As Moses Lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness



Introduction

Everyone wants to go to heaven some day. A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once explained how he was going to get to heaven to writer Mark Twain, "Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the 10 Commandments aloud at the top." "I have a better idea," replied Twain. "You could stay in Boston and keep them."

In John chapter 3 we have the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night to find out about eternal life. He had many questions in his mind, and it is apparent from the narrative that he was not quite ready to accept Christ as the Savior.

Verse 12

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

With this verse we can see that Nicodemus is not a believer yet. When we read this account, we wonder how Nicodemus could not understand what Jesus is talking about.

Now my feeling is that Nicodemus was a good and kind man. He was genuinely interested in serving God and doing the right thing, but he was doing it all the wrong way. He was trying to do it in his own strength by his own ability. He needed to let God’s Spirit take control of his life.

We all have failed God. The penalty for disobedience to God is eternal separation from him. But God in his mercy has provided a way for us. In the Old Testament the Hebrews were instructed to sacrifice a lamb as an atonement for their sins. They would have to do this often. This lamb sacrifice was a substitute which was looking forward to God’s true lamb sacrifice: his son Jesus who would be crucified on the cross for all of man’s sins in the past, the present, and the future. Romans 6:23 informs us, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." We have earned eternal death, but God sent his son Jesus that we might have eternal life.

Perhaps you, like Nicodemus, are trying to do things in your own strength or your own ability. You are a good person. You help others, you attend church, you even tithe. But have you been renewed in your spirit? Have you allowed Jesus to come into your life and take complete control? Jesus said, until you are made alive in your spirit, you will not enter the kingdom of God.

Verse 13

No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.

Christ is explaining to Nicodemus that he is the one who descended from heaven. He is the promised Messiah. This verse makes it very clear that Jesus wants Nicodemus to understand that he is the Christ. Do you realize who Jesus is? Do you understand that he is the one who came down from heaven to pay the price for your sins and mine?

Verse 14

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up,

This is the key verse that I want to look at this morning. Jesus does something truly remarkable for Nicodemus here. Nicodemus was not yet ready to believe. So Jesus gives him a sign, that when he sees it, he will believe.

Christ refers to Numbers 21:7-9. Let’s examine those verses.

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 every one 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 any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

When the nation of Israel was invaded by fiery serpents. God told Moses to raise a brass serpent on a pole. Everyone that looked at the serpent lifted up on the pole was healed. The Hebrew word used here for pole < sn'> nes means standard or banner. It was a long pole often with a cross bar near the top to hold the ensign or flag of the tribe or military unit. Wilson points out that the standard was used as "a rallying point or standard which drew people together for some common action.... The standard was usually raised on a mountain or other high place. ... There, a signal pole, sometimes with an ensign attached, could be raised as a point of focus or object of hope."

Now let’s move forward a few years. Nicodemus is still a Pharisee, but now Christ has been sentenced by Pilate. John 19:16-20 tells us,

Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Gol'gotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

Notice that verse 20 says, "many of the Jews read this title." Let’s go back to Christ’s conversation with Nicodemus. Do you see what Jesus was doing here for Nicodemus in John 3:14? He was giving him a sign that he could not miss. Many Pharisees were at the cross when Jesus was crucified. I am convinced that Nicodemus was there too. As he looked at Jesus raised up on that cross bar lifted high on the hill of Mount Calvary, he had to see the picture of Moses raising the pole of healing for Israel. I believe it was at this point that Nicodemus was either persuaded to become a believer, or if already a believer, his faith was forever confirmed.

Jesus loves you just as much as he did Nicodemus. He will confirm himself to you also. In some area of your life he will reveal the reality of his love for you. It will be there if you look for it. Even though we follow Jesus in faith, it is not a blind faith. Over the years, God has shown me time after time how he has his hand on me: whether it was his protecting hand on me when I wasn’t serving him, his healing hand on me when the doctors saw no hope for me, or his strengthening hand on me as I stepped out in faith each new day. God will reveal himself to you. We don’t always see it right away. But after awhile our spiritual eyes are opened, and we begin to see clearly. It is never 20/20 vision. We must always walk in faith. But we have seen God perform his wonders in our life so many times, that we learn to trust him along the way.

Jesus had to be lifted up on the cross so that he could heal us of our sins. Just as the brass serpent was raised on the pole for the healing of Israel, so Jesus was raised on the cross for the healing of the world. When Nicodemus saw Christ on that cross he understood and believed. As we think of the Easter season, can you see Jesus on that cross? Look at him on that cross. Be like Nicodemus – understand and believe. He was lifted up on that cross for you, he was lifted up on that cross for me. He was lifted up on that cross to heal us from all our sins.

Verse 15

That whoever believes in him may have eternal life."

Who has eternal life? Who is set free? Whoever believes in him. What happens then? Let’s read verse 15 again, "Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Do you realize you have entered into eternal life? In John 5:24 Jesus promised, ""Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." When you become a believer, you pass from death into life.

The message of Christ is a simple message. We can spend long hours of debate on interpretation of scripture and the differences in doctrine from one church to the next, but Jesus never said you had to be a Bible scholar to be part of his family. All he said is that you have to believe in him. How often have Christians wandered off far from the simplicity of the gospel message into the complexities of theology, prophecy, Bible scholarship and argument. Most people when they accept Christ as their Savior know very little about the Bible, they may not understand the doctrine of the Trinity, they may be clue-less when it comes to eschatology, and they may know little about the great theological debates which have raged in the church over the past centuries. All they know is that they are in need of a Savior, and that God loves them. They accept Christ as their Savior in simplicity. Perhaps today we need to emphasize more the simplicity of the gospel message.

On the tragic night in 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank. Many died in that cold Atlantic Ocean. The scene outside the White Star office in Liverpool was a place of sorrow. A great crowd of relatives of those who had taken passage on that ill-fated vessel thronged the street. On the two sides of the main entrance two large boards had been placed. On one was printed, KNOWN TO BE SAVED, and on the other, KNOWN TO BE LOST.

Every now and then, a man would appear from the office bearing a large piece of cardboard on which was written the name of one of the passengers. As he held up the name, a deathly stillness swept over the crowd as the people watched to see to which of the boards he would pin the name. When Christ was nailed to the cross, God looked down and he wrote KNOWN TO BE SAVED on that cross, and then he began pinning all our names on it.

Verse 16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Why did the Holy Spirit draw you to God? Why did Jesus pay the price for your sins? Why did the Father offer you a way out from the penalty of eternal punishment. Verse 16 tells us why — for God so loved the world. He loves you, he loves me. Psalm 103:17 tells us, "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting...." God’s mercy is extended to us.

Notice this verse says that God gave his only begotten son. Jesus coming and paying the price for your sins and mine was God’s gift to us. He gave his son. Why? So that we might be able to believe.

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Taken from: http://www.hurtingchristian.org/PastorsSite/gospels/john3-12-16.htm