THANKSGIVING

John 3:14-21

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

We approach the holiday called Thanksgiving, and it seems more than appropriate that we should give thanks for what God has done in Jesus Christ our Lord for us, because He loved the world in just such a way that those who are believing will not perish but already possess that everlasting life that He promises to believers in these verses.

This particular portion of John chapter 3 has been the subject of much debate, but the debate has not been on what the Scripture states, very often; rather, it has been the manner in which certain of mankind would like it to say that has led to the debate.

Here, we see the MANNER in which God expresses His free grace to the world, and the OBJECTS of that free grace unto salvation and eternal life.

It is not a big fuzzy “God soooooooo loved the world” that is being said here, and the comparison to Moses, a type of Christ our Lord, lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, another type of our Lord, should be a  compelling illustration to us of what the rest of this passage truly means; never mind the grammar that is so compelling throughout the passage, just look at the type of the serpent in the wilderness:

Did those bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness live BEFORE the bronze serpent was raised by Moses?

Numbers 21:6: Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

Evidently not – they died without a chance to repent. They died because they were against God, and the death they died is a type of that deadness of those who do not receive the free grace of God in Jesus Christ to become believers. These who were  bitten before the serpent was raised on the pole had no chance; they were judged, the verdict was guilty, and they were sentenced to death.

This reflects the spirit of antichrist, not as a person, but as persons among those who say they are of the congregation of God in Jesus Christ, have been baptized, professed Christ as their King, yet reflect the poisonous pride of the leaders of the Jewish people when Pontius Pilate asked if he should crucify their King (John 19:14-15). Antichrist, as used by the apostle John (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7), refers to that spirit in man which denies Christ Jesus our Lord as He came, and as He is now – it goes against Scripture, the revelation of God.

According to some, God is “unfair” not to “offer” His loving grace unto salvation to every person of all time, because they have formed an image of God that is like themselves (Romans 1:23a).

Following our passage through, in its simplicity, we see that those who come to the light do so because their deeds HAVE BEEN done in God, while those who do not come to the light do not because they are WICKED and HATE the light, and do not wish such to be exposed – it is exposed anyway, because the light of Christ that shines on all men is a revealing light – but they seek to hide that they will NOT have this KING, whom God has appointed Lord of all.

Was God unfair in not offering to those bitten by the serpents before Moses raised the bronze serpent on the pole salvation?

Hardly – He is the ONLY good God (Luke 18:19), and is the only One who IS good – men are not, by definition, considered good to God, for they are possessed of a nature that is infused with the venom of sin injected into the father of the race, Adam, in the garden, when he was bitten by the words of that snake, the devil, to choose to be like God.

But God has sovereignly decreed that there are those who will do good, and if He is the only One who is good, how is such possible, and how do we recognize them?

We recognize them because they not only hold to the presentation of God in Jesus Christ that permeates the Scriptures – God as sovereign over all at all times – but they joyfully come to the light, that their deeds may be seen to have been wrought in God.

Something has changed in the innermost nature of such people who come to the light, and that change is that their nature has been born again, from above, by the Spirit of God, and by Him alone, as outlined in verses 3-8 of this same chapter of John.

Are you a believing one?

Do you accept God as He has presented Himself throughout Scripture; as He presented Himself in our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:18; 14:8-9)?

Then this is indeed a time to be thankful and rejoice, for you have “seen the Father.”

However, if you do not see God as He has presented Himself throughout all of Scripture, remember, He delights in steadfast love, justice and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24), and He is the One who appeared to Moses and the patriarchs as Almighty God, I AM that I AM, and this One is Jesus Christ, making the Father known in the Old Testament even as He makes Him known in the New Testament in a more intimate, compelling manner, yet no less sovereign over all He surveys and has created.

He sees your innermost being – nothing is hidden from Him (Hebrews 4:12-13); therefore, fall before Him, worship Him, and bow down before Him, admitting He is over all, God. Give Him your homage and obeisance without questioning that He delights in everything He is, and demands and commands us to delight in Him in this very manner, and do not try to render an unbalanced view of Him that puts one attribute of Him over another, but accept Him as He is, then you will find what true thanksgiving is about.

To the glory of God alone - Bill Hier