The Bible In Your Hand

John 3:11-21

In verse 11, Jesus has given John evidence of heaven’s appeal to Israel and actually to all the earth. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what we have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

Jesus has a point; often, in life, we cannot believe things that are plainly set before us. We can see the evidence in nature but refuse to believe there is a creator who created all the earth for our enjoyment. We fail to believe the evidence that is plainly set out before us when we talk to our spouse, a co-worker, or a friend. How is it that we will believe things of heavenly nature? But Jesus gave the answer to this problem within this passage. It has two parts. Going back to verses 5 and 6, Jesus said, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Jesus Is referencing back to His own baptism and states that this is available to all when we accept Christ. Before we explore the Christ portion of this, verse 11 states that the heavenly trio has been working to reveal themselves to us in a way we can comprehend, and it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we gain knowledge regarding the things of heaven. The We stated three times in verse 11 is a reference to the Godhead revealing to us things regarding what heaven is doing on our behalf for our salvation. Jesus illustrates that there is no one on earth who has seen the Father because they have not ascended into heaven. The only one that has freely moved back and forth between heaven and earth is the “Son of Man.” But Jesus is also saying, “Only One who has been in heaven has the authority to bring heavenly truths only by revelation from heaven, not the speculation of humanity.

Then, Jesus further illustrates His purpose by drawing from an event in Israel’s history. No people in the history of the earth have relished their history more than Israel has. It is indeed a rich history. Jesus’s next statement is a reference back to their history as they wandered through the wilderness. In Numbers 21:4-9 we have the story Jesus is referencing. In the story, the children of Israel spoke against God and Moses. They questioned, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our souls loathes this worthless bread (a reference to the manna).” Remember, they are in the desert. A Place in which many poisonous insects and serpents are present. Throughout the Journey, God has protected them. But Israel’s desire is to return to Egypt, a place they were enslaved in and served in bondage. Imagine being led to a land that would be their own. Was the way to that promised land always easy? No, of course not. Had God promised to be with them and protect them? Yes, certainly, why wouldn’t He? He had called them His firstborn and wanted to make of them a kingdom of priests. But they would rather return to slavery and bondage than continue to follow God, so God removes his protection, which has kept the poisonous serpents out of the camp. Suddenly, many Israelites were being bitten by the serpents. As a result, they began to die. So they came to Moses, admitting their wrong in that they sinned against God.

Moses was instructed by God to have a bronze serpent made in the likeness of those serpents who were poisoning the people. Not only was he to have a bronze serpent made, but he was to place that bronze serpent on a pole and lift it into place in the middle of the camp. In that way, if one was bitten by a serpent, they could look at the object made like a serpent, and by faith, they would be healed from the serpent’s venom. There was no saving power in the bronze serpent. It represented the one that was the problem. Those who looked at the serpent and believed that God could cure them were saved. The bronze serpent was a representative of that which caused the problem, the serpents that bit the people.

Jesus is telling this learned teacher of Israel, as the serpent was lifted up and all who looked and believed would be healed from the serpent bite, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, who is God made in the likeness of humanity, verse 15, “That whoever believed in Him (Jesus that came to us in the form of him who caused the problem) should not perish but have eternal life.”

This statement should have caused Nicodemus to ask the question, “What?” Jesus is using the illustration of the serpent lifted in the wilderness and that all who believed would be healed upon looking at the serpent made in the likeness of that which caused the problem. Nicodemus is hanging on every word, wondering what Jesus meant. But more importantly, Nicodemus is asking what, why, and how. But notice what Jesus did in verse 15 as he continues the thought of 14. “That whoever believes in Him. . . .” Who is this “Him?” Christ, throughout this conversation, has been revealing Nicodemus’s need for a genuine relationship with heaven. Jesus is now referring to Himself as the way and means of being saved from the serpent’s bite that caused the fall of Adam and Eve. Therefore, when Christ is lifted up, and we look upon the Christ of the cross, and when we believe in what Christ has done, we will not perish like those in the wilderness; we will have eternal life.

Jesus continues this thought in verses 16 and 17. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

For this proud Jew who is a teacher of Israel, this comes as a shock. Jesus is saying that He has come because God loved humanity and therefore sent Him to take on the likeness of the one that caused the problem so that all who believe in or in Him will receive eternal life and entrance into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus opens the next paragraph similarly to the way he ended the last by saying, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” So, how does condemnation happen? Jesus answers this in verse 19, “This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

Their lack of relationship and misunderstanding of who God the Father is has created the darkness that was within the heart of Nicodemus when he came to Jesus. It depicts the condition of all our hearts before we establish a relationship with God. This darkness causes men to act contrary to God’s desire for them. The problem with light is that it exposes us for who we are and should show us our need for Christ to save us from the serpent’s bite. But he who listens and responds to the Holy Spirit comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God. Oh, don’t get me wrong, this is not the reason why they have responded to the Holy Spirit. Pride and to have others look at them is not their desire. Their desire is to be seen as God would want them to be seen, and thus draw all humanity to God.

This post is long, and I apologize for the length. Nowhere else does Jesus describe who He is and His mission so clearly as he does in this discussion with Nicodemus and another discussion that we will soon look at. Jesus is saying to this learned teacher of Israel and to us that it is only by looking to Christ and believing in him that we can be healed from the serpent’s bite that happened in the garden that caused the whole world to be condemned but through Christ and belief in his saving power, can we enter the kingdom of heaven.