Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)It would appear that this "must be" is the most important doctrine of the entire Bible. The why is written shortly afterward:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)"Born again" is imperative for "everlasting life". God provided the opportunity to be born again because He "so loved the world" - the people in the world. He loves everyone, and everyone has the opportunity to be born again. That opportunity is by grace - a gift no one deserves. To obtain mercy (Rom 3:11) there is one thing everyone must face: "Ye must be born again."
Jesus provided the sacrifice, and no one but Jesus shed his blood on the behalf of mankind (Rom 3:25). On the other hand, anyone who shall be saved in the end must do something! What are sinners to do? Jesus answered that:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in 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).To obtain salvation "whosoever" - anyone - must believe in Jesus who is the Son of Man. Therefore, God doesn't pick anyone in particular, but everyone has the same opportunity. Of course, zeitgeist has much to do with who can pick. Zeitgeist is basically being at the right place at the right times when the mood is right. As an American in the 20th century, I had a greater opportunity than did those in the Amazon forests of South America. That's because westerners did a better job of the Great Commission, and why missionary work is so valuable. He wants that Chorote Amazons to have eternal life as well as those in the civilized world! They too must be born again.
What must everyone "do" to be born again? Not re-enter the womb as Nicodemus questioned, but lift up the Son of Man - Jesus. Of course, God lifted His own Flesh up to the Cross in payment for all sins of all mankind, but sinners have an obligation to recognize that Jesus redeemed all mankind by the shedding of his own blood and water, voluntarily, and then died in the place of all mankind. He bore all the sins ever committed and ever will be, and dropped them off in Hell. Jesus lost tremendous virtue to the extent that he felt forsaken! We should never take that for granted. Doing so is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost because God's Spirit experienced death on the cross. However, at the moment it was consummated, Jesus gave up his Ghost (Mark 15:37).
Most theologians believe the serpent on the pole represents Jesus on the Cross. I respectfully disagree: Jesus's purpose was to kill Satan - the Serpent of old. He died to slay the Serpent; just as David exhibited Goliath's head when the Philistines were defeated by the killing of their leader:
Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. (1 Sam 17:51)David, as Jesus's progenitor, is a foreshadow of Jesus, and Goliath is representative of Satan. The Hebrews were God's chosen people which are symbolic to Christ's peculiar people (1 Pet 2:9). Of course, the Philistines are representative of sinners.
David took the head of Goliath to Jerusalem for all to see. Faith abounded that day. David, representative of Jesus, was the "pole" which held up the "Serpents" head. David accomplished what Moses commenced, and Jesus finalized it. It is said, "It is finished (John 19:30).
The "pole" in the story of Moses and the serpent is Jesus Christ. "Jesus" held the liveless Serpent high because his death on the real "pole" - the Cross - defeated Satan. Satan's not dead yet but Jesus''s sacrifice ensured his death. Of course, in the end, the Serpent of old does die, and Jesus is the victor already!
Jesus's death on his "tree":
Who (Jesus) his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Pet 2:24).Jesus wasn't the Serpent, though; he was the "pole". He is identified as such back in the beginning and in the end as well: Cherubim were to "keep the way of the tree of life" (Gen 3:24). Jesus is "the Way" and the provider of life (John 14:6). The Tree of Life is representative of Jesus if not Jesus himself since he was there in the beginning (John 1-2, 14).
We also find the Tree of Life as Jesus in the end:
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Rev 22:4)Back in the beginning, after the first or original sin, mankind was forbidden to eat of the Tree of Life although previously they had been welcome to eat of it (Gen 3:22). Only those who do God's commandments have a right to eat of the Tree of Life. Of course, that is loving God and others - the Greatest Commandment and the one like unto it. It should be clear that Jesus is the "pole" just as David was when he held up the head of slayed Goliath.
Now back to the Garden again:
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen 3:15)That verse is the Adamic Covenant. Therein, the Word - Jesus - promises that he will slay the Serpent! When Jesus died on the cross, that promise was fulfilled. (For more on the significance of the Adamic Covenant read my book The Skull of Adam.) Jesus's purpose was to slay the Serpent! It was fulfilled on the Cross. Thereon, Jesus, as did David, held up the head of the Serpent for all to see - the chosen Jews and the peculiar people!
Jesus indicated to Nicodemus that for anyone to be born again must see that and trust that it will happen (John 3:21). Jesus indicated that that is what saved the Jews from the serpents back in the wilderness:
The people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 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. 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. (Num 21:5-9)Those who depended on themselves to kill the fiery serpents died. Those who were bitten of the serpents (representing the Serpent) lived if they looked up at the brass serpent on the pole. Trusting that Jesus would kill the Serpent was the antidote for Satan's fiery darts. All anyone needed to do was to look upon the serpent of brass, and he lived! Trying to fight the serpents by oneself was works. Those who did so, elevated themselves. They disregarded Jesus's purpose. People are to diminish themselves and elevate God.
You might say that they did not know who Jesus is because he had yet to be born. That is a valid argument but they all knew Jesus! They saw him first hand with the fire by night and the cloud by day. Most never depended on the fire nor cloud, so God established a test of faith. All they had to do is look up to Jesus's Purpose (to kill the Serpent) and trust him for salvation.
But it was the Serpent they saw! Yes, but he was a lifeless Serpent. They saw a vision of the fulfillment of the Adamic Covenant. They saw Satan dead on his pole.
Did you ever wonder what that meant? Satan had his tree as well - the tree of death. The assumption is that the Serpent was in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, also in the midst of the Garden. Just as the Tree of Life which was Jesus's Tree, Satan's "tree" was reason. Those were two of the three trees on Golgotha - the place of Adam's skull. The malefactor who denied Jesus, and failed to lift him up, was representative of Satan. His "cross" was the Serpent's tree as back in the Garden.
Jesus, of course, was hung on his Tree, both by the way, in the midst of Jerusalem which Holy Scripture indicates is the foundation left from the Garden. (The third tree represented those who looked up at the lifeless serpent on the pole.) God made the setting for the crucifixion where it all began: God and the Serpent both having their respective trees back in the midst of the Garden and both having their "trees" on Calvary, again in the midst of the "Garden".
The Adamic Covenant was Jesus defeating death on the Cross in the Garden with Adam buried beneath as the Jews believe. His grave beneath Calvary is recognized as such. (Adam's tomb is said to be in the cleft of the rock of Calvary - the place of the skull of Adam.)
Moses knew the power in the blood. The brass serpent was brass for a reason: It was Jesus's blood which would kill the serpent, and the sun shining on red brass is symbolic of Jesus's blood - the only propitiation necessary for life which is obtained by defeating Satan! Jesus's blood was all over the Serpent because it is what will kill Satan. For all intents and purposes, for those who look up at Jesus see his Purpose - to kill the old Serpent.
When we see Jesus on his Cross in our mind's eye, look to both sides: on one cross is the lifeless Serpent and on the other side is the malefactor who slept for a short time but was in Paradise that day alive and well with Jesus. He was born again as he looked at both poles and knew what was happening. He trusted Jesus and not the lifeless "Serpent" on the other pole. That's what we must do to be born again!
Born again is theologically called "regeneration". I recently came to prefer a re-genesis, because those who are born again, return to their original condition which is in the image of God!
No comments:
Post a Comment