HE LIFTED ME

In the early days of the ministry of Jesus, He said to Nicodemus, “And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up.” Then at the end of His ministry He said, “And I, if I be lifted up will draw all men unto Me.” Jesus was lifted when He was crucified. They nailed Him to the cross and lifted it up, and dropped it into a hole that shook the foundations of hell. But He was not only lifted up on the cross, He was also lifted up from the grave on the third day when He was raised up from the dead. Lifted up on the cross, lifted up from the grave and then He was lifted up again at the time of His ascension; lifted up all the way to heaven.

Think of it. He was lifted up in prophecy as the serpent on the pole, lifted up on the cross, lifted up in the resurrection, and lifted up in the ascension. When He returns, He will lift us up from the earth to meet Him in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

As we are lifted up to meet Him in the air we could say in the words of the gospel song, “With tender hand He lifted me-From sinking sand He lifted me-From shades of night to realms of light-O praise His name He lifted me.”

But that is not all. When we have lived for several million years in heaven, without question, our favorite gospel hymn might very well be, “Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help love lifted me.”

But for the present, as we eat the loaf and drink the cup in memory of the One who was lifted up on the cross, lifted up from the grave, and lifted up into heaven, what better thought for us than this, “I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore-Very deeply stained within sinking to rise no more-But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry-from the waters lifted me now safe am I.”