come into the world.

Jesus also said that as Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so He would be lifted up so that anyone who would believe could have eternal life. Do you remember that story of the serpents in the wilderness? (It was the lesson from the OT, from Numbers 21 today.)

That story was about death and life, and about God's wrath against sin, but his grace and mercy for the sinner. I don't pretend to know all there is to know about that story, but it says to me that the Israelites were evil. Do you know what their sin was? They were whining and complaining against the God who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. God, in the story, sent fiery snakes among them with painful and fatal bites.

But even as they were crying out in pain, God gave Moses a remedy. He said quick, take some bronze and make a copy of the snakes that are biting and put it on a pole. Lift it up where everyone can see it. Then tell the people that all they have to do is LOOK at the bronze serpent and they will not die. All they have to do is LOOK and they will LIVE.

Can you imagine that some people were so mad at God they wouldn't even look? Can you imagine how simple an easy it was to just say 'what do I have to lose?' and look– and be instantly healed?

How can this possibly be a comparison to Jesus? What did he mean that as Moses lifted up the snake, even so must the Son of man be lifted up so people can believe?

The bronze serpent represented the penalty for the people's sins. Jesus on the cross of Calvary became "sin" for us– he who never sinned, who was pure and holy, took your sins and my sins and carried them to the cross. He represented there the sting of sin which is death for all of us.

And in his own words, Jesus did not come into the world to bring judgment and damnation, but he came to bear our sins away and to save the world.

THERE IS LIFE FOR A LOOK.

WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN THE SIN-BEARER WILL BE SAVED. Can you imagine NOT looking to Jesus? Can it be real?

God HATES sin, make no mistake about that. But he loves the sinner. I'm glad for that because I was a sinner and a rebel, going my own way. I was bitten and sure to die. But I heard there was life for a look.

HOW DO WE 'LOOK TO JESUS'?

To believe means more than just believe a thing is true. To believe means to ACT AS IF a thing is true. To believe means to turn around from our own ideas and agree with God.

[Psalm 107 is a wonderful example of people coming to believe: they are away from God and safety– then they cry out for God! He hears them– and he saves them. To "look to Jesus" is to cry out to God for help. God hears. God saves.]

Nicodemus came to Jesus in the darkness, and Jesus told him about light. Nicodemus heard about the serpents in the wilderness, and Jesus told him that he had been bitten, too, and that He, Jesus would be a remedy for sin's curse. Nicodemus came, probably seeking how to live, and Jesus told him he hadn't even been born yet. He was not yet alive!

I WOULD BE NICE IF WE COULD LIVE– BE ALIVE– SOMETIME BEFORE WE DIE!

What is death, anyway?

"By and large, most of us pretend that death is something which happens to other people. Somehow, it's like the husband who said to this wife, 'If one of us dies, I think I'll move to Paris'."

Was Nicodemus "dead'? What IS dead? Dead means to be totally unresponsive to the world around you. Dead means there is air but you can't breath. There is food but you are not hungry. There are loved ones, but you can't hear them.

Paul (in the Ephesians passage) defines death as FOLLOWING THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD– in other words– LIVING AS IF GOD IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE!!

IN EPHESIANS PAUL SAYS WE WERE ALL DEAD, BUT GOD HAS MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH JESUS.

Listen to how Peterson puts that passage in his translation called The Message:(Ephesians 2: 1- 6)

'You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

But then comes that contrast of death with life:

"Instead God, immense in mercy and with incredible love, he embraced us. he took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. he did this all on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

Contrasts in death and life, in light and darkness, tell the story of every one of us. We have all been bitten by the fiery serpents of sin and guilt. But we can be saved by a look at the cross.

Of course, the cross itself does not save. It is the One on the Cross who knows we have looked. Even the look does not save. But somehow God Himself comes down that look and meets us with mercy and forgiveness! Have you looked to Jesus? Are you looking just now? Communion can be a time when we look again to God for his grace and mercy!

Jesus said, "As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of Me! I came to save you!"