Pastor Jacob Koshy Message -GREAT HEIGHTS
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In the United States, Christians often sing, “Lift Jesus higher…He said, ‘If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Me,’” based on John 12:32. The Bible does talk about “exalting” God and “lifting him up” in praise, but that is not the point of this text. If one reads the next verse (which explicitly says that Jesus was referring to his death), it is clear that “lifting him up” refers to his death on the cross. (The play on words with “lifting up” was already used in both Greek and Hebrew for forms of hanging, such as crucifixion.) Thus, if the song means by lifting Him up what the biblical verse means, we would be singing, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Of course God knows our hearts, but one wonders why a song writer would base a song, which millions of people might sing, on a verse yet not take the time to look up the verse on which it is based!
John three times refers to Jesus being “lifted up”: in one case, he compares this event to the serpent being lifted up in the wilderness (Jn 3:14), to make eternal life available to everyone (3:15). In the second, Jesus declares that His adversaries will lift Him up (8:28). In other words, John means by “lifting up” what Isaiah meant by it: Jesus would be crucified (Isa. 52:13 with Isa. 52:14-53:12). John includes plays on words in his gospel, and may also indicate that we “exalt” Jesus by preaching the Cross; but leaves no doubt as to the primary sense of the term in this context: crucifixion. To read it any other way is to ignore his explicit, inspired explanation of the “lifting up.”
Have you ever felt as though you needed a fresh start? Well, who hasn’t? President John Kennedy found himself wishing once that he could start over. In 1963 he visited West Berlin, and made an impassioned speech which would be remembered for years to come. The climax of his speech was when he paused, and then cried, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" The crowd that day in 1963 was swept up in the emotion of his words and ignored their meaning until later.
Kennedy had wanted to say, "Ich bin Berliner!" or "I am a Berliner!" But what he actually said was, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" or "I am a jelly doughnut!" I’m sure that looking back on that moment, Kennedy wished that he could do that over!
But there are other occasions when the thing we wish we could do over is much more serious than that, when lives are at stake. John Newton was a rough, dirty sailor with a foul mouth. He hated life, and life hated him. He was the captain of a slave ship. His mother had told him about Jesus when John was still very young, and even though he resisted her influence, he could never escape it. Then one day, someone gave John Newton a copy of Thomas a Kempis’ book “The Imitation of Christ,” and he was gloriously saved. He began going all over England sharing his faith, and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In his older years, he had to have an assistant stand in the pulpit with him on Sundays because he was so weak. He was nearly blind and spoke in whispers, but nothing could keep him from preaching while he still had breath. One Sunday, while delivering his message he repeated the sentence: "Jesus Christ is precious." His helper whispered to him: "But you have already said that twice." Newton turned to his helper and said loudly, "Yes, I’ve said it twice, and I’m going to say it again." The stones in the ancient sanctuary fairly shook as the grand old preacher said again: "Jesus Christ is precious!"
John Newton needed a fresh start in his life, and because of Jesus, John Newton received a fresh start in life. He looked back on his life, and realized what a great thing Jesus had done for him, and his experience with Christ is immortalized in the words to our great hymn, “Amazing Grace.” It truly was amazing grace that picked up John Newton and gave him another chance.
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