NUMBERS XXI. 8, 9 403
He is on our side in all our struggles to subdue and cast it oufc.
ii. Believing in the Sin-bearer.
1. The brazen serpent was to be looked upon. The wounded persons were to turn their eyes towards it, and so to be healed. So Christ, lifted up on the Cross, is to be believed on, to be looked upon with the eyes of our heart. " The Son of man " is " lifted up, that whosoever belie veth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." " The Law could not save us, in that it was weak through the flesh"; through the corruption of our fallen nature, for which it provided no cure. It could but point to Him who is our cure, as Moses did to the brazen serpent. It could not justify us, it could only bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Justification by faith is that which was betokened by the healing of the Israelites when they looked up to the serpent. It justifies, because it brings us to Him, with whom to be united is to be justified; that is, to be forgiven and saved from this evil world, to be clothed with heavenly righteousness.
2. Trust is no arbitrary condition. The Israelite was told to turn to the brazen serpent. There was no connexion between his look and his healing, except in so far as the symbol was a help to, and looking at it was a test of, his faith in the healing power of God. But it is no arbitrary appointment, as many people often think it is, which connects inseparably to- gether the look of faith and the eternal life that Christ gives. For seeing that salvation is no mere external gift of shutting up some outward Hell and opening the door to some outward Heaven, but is a state of heart and mind, of relation to God, the only way by which that salvation can come into a man's heart is that he, knowing his need of it, shall trust Christ, and through Him the new life will flow into his heart. Faith is trust, and trust is the stretching out of the hand to take the precious gift, the opening of the heart for the influx of the grace, the eating of the bread, the drinking of the water, of life.
■[1 Looking at Jesus — what does it mean practically ? It means hearing about Him first, then actually appealing to Him, accepting His word as personal to one's self, putting Him to the
404 LOOK AND LIVE
best in life, trusting His death to square up one's sin score, trust- ing His power to clean the heart and sweeten the spirit and stiffen the will. It means holding the whole life up to His ideals. Ay, it means more yet; something on His side, an answering look from Him. There comes a consciousness within of His love and winsomeness. That answering look of His holds us for ever after His willing slaves, love's slaves. Paul speaks of the eyes of the heart. It is with these eyes we look to Him, and receive His answering look.^
^ Faith is the keynote of the Gospel by John. The very purpose for which this Gospel was written was that men might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing they might have life through His name (John xx. 31). This purpose is everywhere its predominant feature. From the announcement that John the Baptist was sent " that all men through him might believe " (John i. 7) to the confident assurance with which the beloved disciple makes the declaration that he knows his testi- mony is true (John xii. 24), the Gospel of John is one long argument, conceived with the evident intention of inducing men to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of all who trust in Him. The word " believe " occurs in this Gospel no fewer than ninety-eight times, and either that or some cognate word is to be found in every chapter.*
^ A woman who was always looking within herself, and could not reach assurance and peace, was told she must look out and up. Yet light did not come. One night she dreamed that she was in a pit which was deep, dark, and dirty. There was no way of escape — no door, no ladder, no steps, no rope. Looking right overhead she saw a little bit of blue sky, and in it one star. While gazing at the star she began to rise inch by inch in the pit. Then she cried out, " Who is lifting me ? " and she looked down to see. But the moment she looked down she was back again at the bottom of the pit. Again she looked up, saw the star, and began to rise. Again she looked down to see who or what was lifting her, and again she found herself at the bottom. Resolving not to look down again, she for the third time gazed at the star. Little by little she rose ; tempted to look down, she resisted the desire ; higher and higher she ascended, with her eyes on the star, till at last she was out of the pit altogether. Then she awoke, and said, " I see it all now. I am not to look down or within, but out and up to the Bright and Morning Star, the Lord Jesus Christ." ^