Lenten Devotional, Day 13: Fear of God is Blessed by God, Huh?, The Bronze Serpent

Dear Saints,

The Monday Scriptures are Psalm 128, Numbers 21:4–9, Hebrews 3:1–6.

FEAR OF GOD IS BLESSED BY GOD, HUH?

Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD (Psalm 128:1).  Huh?

Fear in juxtaposition to blessing?  It is called a paradox (i.e. a seeming contradiction).  There are many in the Bible: last is first, greatest is servant, love your enemy, etc.  And there is a blessing in the fear of the Lord.

Now think of climbing Everest; you're ready to summit: Is that fear or exhilaration you feel?  Exactly!  And to think: God is the One that gave Everest its height!  The wedding night, the birth of a child — is that fear or exhilaration?

For good reasons, beyond our scope here, some say John was the closest to Jesus among the Twelve.  Yet twice he failed the test, when some well-meaning one told him fear is really respect in the Bible.  (Have you heard that one?).  All I know is after three years of 24/7, in-the-trenches, intimate friendship, John instantly kept hitting the deck each time Jesus showed His true glory: at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:6–7) and at the Revelation (Revelation 1:17).  It was soo the same both times: He fell as if dead, and Jesus needed to "resuscitate" him.  Just maybe we have seriously misjudged the unveiled glory of Jesus?  Peter in Luke's account of the Transfiguation said it was "good" and "terrifying" both.

And of the women on Resurrection  morning it was said: "So they departed quickly from the [empty] tomb WITH FEAR AND GREAT JOY, and ran to tell His disciples." (Matthew 28:8). 

And at one and the same time Jesus' countenance "is as the sun in all its strength" (Revelation 1:16) and what ancient theologians called the beatific vision or awe-making sight (Revelation 22:4).  Not either/or, but both/and.

I've been trying to work this out in a poem, that is to hint somehow at the Divine paradox: The fear of God is blessed by God in some marvelous, happy, holy way.

THE BRONZE SERPENT:

This is one of those protoevangelions (symbolic protrayals of the Gospel in the Old Testament).  How so?  In our reading the snake on the pole clearly was meant to prefigure Jesus on the Cross (rf. John 3:14–15).  Say what! Jesus as a snake?

I know, I struggle too.  But I believe the point is this: The snake/serpent, the sin, the curse had to be canceled upon the Cross of Christ.  And this Scripture gives a hint at the spiritual dynamics going on: "For our sake He made Him TO BE SIN who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17).  I don't know how else to say it, but upon the Cross, as a perfect sacrifice, Jesus took upon Himself the fallen nature and sin and death we incurred through the serpent's wiles; thereby "canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross." (Colossians 2:13).

Extra credit: Would the healing/medical arts be better symbolized by the Rod of Asclepius or the Caduceus of Hermes?  Maybe neither, but the topic gets discussion and the images echo Moses' snake & stave in the wilderness.

The Only Best in/is Christ,

tIM