1/20/14- The Cure Given in Love John 3:14-18

14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^f 15that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”16For 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. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  (John 3:14-18)

Thoughts:  God provided a way for healing of death by poisonous snakes by the lifting up of the bronze snake (Nbrs. 21).  So Christ is lift up on the cross that all who might look to him would be healed of their sin and forgiven.
    The reason God provided the bronze snake in the wilderness was out of mercy and love and the reason God provided Jesus was out of mercy and love.  The Israelites did not deserve healing, and neither do we.  But just as the bronze serpent's healing qualities did no good to those who refused to look to it, so the cross does not force forgiveness on people.  Yet whosoever will- whoever believes can be healed.
     But it is not a bronze serpent on a pole that heals us of sin, but the only begotten Son of God who is there.  The Greek word "monogene" is not simply "one and only."  The King James made a word to correspond to the Greek original.  "Mono" means "single" or "only."  But "Gene" has to do with generating.  He was not "born" but "begotten."  He was not created or made but eternally generated from the Father. 
      Those who do not believe stand condemned already (vs. 18).  We need to remember the context again- of the bronze serpent.  Those who are bitten by the poisonous snakes are condemned already.  All of us have been bitten by the snake of sin.  None of us have escaped this poison and can claim to be perfect.  We all have been poisoned and we need the antidote.  God has the antidote but we must come to Him in order to get it.  We must believe that we need to be cured and that God has the cure.  The cure is given at great personal price to God.  But the cure is real and effective. The call is to believe. 

Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be cured.  Help me to believe in your love and cure.