Day 35--the Bronze Serpent

'Moses then made a serpent out of bronze and raised it as a standard, and anyone who was bitten by a serpent and looked at the bronze serpent survived.'

NUMBERS 21:9

Yes, this one is pretty odd. So the Jews were walking around the desert for a very long time after Moses got them out of Egypt, and they became impatient and began speaking against God, so God sent snakes to them and many died. So the Jews tell God 'oh no, we're really sorry, please stop this!' and what does God do? He commissions Moses to make a bronze serpent, just like the ones that were biting the people, and lift it up on a pole, and those who looked at it were healed.

Symbolism much? Just to give you an idea...

Does it look familiar? Ringing any bells? Anyone? Anyone?

LET ME GIVE YOU A HINT--

BOOM!

The bronze snake is lifted up so the people  could be healed of the attack of the snake. The Son of God, Jesus, is lifted up on a cross so that we can be healed of the attack of the snake--the devil, sin. And why is a snake the cure for snake bite? Well, it's not that the snake is the cure--it's that the snake up in the pole is rendered powerless. And our sins, nailed up in that cross, are rendered  powerless!! Jesus, the Lamb, the blameless victim, is covered in our sins--he rips them away from us and takes them up on his shoulders and up to be crucified with Him. 

This is why, in today's gospel, Jesus tells the Jews 'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am He' (John 8:28). When we look up at the crucified Christ, lifted up in humiliation, we see how great is His love! A symbol of death,  the most horrible method of torture and humiliation became to us the biggest demonstration of the most pure, beautiful, overwhelming love of God, stretching up His arms towards us, shedding every drop of His blood for us, who can never possibly deserve it. Breaking our chains, setting us free, healing our wounds, giving us the peace we so long for. That is the awful and awe-striking truth of the cross.

Day 6--Be holy!

Yahweh spoke to Moses and said: Speak to the whole community of Israelites and say: "Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy."

LEVITICUS 19: 1-2

You must be thinking: "Oh no, she's pulled out Leviticus". Yes, I am afraid it was bound to happen eventually---part of the Bible, you know. 

We've been talking about God's unconditional love for you, and yes, it's a wonderful thing and it radically changes your life. But it doesn't stop there. Because, out of love, God wants you to be free and happy. And a quest for true freedom and happiness is a quest for holiness! We are created in his image and likeness, so He wants us to be holy, just like He is holy.

No, I'm still not talking about obedience. It's not about obedience simply because He wants the best for us--to live life to the fullest-- and He doesn't tell us to do this or that just because He's a tyrant. He knows your heart better than you do, so of course He's going to tell you "do this and that" so that you can satisfy the deepest desires of your heart!!!!

But the devil likes to confuse us and say: "but if you do this instead, you will know good and evil, and thus be like God". The thing is... God doesn't do evil, so how would doing evil turn us into gods?

And He also knows, in His mind-blowing wisdom, that we are flawed and have shortcomings. He knows we are not perfect and that it will be a huge struggle to attempt holiness! But they key word is ATTEMPT---STRIVE, FIGHT, TRY VERY HARD. It's in the trying that He meets us half way (or more like 10% to 90% of the way-- the ninety being God's). If we try with our whole hearts to be holy, and ask Him for his grace to get there, He will provide that grace.

So don't be afraid of holiness!! In this race, God is your number one fan!

It won't be easy, though. You will struggle, the world will mock you and scorn you for being counter-cultural, and there will be people who will leave your life because of it. But whatever the Lord sends you instead is SO. MUCH. BETTER. I promise. I've been there. He might not send it soon, but He will send it. And when you get whatever it is that your heart desired, you will REJOICE. Take me, for example-- I had to move to the other side of the world to encounter the friends God had been promising me for years! And I rejoice.

Remember, good things come to those who wait (in the Lord, might I add).

Jesus, teach me to be holy, just like you are holy.

Day 5--The battle has already been won!!

'One man's offence brought condemnation on all humanity; and one man's good act has brought justification and life to all humanity. Just as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience are many to be made upright.'

ROMANS 5:18-19

We've talked a lot about God wanting you, loving you, calling you by name despite your brokenness. But as if that wasn't enough--God became man so that he could pay your and my debt for our sins. You see, if Jesus wouldn't have died for us, we would have to pay our sin with death--and I'm talking about spiritual death, eternal damnation. Sin came into the world through Adam, and salvation, redemption, reconciliation with the Father came into the world through Jesus of Nazareth, the new Adam, God made flesh. God could have come up with a billion ways of fixing the problem, don't you think? He is, after all, God. AND YET... He became man, was born in humility, and went through the most horrendous death at the time--a punishment that belonged to us--so that we could be made whole again. 

In today's gospel, Jesus and Satan have an epic battle, and at the end, Jesus says 'AWAY WITH YOU, SATAN!!' Jesus wins. He always does. He always will.

What you have to understand is that this war between death and life, salvation and damnation, good and evil, has already been won by the Blood of Jesus!

In the movie The Passion of the Christ, there is a scene right after Jesus draws his last breath and then dies on the cross and the earth starts shaking where the devil is shown SCREAMING and just losing it. You know why? Because that's when the devil realized that he had lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In that cross, Jesus had given himself, out of love, for the expiation of our sins.

So, if the battle is already won, what's there to do? Well, you and I need to choose a side! And tell me, who's dumb enough to choose the loser side? Exactly. However, sometimes people choose the loser side because they don't know or understand what Christ did for them or how He won the battle for them. You have no excuse though--I've just told you ;)