God's Word for You (Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010)
A Daily Devotion by Pastor Tim Smith
John 3:19-21
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
This statement by Jesus perfectly illustrates and proves a point we constantly make with our students about their salvation which is simple but to the point: If a person is saved, it to God’s credit; if a person is damned, it is that person’s fault. Jesus also said, “The Son of Man came to save what was lost” (Matthew 18:11); the goal and the result of Jesus’ work on earth was our salvation. But just before he ascended into heaven, he also warned, “Whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). Only unbelief damns.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (NIV)
These words help us to understand that it is not a moment of doubt that condemns, but a dead unbelief. A living faith may stumble and may trip, but nevertheless it walks in the light with the help of the Holy Spirit. Our good deeds may not look like much to the God who created the world and calmed the storm and cured the sick, but they are evidence of our faith living in our lives. And it is “seen plainly” by God that we are his children.
So we ask for his help, we confess our sins, we put our trust in our Savior Jesus, and we live. And what we do today, whatever the deed, is done from faith.
A Christian writer in the Second Century used this chapter and especially the reference to the Bronze Snake to describe the glory of Jesus:
“Again, Moses made a type of Jesus, showing that he had to suffer and that he would be given life (though they would believe that he had been put to death) by the symbol that was set up when Israel was struck. For the Lord made every serpent bite them and they were dying, so that he might show them that they would be delivered over to the affliction of death because of their sin, since sin took root in Eve through the serpent.
Furthermore, it is the same Moses who commanded: “Do not ever make a cast idol or a carved image to your God,” yet he made one himself to display a type of Jesus. Moses, then, made a bronze serpent and set it up in a prominent place, and called the people together through a proclamation. Therefore when they came together they begged Moses to pray on their behalf so that they might be healed.
But Moses said to them, “‘Whenever anyone is bitten, he said, ‘he must come to the serpent that is placed on the tree. He must hope, in faith, that although it is dead, it is able to give life, and at once he shall be saved.’ And they did this.”
Again, you also have these things in the glory of Jesus, for all these things took place in him and for his sake.” (Epistle of Barnabas 12:5-17)
I disagree with the writer that the Bronze Serpent was a “cast idol…to God,” since it was simply an image made for the people to test their faith, not to worship (although later some fell into worship of the thing). But otherwise this is a fine application. We trust in Christ, because he gave himself for us.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul's Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn's father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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