January 20, 2026 | Be Connected
Lifted Up
Scripture: John 3:9-15(NIV)
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Devotional
At the end of the book of Genesis, the people of God relocated from Canaan (modern Israel) to Egypt because of a severe famine. There were seventy of them in all.
By the next page, at the beginning of the book of Exodus, it is four hundred years later. The Jews living in Egypt had become slaves, numbering in the millions. That book is about their “exodus” from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. The books of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy is about their forty-year journey toward that promise.
But all was not well along the way. The freed Israelites grumbled against God, complained about Moses, and disobeyed the very commandments the Lord had given them. During one of their rebellious outbursts, God sent venomous snakes among them, causing fear and death. The people then acknowledged their sin and begged for a way out. God told Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” (Numbers 21:8).
Notice the pattern. They sinned. They faced consequences (snakes). God provided rescue. They looked up and believed. They lived.
Referring to this part of their history, Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
The pattern is repeated. We sin (everyone does). We face consequences (Hell). God provides rescue (Jesus). We look up (to the cross) and believe. We live (eternal life).
The chorus of Fanny Crosby’s great hymn says it well:
In the cross, in the cross
Be my glory ever,
Till my ransomed soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
