High And Lifted Up

High and Lifted Up

Read: John 12:31-33

“I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

John 12:32

“The Cross is the ladder to heaven.”

—Thomas Drake

IN WORD How is Jesus lifted up?

• On the cross. John’s commentary in verse 33 is clear: Jesus is indicating the means by which He would die.

• Like the serpent. In Numbers 21, God sent venomous snakes as a result of Israel’s sin. Moses was told to put a serpent on his staff and lift it up. Whoever looked at the icon of the curse was spared from the result of the curse. Jesus became the curse for us; if we gaze at the curse on Him, we are spared from the curse on us (see John 3:14-15).

• As an example. Jesus asked the Father to glorify the Son, that the Son might glorify the Father (John 17:1). In His death, He was lifted up both literally and figuratively.

• By the Resurrection. From death to life, from the stench of the grave to the aroma of sacrifice, from a dark tomb to an eternal light—Jesus was lifted up above the archenemy of the human race: death.

• In the Ascension. He was taken up into heaven, lifted above all creation in glory.

• Through our praise. The most glorious scenes in the book of Revelation are of those who worship around His throne: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” (Revelation 5:12).

IN DEED Our Savior is the apex of all that is. There is nothing higher, no one greater. In the great condescension, He came down, clothed Himself in human flesh, and lived among us, only to be lifted up in as shameful a way as man can conceive. But that lifting up—the most evil thing humanity could have done—was the very thing that God uses to draw us to Himself. Our murder of the divine is the very act that God tells us to gaze at to see His judgment of our sin and His plan to redeem us. Never let yourself cease to be drawn to Him.