Lifting up the Message of the Cross

Three sixteen. To believers the numbers speak for themselves. They are perhaps the most loved combination of numbers in the history of the world. They are certainly the best known, so well known, in fact, that they even make appearances at major league sporting events. John 3:16 is the gospel, the message of life, the central message of history in a nutshell. But what about three fourteen? Are you familiar with those? They are written only a breath and a heartbeat away from the ones we know so well, yet chances are the majority of those who read this article could not tell what they are without pulling out their Bible.

John 3:14 is a peculiar verse, linking the gospel to a very unusual event in the Old Testament. The Israelites had wandered around the desert for almost 40 years, and they were tired of it all. They had watched the former generation of leaders die off because of their unbelieving, rebellious ways, but had apparently still not been cured of their grumbling. They find themselves back in the vicinity of the Red Sea when they decide to lash out at God and Moses. "They spoke against God and against Moses, and said, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!'" (a reference to the miraculous supply of manna!) (Numbers21:5).

Imagine talking like that to God or to a man with Moses credentials! Imagine being so sick of God's miraculous provision that you call it "miserable". God was not impressed. Suddenly the camp began to swarm with venomous snakes, and many people were bitten and died. They cried out in repentance for their words against God and Moses and asked for God to take away the snakes. But that was a short-sighted request. Why? Because taking away the snakes would not save the people who had already been bitten by them.

So God provided a solution, and a strange one at that. He had Moses fashion a snake out of bronze that was lifted high on the end of a pole, and he instructed those who had been bitten that if they wanted to save their lives, they had to do but one simple thing - look at the snake. It made no sense really. When you think about it, it was actually quite foolish. What good could possibly come from looking at a piece of bronze? Yet every stricken individual had a choice to make: look and live, or doubt and die. To look was to believe.

This strange story is the lead in to those most famous and loved verses in John's gospel. Here's what John said: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." To many, as Paul himself said, that is utter foolishness, but to those in whom God is at work it is life! Today the choice is still the same: look upon Jesus in faith and live, or doubt and discard God's solution and die.

Our job as messengers of the cross is to lift up the message of the One who was "lifted up" to bear the sins of the world. When we do that, God goes to work, for in Jesus' own words, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself." (Jn. 12:32) He's doing it today, in places like L'Aquila, Italy where, since the devastating earthquake of this past June, believers have served meals daily to over 300 people and given out many Bibles and books that people are reading for hours at a time. At least one family has "looked to Jesus" as a result and become part of His family. He is drawing people to Himself in Malaysia where one of our workers tells of an influential Muslim theologian who has embraced Christ and is having a powerful impact on others.

The gospel did not begin in "three sixteen". It did not even begin 2,000 years before that in "three fourteen". It began in the eternal plan of God and is being carried out to this very moment through those who will continue to "lift Him up."