【读圣经学英语】人子也必照样被举起来

当以色列人怨讟神与摩西时，『耶和华使火蛇进入百姓中间，蛇就咬他们，以色列人中死了许多。』（民二一6。）百姓就来见摩西，求他祷告耶和华，叫蛇离开他们。于是摩西为他们祷告，神指示摩西救法，告诉他制造一条铜蛇，将它挂在杆子上。（民二一8～9。）凡中了火蛇之毒的，一望这铜蛇就必得活。（民二一9。）在约翰三章十四节，主耶稣将这幅图画应用在祂自己身上，说祂这人子，将被举起来，像摩西将铜蛇举起来一样。请注意，主在这里称自己为人子，不称神子。主告诉尼哥底母说，『尼哥底母，你看起来是一位君子，但你必须知道，你实际上是一条蛇。不管你多温和优雅，你里面还是有蛇的性情，你已经中了毒。』

有一天主耶稣穿上了这罪之肉体的样式，然后将这肉体带到十字架上，将它钉死。藉着钉死肉体，祂就毁坏了那将自己注射到人里面的魔鬼。现在我们能领会希伯来二章十四节的话，那里说，『祂也照样亲自有分于血肉之体，为要藉着死，废除那掌死权的，就是魔鬼。』基督在肉体里，藉着祂的死废除了撒但。如果我们不能领会所有这些经节，就很难了解希伯来二章十四节的正确意义。基督如何在十字架上废除撒但？乃是藉着穿上罪之肉体的样式，并将这肉体带到十字架上。在那里，藉着祂被钉十字架，撒但就被废除了。

基督在蛇的形状中作我们的代替，死在十字架上。祂这样死的时候，就对付了我们的蛇性，并废除了在我们肉体里的蛇。这事的结果，就是叫我们藉着相信祂得到永远的生命。就如中了蛇毒的以色列人，藉仰望杆子上的铜蛇而活；我们今天若悔改，举起我们的心，又注视那被钉在十字架上的耶稣，我们也能经历同样的事。当我们这样作的时候，我们的罪被除去，我们的蛇性受到对付，撒但也在我们里面被废除，我们就得到了永远的生命。这就是重生的意思。

Enlightenment:

When the children of Israel spoke against the Lord and against Moses, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Num. 21:6). The people then came to Moses and asked him to pray that the Lord would take the serpents away. Moses prayed for them, and God showed Moses the way of salvation, telling him to make a serpent of brass and to put it upon a pole (Num. 21:8-9). When the people who had been poisoned by the fiery serpents looked upon the serpent of brass, they lived (Num. 21:9). In John 3:14, the Lord Jesus applied that picture to Himself, saying that He, the Son of Man, would be lifted up as the brass serpent was lifted up by Moses. Please notice that the Lord here refers to Himself as the Son of Man, not as the Son of God. The Lord was telling Nicodemus, “Nicodemus, you appear to be a gentleman, but you must realize that you are actually a serpent. Regardless of how gentle you are, you have a serpentine nature within you.”

One day the Lord Jesus put on the likeness of this flesh of sin. Then He brought this flesh to the cross and crucified it. By crucifying the flesh, He destroyed the devil who had injected himself into man. Now we can understand Hebrews 2:14 which says, “He took part of flesh…that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the Devil.” Christ destroyed Satan in the flesh by His death. If we do not understand all of these verses, it will be difficult to have the proper meaning of Hebrews 2:14. How did Christ destroy Satan on the cross? By taking on the likeness of the flesh of sin and by bringing this flesh to the cross. There, through His crucifixion, Satan was destroyed.

Christ died on the cross in the form of a serpent as our substitute. In doing so, He dealt with our serpentine nature and destroyed the serpent in our flesh. The issue of this is that we may have eternal life by believing in Him. Just as the poisoned Israelites lived by looking unto the brass serpent on the pole, we may experience the same thing today if we repent, lift up our heart, and gaze upon the very Jesus crucified on the cross. When we do this, our sin is removed, our serpentine nature is dealt with, Satan is destroyed in us, and we have life eternal. This is what it means to be regenerated. When we are regenerated, we receive the divine life other than our human life which was corrupted by the serpent and dealt with by Christ on the cross.