“Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus
answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand
these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear
witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have
told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended
from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him
may have eternal life.” (John 3:9–15, ESV)
Have you ever walked into a conversation in the middle and
wondered what they were taking about? Splitting up looking at Bible passages from
day to day can almost be like walking in on a conversation. The big difference
is that we can pick up our Bibles and read the current passage in its complete
context. In the last post we read that Nicodemus had come to visit Jesus at
night, commenting on how anyone who did the things that Jesus did must have
been sent from God. Jesus’ response to Nicodemus was that he needed to be born
again—a birth from above by the Spirit entirely different from His birth in the
flesh. This new birth would come with a full and complete cleansing.
In today’s passage Nicodemus responds to what Jesus had said
by questioning how what Jesus had said could be possible. Jesus turned the
tables again on Nicodemus pointing to his position as a teacher among the Jews.
As a teacher he should know the things which Scripture had foretold, and as a
person of faith he should understand of the things of God. All of the things of
which Jesus had spoken were foretold in the Scriptures (Old Testament), and as
not just “a” teacher but “the” teacher of Israel Nicodemus should know these
things. Clearly from this we get the picture that Nicodemus was a well-studied
and highly respected person, one who was regarded as being knowledgeable in the
things of God.
Here we also have a distinctive emphasis between “we” and “you,”
where “you” refers to the nation of Israel who hear and do not understand or
accept what they have heard, and the “we” represents Jesus and those who know, understand,
and proclaim the truths of God and the means of His salvation. Those, such as
Nicodemus, who should know clearly do not know. Even speaking in simple earthly
terms they don’t get it. So, how would they get that which is from God?
It is for these reasons that Jesus spoke in parables or
chose not to do miracles in some regions or in front of some people. Jesus knew
their hearts, and He knew who would respond. Knowing these things, He also
selectively chose how He would work and what He would say. Jesus had just told
Nicodemus that he must be born again by the Spirit of God. In this portion of
the passage, Jesus told him that in order for this to come to pass that the Son
of Man (the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah) first had to descend from
heaven. As we know, Jesus (the Son of God) was sent by the Father and conceived
by the Holy Spirit becoming fully man as He is fully God. Jesus was sent to go
to the cross to pay the price for our sins, and after His death He was to rise
again, after which He would then ascend to the Father. Jesus was sent by God
and He would return to God, and in between these He would accomplish our
salvation and the granting of eternal life. The latter would not happen without the
first. These truths are found in the Old Testament Scriptures, and yet
Nicodemus (like most others) did not understand them. Jesus was the only One of
whom this is true. No one else had this kind of access to heaven, but the Son
of God alone. As such, no one had the authority of the One sent by God to save
mankind of his sins and grant to him eternal life.
Jesus pointed to the picture of Moses raising up the serpent
in the wilderness. In Numbers 21:5-9 we read, “And the people spoke against God
and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the
wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless
food.” Then the Lord sent fiery
serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of
Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we
have spoken against the Lord and
against you. Pray to the Lord,
that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And
the Lord said to Moses, “Make a
fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees
it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a
serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” (Numbers
21:5–9, ESV)
The people of Israel had begun to grumble and speak against
God and Moses. In response God sent judgment on them such that if they
were bitten by the fiery serpents they would die. As they watched others dying
before them they recognized their sin and pleaded with Moses to beseech God to
take away the serpents. It is interesting to see that God did not remove the
serpents, but He did send a cure. Moses made a fiery serpent of bronze which he
raised up on a pole, and when the people who were bitten by the serpents looked
upon the bronze serpent they were saved. This is an incredible picture of God
sending His Son to be raised up on a cross to give life—eternal life—to all of
those who would believe.
Throughout the Scriptures we find that God had consistently
pointed to the coming of His Son. And as the teacher of Israel, Nicodemus
should have seen Him coming and not have been surprised. Unlike Nicodemus, we
have the advantage today of not having to interpret the Old Testament
prophecies and portrayals, but of also having recorded for us the coming of
Jesus, including His birth, teachings, miracles, death, burial and
resurrection. God told us what He was going to do hundreds of years in advance,
and in the Bible we see that He actually did it. The statement that Jesus made
to Nicodemus is true for all who wish to be saved. It is a simple one—believe in
the Son of God and you will be saved.
Jesus continued to unfold this mystery to
Nicodemus, and we will continue to look at this important interaction in the next
post. “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV)
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