DCLM Daily Manna 15 July 2024 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — “Look And Live”
TOPIC: “Look And Live” (DCLM Daily Manna 15 July 2024)
KEY VERSE: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14).
TEXT: John 3:14-18 (KJV)
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
MESSAGE:
From a tender age, Charles Spurgeon was exposed to Puritan literature, including John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress. However, he was not converted until he was fifteen because he did not know how to become saved. In January 1850, he was on his way to the family church when a snowstorm drove him into the Methodist Church on Artillery Road. The preacher took his sermon from Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth”. He connected the passage with the crucifixion of Christ and spoke directly to Spurgeon, “Young man, you look miserable, and you’re going to be miserable until you look to Christ”. Spurgeon instantly took the look of faith and was saved.
From our passage today, a connection was made between Christ on the cross and the brazen serpent Moses lifted up for Israel’s healing and forgiveness in the wilderness. When the Israelites murmured against God and Moses in the wilderness, God sent fiery serpents into their midst. They realised their sin and pleaded with Moses to intercede for them. God then instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent and set it on a pole so that whoever was bitten and looked upon such would live (Numbers 21:8,9). This image of the brazen serpent on a pole foreshadows Christ’s crucifixion for humanity’s redemption.
Just as it was possible and easy for all those who were bitten by the serpent in the wilderness to look up to brazen serpent and live, everyone who is dying as a result of sin can also look up to Christ on the cross and receive everlasting life. Salvation is provided full and free to all.
Our responsibility as Christians today is to lift up Christ everywhere we go and point the attention of the sick, dying world to Him.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Just one look is enough to save a soul.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Genesis 45-47
Deeper Life Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
