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Response to Misha'al Al-Kadhi: But he must be God, he was lifted up
A response to 1.2.3.21
But he must be God, he was lifted up
Al-Kadhi asks how we are to read the following scripture:
John 3:14-15 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man belifted up: That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life."
He says this lifting up is akin to Elijah's being transported
to heaven by the fiery chariots, and to Enoch's being
quickened into glory. He denies that it means a crucifixion.
The scripture Jesus alludes to about Moses reads:
Numbers 21:8-9 "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent,
and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten,
when he looks at it shall live.' So Moses made a bronze
serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent
had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he
lived."
The serpent is on a pole. It is a symbol with the power to
heal. Jesus was crucified on a tree, in the same way,
so that everyone who looks to the cross will be saved
from sin. Lifted up means that Jesus was taken from the
earth to hang on a cross, not into heaven. That Jesus
alludes to the bronze serpent makes this evidently clear.
No sense interpreting scripture except by scripture!
The Rebuttal to "What Did Jesus Really Say?"
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