JUNE 26, 2023 Deuteronomy 29:10-11 All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones and your wives. As this and the subsequent verses reveal, the entire congregation of Israel had assembled to hear these final words offered by […]
When Yeshua says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14), He was hinting about the kind of death He was going to die, but there is a second meaning to these words as well. He was speaking not only of His death, but also of His ascension forty days after the resurrection.
God told Moses to “make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard.” (Numbers 21:8) A standard is a pole atop which an emblem is displayed. The Hebrew word nes may also be translated as “miracle.” God told Moses to “make a bronze serpent, and set it on a nes …” The sages wanted to know the particular “miracle” Moses was to set the serpent upon. By reading nes as “miracle” instead of “pole,” they explained that Moses set the serpent on a miracle by tossing it into the air where it remained hovering above the ground so that all Israel could look upon it:
“Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a miracle (nes)” (Numbers 21:9). That means he cast it into the air and it stayed there.” (Numbers Rabbah 19:23)
This fanciful explanation of the Hebrew also fits the context of John 3. Yeshua was explaining to Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be “lifted up.” He had just told Nicodemus, “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man” (John 3:13). In a similar passage, He told the Galileans that He had descended from heaven. When they objected, He replied, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?” (John 6:61-62).
In John 3, He told Nicodemus that no one has ascended to heaven, but He will be lifted up because He descended from heaven. Then He explains, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). In this context, His words seem to point toward His ascension. It is the ascension of Yeshua—His return to His former station of glory with the Father—that holds the promise of salvation for everyone who believes.
How will this ascension be accomplished? Just as Moses tossed the serpent into the air and there it remained for all to look unto for salvation, so too, the Son of Man will ascend and remain “lifted up” for the salvation of all who will look to Him.
Yeshua’s words to Nicodemus imply both His cross and His ascension. The lifting of the Son of Man upon the pole (nes) will bring about the lifting of the Son of Man through the miracle (nes) of His ascension.
Chukat – חקת : “Statute” Torah : Numbers 19:1-22:1 Haftarah : Judges 11:1-33 Gospel : Matthew 21:1-17
JUNE 25, 2023 Deuteronomy 29:10-11 All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones and your wives. Jewish tradition states that these words were spoken by Moses on the last day of his life. If that is so […]
JUNE 24, 2023 Deuteronomy 29:5-6 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. Can you imagine wearing the […]
JUNE 23, 2023 Deuteronomy 29:2-4 You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land—the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see […]
JUNE 22, 2023 Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. No one likes to discuss unpleasant topics and especially if […]
JUNE 21, 2023 Deuteronomy 28:13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God. When the one who would later be called Israel was first born, he was given the name Jacob (Hebrew is Ya’akov). His name meant “hand […]
JUNE 20, 2023 Deuteronomy 28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. Not only does obedience to God result in the blessing of provision, as we discussed in the previous devotion, but also protection […]
JUNE 19, 2023 Deuteronomy 28:3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Moses was very specific about the blessings that would overtake the obedient among God’s people. The […]
JUNE 18, 2023 Deuteronomy 28:2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Today’s church has developed an environment that loves to celebrate grace however, we mustn’t forget that obedience to God is still expected of us. Noah found grace in the eyes of the […]
