Dear faith
I said John 3: 10 - 18
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
You want to be born agiam Do what the people of Israel did. They were as good as dead because they were bitten by serpents. God had a plan to save them. He had moses raise a serpent on a pole
He who believed (looked at the serpent) lived again, they were essentially born again, Those who continued in unbelief and did nto look died.
In the same manner, jesus was liften up
he who believes is born again, this new life called eternal life.
Dear Eternally Grateful,
You are greatly misunderstanding the spiritual message of the serpent on the pole.
The serpent on the pole foreshadows the coming of the Old Covenant of Law which is based upon the works of man. This is the crooked way.
The reason that the serpent was used on the pole is because Satan is the
crooked serpent who teaches the crooked way of man's works. When the Israelites looked upon the serpent, it could temporarily cover their sins. However, it could not save them.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
When Christ was lifted up the cross, His death was the perfect sacrifice that could permanently forgive sins through
faith alone; the straight way.
Because the crooked way of the Old Covenant cannot save a person, Satan uses the crooked way to deceive the church. Satan deceives the church through his false gospel which mixes man's works with faith. When a believer (a babe) does this mixing, they have been bitten by Satan the crooked serpent and will fall from grace.
Prov 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. 27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. 28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increases the transgressors among men. 29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red (Old Wine/Old Covenant), when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moves itself (man’s works) aright. 32 At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.
The concept taught in the verse below applies to the
serpent on the pole and
Christ on the cross.
1Cor 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
Approaching salvation by the crooked way of man's works comes first and is the "natural". It is inherent in man's carnal nature.
Christ on the cross comes second and is the "spiritual". It is inherent in the child of God's divine nature.
To have God's divine nature, it requires a babe to be converted into a little child:
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
For that reason, when a person first comes to Christ, they will become a babe who still remain carnally minded, spiritually blind and unconverted. In this condition, they will for a short time approach Christ by faith, but that will quickly change because they will find that they prefer the Old Wine over the New Wine.
Luke 5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
When a babe consumes the Old Wine, it will bite them like a serpent. And since all new believers begin following Christ as a babe who still prefers the Old Wine over the New Wine,
all babes will quickly fall away.
All the 2,000 different church denominations/sects/groups in the world are all apostate and are following Satan and his crooked way. This is the fulfillment of Paul's prophecy below:
Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
The apostate churches of this world teach that Christ cannot save all mankind because they say that Christ does not have the ability to change the hearts and minds of all mankind. This belief is a lie from Satan. When Christ is ready to change the heart and mind of a person, He will give them the Early and Latter Rains of the Spirit just like He did with Paul. Paul's conversion is a "type" for how Christ saves a person. Salvation happens solely by the works of Christ and not by the works of the person.
The person does not have to "receive" anything because the Spirit is given to them.
After the Spirit is given to a person, they will then
only call Jesus "Lord":
1Cor 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit.
It is in this way that Christ will eventually save all mankind. Nothing can stop Him.
Joe
