He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the images of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made, which was called Nehushtan. Up to that time the people of Israel had burned incense in its honor.

As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up,

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me."

What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin.

Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.

"Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is.

"I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son.

The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.

Whoever continues to sin belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the Devil had done.

For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day."

For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the scripture says, "The person who is put right with God through faith shall live."

Law was introduced in order to increase wrongdoing; but where sin increased, God's grace increased much more.

So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God's grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.