John 3:14 – 21
During the American Civil War there was a man on a boat filled with wounded from the field. He was in a stupor, unresponsive and entirely unknown. In an effort to rouse him the Army chaplain called him by different names but got no response. At last, at the name “William,” the man opened his eyes and looked up.
The chaplain asked if he was a Christian and he replied, “No, I am so great a sinner that I can’t be saved.” But the chaplain told him that wasn’t true, and he read to the man what Christ said about that. He turned to John’s third chapter, our lesson for today, and began to read, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
“Stop!” the dying man said, “read that again“. So the chaplain read it again. “Is that really there?” he asked, “Yes,” said the chaplain “And did Christ really say that?” “Yes” came the reply. The man began repeating the words over and over, settling back on his pillow and the pain and distress left his face and was replaced with a look of peace and comfort.
The next morning when the chaplain returned to see the soldier his bed was empty. He asked about the man and a nurse who had spent the hours with him till he died, replied. “The whole time I was with him, he was repeating ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ and so on until his voice died away, his lips no longer moved, and the breath left his body.”
Our scripture lesson for today includes a verse that is unquestionably one of the most widely known and it has been called “the Gospel in a single verse”. Of course, we are talking about John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son to it and for it”. But the verse has been taken somewhat out of context.
Not that God doesn’t love us, but the phrase wasn’t the primary point of the statement by Jesus, rather it was included in a longer message to another man that was also afraid that he too was too far gone to be saved. That man, as you might recall, was a man by the name of Nicodemus.
At the beginning of Chapter 3, Nicodemus the Pharisee, one of the members of the powerful Jewish council, comes to see Jesus under the cloak of darkness. Even though he was a Pharisee, Nicodemus was a secret admirer of Jesus, he was a seeker of the truth of Christ and so came to Jesus at night so that he wouldn’t be seen by other Pharisees.
Nicodemus has come to find out about Jesus, His message, and His relationship to God. Nicodemus sees Jesus as a man with a mission and a message from God. Clearly Jesus is aware of who Nicodemus is, he is one of the Pharisees that have sought to eliminate Jesus from the religious and societal landscape.
Jesus’ words seem to take Nicodemus by surprise. In one sentence He sweeps away all that Nicodemus stood for and demands that he must be re-made by the power of God. Being a Pharisee, he knows the Old Testament scriptures thoroughly, but knowledge is not the path to salvation. As we know from last week, the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified on the Cross is the only pathway.
Jesus uses a story written in our Old Testament lesson today, Numbers 21 to teach Nicodemus a lesson. Jesus tells him “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”
In our Old Testament lesson this morning, we find, once again, that the Israelites are complaining to Moses and God about how they were being treated, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food this Manna which we have to collect every day if we are to eat!” God responds to the Israelites complaints by sending venomous snakes which bit the people and killed many.
As we know God’s purpose of consequences and punishment for sinful rebellion is always to lead His people back to himself through repentance. The season of Lent is an annual reminder of our needed return to God. So, when the people confessed to Moses that we have sinned, pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us, the Lord tells Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So, Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole.
Pastor Dan Myers tells us that; the bronze serpent on the pole may have looked like the source of death – but instead God made it the “cure” for their physical life! Likewise, Jesus’ suffering and dying on the cross looked like the source of defeat but God made it the only “cure”, the only “means” of eternal life for all people! Looking up to Jesus, Lifted Up on the cross offers eternal life to “everyone who believes.” To lift high the Cross of Jesus is to walk with Him, serve others in His name, and glorify Him as Lord of all creation.
Jesus, was not only “Lifted Up” on the cross, He was also “Lifted Up” in the resurrection on Easter and then again and 40 days later, he is “Lifted Up” at the Ascension. Jesus knew His place in this world, He knew His purpose for being sent and that was to give mankind a pathway back into a right relationship with God despite everything that we have done and will do.
As I have said before those of us that are alive now, even with all the challenges that we face in our physical and spiritual world, are the fortunate ones. If we are willing to hold Jesus up, to Lift Him Up as the standard for how we should live, love and serve God and each other and Jesus will continue to “lift us up” through means of Grace.
The story from Numbers isn’t about a snake, it’s about acknowledging that you need help. You need a savior. And it is about obedience to the one who will rescue you from what is killing you. If you just look up and live.
It isn’t a difficult thing to look up at a snake on stick or a man dying on a cross. The difficult part is surrendering ourselves to that which will save us rather than thinking we can save ourselves. It is admitting that there is poison in our system that will kill us if we don’t do something radical.
The Israelites wanted Moses to pray to God to remove the snakes but removing the challenges and obstacles from around us is not what God does. God left the snakes around them, left them vulnerable to the poison that could kill them. Yet, God gave them a remedy, a solution to the danger that surrounded them. Through free will and faithfulness, all they needed to do was to look up and live.
As we talked last week that the image and story of Jesus Christ on the Cross has the power to save our lives. Pastor Rick Morley tells us that: the vision of the cross is effectual, it does something inside our souls. Just like when the Israelites looked at the bronze serpent and were healed, the Cross with Jesus Lifted Up on it, has the power to heal and give life.
But according to John, gazing upon it, seeing it isn’t enough. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Friends it isn’t the seeing that heals, you need to believe to be healed, you have to have faith.
The Israelites that looked at the bronze serpent on the stick weren’t healed because of some anti venom serum contained in it, they were healed through faith in their God to heal them. If there is anything that we need to learn from this chapter is that we need to have great confidence and faith in Jesus Christ Lifted Up on the Cross, Lifted Up from the Grave and Lifted Up to Heaven where He sits beside His Heavenly Father.
Like the Pharisee Nicodemus and the dying soldier in our opening story, no matter how far gone we think that our soul might be, we only need to have faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savor to remove that deadly poison of disobedience from our veins and to save our muddled souls.
Hear the Good News my Friends…………
“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The Good News is that believing in Jesus Christ being Lifted Up will change your life. Through God’s love and our faithfulness, we are Lifted Up above the challenges of living in a disobedient world. God loves you too much to leave you where you are and how you are. In our lesson today we see how the love God changes us.
So, whatever happened to Nicodemus after his conversation with Jesus about the need to Lift Jesus up, to embrace him, to honor him for his works of salvation. Well, we don’t see him again until Jesus is arrested in the Garden and is put on trial, but Nicodemus defends Jesus before the council.
Our last picture of Nicodemus shows him joining Joseph of Arimathea in asking for Jesus’ body in order to provide for its burial. The sight of Jesus Lifted Up on the Cross changed him forever. Realizing what he was risking, Nicodemus makes a bold move, to believe in the sacrifice that Jesus was making so that all could find Eternal life.
That’s why it is important to understand one of the most well-known verses in the Bible by looking at the story of Nicodemus. He starts out as a man caught between the person that he is and the person that he feels inside that he is intended to be. He was a man that is caught between seeking out the truth of following Christ under the cover of darkness and becoming part of the fulfillment of Christ’s destiny when he helps to take his body from the cross and to the tomb and then prepares it.
Nicodemus may have come to his meeting with Jesus with some incorrect ideas about Christianity but the evidence proves that he found faith in Jesus going forward. Having faith in Jesus on the Cross High and Lifted Up changed his life in that moment and will change our lives for an Eternity. Amen.