LIVING A LIFTED-UP LIFE
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)
Introduction
The word ‘lift’ means to move or bring (something) upward from the ground or other support to a higher position. As used in this ministration ‘Lifted-up life’ simply means to attain a higher level on the ‘ladder of successful life’. In other words, it means to have improvement in one’s life, or to accomplish a desired set of goal(s) or to fulfil one’s destiny. Simply put, lifted-up life is a life of success or prosperity as ordained by God. The plan of God for every human being is to live a lifted-up life. This notion is backed up by God’s own word: “For I know the plans I have for you -- -, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV). Furthermore, God’s intention for His people to live a lifted-up life is evident by His inspired word as declared by Apostle John: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John v. 2). The lifted-up life (success) God intends for those who will do His will is in all things. No matter what level of success you are now, may you be lifted higher in Jesus’ name.
LIFTED-UP LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST
Out of many people in the Bible who enjoyed lifted-up life, the case of Jesus Christ is most remarkable and serves a reference point to for the believer to learn some lessons. Not only was Jesus Christ lifted up, He also lifted up many lives out of sins, sickness, prison, poverty, failure, barrenness, lameness, etc. A careful review of the life of Jesus Christ, points to three major discernible epochs that exemplified the lifted-up life phenomena. These are (1) Before He was born, (2) When He died on the Cross of calvary and (3) when He resurrected and ascended to heaven. Each of these epochs is undergirded by important lessons worthy of digging into:
(1) Pre-Incarnate Era of Jesus Christ
Although Jesus was not physically born into the world until the New Testament era, His influences were all over the Old Testament. A case in point is His representation of the lifted-up fiery serpent on the pole to whom any one bitten by the serpent must look to in other avoid dying. God sent the serpents to bite the Israelites disgruntled and discouraged and accused Moses and God for lack of water and food and for bringing them out of Egypt only to die in the wilderness (Num 21: 4-9. The fiery serpent on the pole was symbolic of Jesus Christ who would be nailed to the cross carrying the sins of the world with Him. During His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ Himself described this situation succinctly, when He said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:14-15).
Lessons to learn from the Pre-Birth Lifted-Up Life of Jesus include:
(a) Existence of Jesus Christ before time and long before the New Testament era as supported by the following scriptures (John 1:1, 14; Isa. 9:6). In many of his writing Apostle Paul affirmed the pre-incarnate nature of Jesus Christ by describing Him as the Creator of all things Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). Jesus Himself pointed out and taught about His own pre-existence (John 6:33, 38), and even said that He existed prior to Abraham’s birth (John 8:58–59).
(b) The central role of Jesus in salvation is emphasized in the analogy He made between people looking up to Moses’ lifted-up fiery serpent in the wilderness and getting healed to that of not dying of their sins simply by looking up to Him and believing that He died for their sins on the cross. Salvation has always been only through faith and believe in Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are carrying the load of unconfessed sins and just waiting to die from the bite of Satanic serpent (Rom 3:23). You can avoid dying simply by looking unto Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Lord and Savior for He has already paid the penalty on the cross for the sins of all who will accept Him as their Lord and Savior (Rom. 3:23, 10:8-9; John 3:16; 14:1-3). Do it now and be ready in whenever Jesus comes (2 Cor. 6:2)
(2) Jesus’ Lifted-Up Life on the Cross
The second epoch of the lifted-up life of Jesus Christ happened at the end of His earthly ministry when He was arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Although many people including the Pharisees and the scribes, did not believe Him, Jesus Christ predicted his crucifixion and resurrection several times in the Gospels as indicated in the following sampled scriptures:
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31, NKJV).
“Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be [a]accomplished. 32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. 33 They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” (Luke 18: 31-33, NKJV)
Exactly what Jesus Christ predicted was what happened to Him. Following His betrayal by one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Jesus Christ was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by crucifixion (for detail see John chapters 18 and 19). While on the cross Jesus made the following seven important last statements before He died:
• “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
• “..Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
• “…Woman, behold thy Son.” (John 19:26)
• “…My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34)
• “…I thirst.” (John 19:28)
• “…It is finished.” (John 19:30)
• “…Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
On the third day of His burial Jesus resurrected as He predicted. Hallelujah.
Lessons to Learn from Jesus Lifted-up Life on the Cross.
(a). Jesus Christ obeyed His Father and endured to the end to accomplish the work God sent Him to do. As excruciating as the torture was before and on the cross, Jesus Christ did not give up. He finished His work gloriously, declaring, “It is finished” (John 19:30). As followers of Christ, we must learn to obey God and be determined to accomplish whatever He requires us to do. There are common assignments to all believers such as witnessing (Mark 16:15), praying (1 Thes. 5:17) and living holy (1 Pet 1:6) as well as individual assignments that may be tied to the specific gifts that each of us is endowed with. In each assignment category, God expects complete obedience from us.
(b) Forgiveness is another important lesson to learn from the lifted-up life of Jesus Christ. While on the cross carrying all the sins of the world on Himself, He was still insulted and mocked by the same people He was sacrificing His life for. Yet, He did not retaliate, instead He still prayed to for them saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
(c) Aside from forgiveness, we can also learn about been compassionate from Jesus Christ in the sense that, while on the cross, out of love and compassion He arranged for His mother to be catered for by John. Additionally, He pardoned one of the robbers (who did not condemn Jesus like the other robber) and promised to take him along with Him to paradise. We must follow Jesus Christ’s example by showing love and compassion to others in making necessary efforts to satisfy their needs and source out helps within our reach for them.
(d) Accuracy of Prophecies About the Messiah
All the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah’s life, death and resurrection and the ones Jesus Christ made about Himself were accurately fulfilled. Two Illustrations to back up this claim are:
(a) Betrayal of Jesus and (b) The cruel way He would be murdered and nailed to the cross.
Concerning betrayal, David declares, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9). Jesus Christ Himself also prophesied about His betrayal thus: “And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, one of you which eateth with me shall betray me” (Mark 14:18). And lo and behold, as predicted, at the appointed time, Judas did betray Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver (Matt. 26:14-16).
With respect to nature of His death, Prophet Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would face false accusations, beaten, mocked and spat upon (Isaiah 53:7; Isaiah 50:6). During His ministry on the way to Jerusalem with His disciples, Jesus Christ told them about His suffering and imminent death in the hands of the chief priests and scribes (Matthew 20:17-19). It turned out that Jesus was killed exactly as it was prophesied both in the Old Testament and by Jesus Christ Himself (Mark 15:16-20).
From the foregoing, believers must know and remember that the accuracy of the word of God is indisputable. The Bible says, "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89). In fact, the word of God is inerrant (free from error). Just as Jesus Christ is the truth, so also His word is always true. Search the scriptures and find out and claim all that the Bible says about you. Your expectation shall not be cut off in Jesus’ name.
(3) Lifted-Up Life in Resurrection and Ascension
The climax of the Lifted-Up life of Jesus Christ is when He resurrected on the third day of His death. Long before Jesus was born into the world, the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been predicted in the Old Testament: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). Additionally, the Bible says, “..God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah” (Psalm 49:15).
Although the wicked hands of His enemies crucified Jesus Christ as mentioned earlier, His body did not see corruption as predicted, for, God, His father, raised Him up. The following are a few scriptures that validate the upliftment of Jesus from the grave by God:
“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32).
“Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:26). See also: Acts 13:30, 33, 37; Rom. 7:4; 1 Cor. 15:15; Gal. 1:1; Col 2:12)
Jesus Christ maintained His active lifted-up life after His resurrection, making appearances to individuals and groups of people. All in all, Jesus made at least 12 appearances, thereby confirming His resurrection. Some of the recorded people Jesus appeared to after His resurrection include: (a) Mary Magdalene, the first person to see Him after he arose from death (John 20:11-17), (b) Simon Peter (Luke 24:34), (c) the Two Disciples walking to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32), (d) the 10 Apostles who gave Jesus a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb which He ate (Luke 24:33-49), (e) the 11 Apostles to whom He declared, ‘Peace be unto you’ (John 20:26-30), (f) meeting with the apostles in Galilee from whom He received worship and to whom he gave the Great Commission, telling them to teach and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20), (g) Apostle Paul also noted that 500 people saw the risen Jesus at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6)
Another miraculous and faith-enhancing aspect of the Lifted-Up life of Jesus Christ is His ascension (physical bodily upliftment to heaven). This monumental event happened 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection. The Bible records that, while Jesus Christ was having discussion with His disciples, advising them to stay in Jerusalem until the arrival of the Holy Spirit, “..he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1: 9-10).
Lessons from Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension
(a) The truism that there is life after death as exemplified by the experience of Jesus Christ who declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die….” (John 11:25-26). Therefore, anyone that wants to enjoy everlasting life provided by Jesus Christ must by faith believe and accept Him as his Lord and Savior (John 3:16).
(b) The ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven is a confirmation that He finished what He was sent into the world to do by His father and returned to His father.
According to God’s word every believer and true follower of Jesus Christ will be lifted up to meet Jesus Christ in the air when He returns to take to heaven those who believe in Him (John 14: 1-3). This meeting in the air of Jesus and His followers whom He will take to heaven is called the rapture. Apostle Paul gives us a description of the rapture thus: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thes 4: 13-17).
Are you ready go with Jesus Christ when He comes to take His own to heaven? All it takes to be ready is to surrender your life to Him to be your Lord and savior. You can do it today simply by confessing your sins to Him, asking for His grace and mercy to forgive you and be your Lord henceforth (Rom 3:23, John 3:16, John 14: 1-3)
To do List of Living a Lifted-Up Life:
Do you want to live a lifted-up life and be among those Jesus Christ will lift up during the rapture to take with Him to heaven? Here are some basic things you must do:
Depend on God and His grace for Your Salvation (Eph.2:8, John 15:5, Phil. 2:5, Eph. 5:1)
Devote yourself to God’s work, word and way (Rom.12:1-2, Josh.1: 8, Luke 16:13, Exo. 23: 25)
Do God’s will (1 Pet 1:16, Deut. 8: 1-3, Deut. 28: 1-2, 1 Thes. 5:18, Luke 10:27)
Draw yourself and others near to God (Exo 24: 1-2, James 4:8, Psalm. 65:4, Matt 28: 19-20)
