Ascending |
And as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up
- John 3:14
Today we will attempt to answer the questions, “Who/what is the Son of Man?” and “Why lift him up?”
In the Gospel of John The Master Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, who was questioning him about salvation. Jesus tells him:
- “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3: 13-15
This serpent that Moses lifted up in the desert was a symbol of life used as a healing for the children of Israel who were smitten by serpents in the wilderness. Even to this day this symbol of the serpents wrapped around a rod, is used by the medical profession as a symbol of life and healing. Jesus further instructs Nicodemus:
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
Who is this only begotten Son of God? It is Christ, the middle principle of the Holy Trinity of Being. Christ is God’s idea of man, i.e. the perfect man whom He created in His image and likeness.
The Master Jesus referred to himself as the “Son of Man” The Son of Man is man’s idea of himself. For Jesus the Son of God and the Son of Man were one and the same. He proclaimed, “I and my Father are one.” This is a very important lesson that Jesus was teaching here. This is what he expects us to believe in order to have eternal life. He said that the Son of man must be lifted up.
To me this idea of lifting up the Son of Man speaks clearly to the notion that we must raise up our idea of ourselves so that we identify our image of ourselves with the image and likeness of God in which we are created, rather than with the fleshly body in which we reside. It means to lift up our self-image from the realm of the human ego to that of the Spirit of God within us. In other words, see ourselves as God sees us.
God’s idea of man (the perfect man) came down into man’s idea of himself. It must be lifted up again to the realm of Divine ideas (Heaven).
- “So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:28-32
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What is the truth about the Son of Man? How can it set us free?
- “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them...” Luke 9:55-56
The Son of Man is a saving Spirit, and he has power on earth to forgive sins.
- But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." Matthew 9: 6
The Son of man is a forgiving, healing Spirit. The Son of man must forgive sins on earth, because that is the only place where sins can be perceived. He must perform his healing work on earth because there is the only place where illness or imperfection of any sort can be perceived. In the realm of the Divine, God only sees us as He created us , Whole, perfect, and sinless. God’s eyes are too pure to behold iniquity. He sees us in His image and likeness.
- Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:23-25
Here the Master Jesus is predicting events that were to come, i.e. his crucifixion and resurrection. He will utterly relinquish his identification as a fleshly being and assume an identification of pure Spirit which lives eternally. What does it mean to hate one’s life in this world in order to keep it for eternal life?
- “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” John 12:26
The Master Jesus if telling us that we must be willing to do as he is doing. We must be willing to give up our identification with the flesh and lift up our idea of ourselves to identify with our Spiritual Self.
What is this world anyway except a little gap perceived to tear eternity apart and break it into little chunks of time inhabited by a picture of the Son of God that appears to be broken into little pieces each concealed within a separate little chunk of flesh? But God has never left us alone and separate. That is only a misperception of ourselves. God gave us His Holy Spirit as a deposit for our Divine inheritance. Once we come to know the truth, we can be free to claim our full inheritance. Holy Spirit’s function is to take the little broken pieces of the Son of Man, and put them back into place - to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle and hold it up as a completed image for us to see. Thus we see the entire picture and “know the Truth” that we are ONE Son of God.
- "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. - John 12:27-31
Now is the time for the judgment of this world! Now is the time for the prince of this world (ego) to be cast out! Now is the time for the Son of man to be glorified - time to identify ourselves with the Christ. "Christ in you - your hope of glory."
Choose you this day whom you shall serve.
SPIRIT (willing)
FLESH (weak)
Oneness, Unity
Separation
Love, Wisdom
fear and folly
Health, Wholeness
illness, pain, suffering
Sinlessness, Correction
sin, guilt, punishment
Cooperation
competition
Peace
strife, division
Clarity of Mind
confusion
Abundant life
lack, limitation
Blessedness
wretchedness
Eternal life
death
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The Master Jesus said:
- “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." - John 12:32
- He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so `how can you say, `The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this `Son of Man'?" Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. - John 12:33-36
When we lift up the Son of Man we identify with the Spirit of God within us, with the Light of truth. With this identification we are able to look beyond the appearance of the body and know:
- There is no appearance (no matter how real it may seem) that can replace the Truth about God’s creation.
- There is no evil in any form that can overcome God’s will - which is always good.
- There is no error you or I can make that can change the Truth about who and what we are, or that can separate us from the love of God.
Who is the Son of Man? - He is God identifying with His own creation whom He loved so dearly that He gave His very own Soul - His only begotten Son - to dwell within us as our soul - our individualized expression of the One Soul of God. Christ in us our hope of glory. This is why the Master Jesus in his true identification declared,
- “I AM the way the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father but by me.”
He was identifying with the Soul of God. The Spirit dwells within the Soul, the soul then expresses within the body.
- I am in the Father and the Father is in me, and I in you.
The body is not who we are; it is simply our equipment for expressing who we are. We are the very soul of God. The Master Jesus proclaims,
- "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies - John 11:25
Christ did not sacrifice his life, but rather his body. (The resurrection proved that). What he sacrificed was his identification with the flesh in order to prove to us that it is the Spirit which lives and is indestructible.
- Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. - Hebrews 10: 9-10
- and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:26
- “But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" I Corinthians 15: 35-55
Lift up the Son of Man, and declare, affirm and know the Truth that sets us free. “I and my Father are One.”
© 1997 - Carolyn Odom Burleson, Ph.D.
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