9Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept [receive] our testimony. 12“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13“No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Interesting Words
testify
martureó – bear witness, testify, give evidence, testify, give a good report
• John 1:6-8, 15;
• Acts 10:43;
receive
lambanó – receive, get, take, lay hold of, “actively lay hold of to take or receive, seize”
• John 1:11-12;
• Acts 10:43;
believe
pisteuó – believe, have faith in, trust in; pass: I am entrusted with.
• John 1:11-12, 3:16;
• Acts 10:43;
Son of Man
ho huios tou anthrōpou – definite article (ho = the), son, descendent, of man, also the generic term for “mankind“; the human race
• Dan 7:13, 14;
• Matt 8:20; Luke 5:24;
serpent
ophis – a snake, a type of sly cunning or an artfully malicious person, used of the devil or Satan, 5The people spoke against God and 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 miserable food.” 6The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
Numb_21:5-9
Cross References
• Phil 2:5-6; 7-8 – Jesus was God incarnate, God in human flesh
• Isa 49:5, 6 – Jesus, God’s servant will be instrumental in saving the nations, the gentiles.
• John 14:6 – Jesus claims to be the only way to heaven.
Discussion Questions
- Explain the reference to the wilderness experience in John 3:14-15. Also consider the original account as described in Numb_21:5-95The people spoke against God and 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 miserable food.” 6The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. 8Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” 9And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
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• - How are we in this current day similar to the Israelites as shown in Numbers 21:5?
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• - How is God’s response today similar to His response to the Israelites (Numb 21:6)?
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• - What are the similarities and differences between this OT typology and the account given for Jesus in John 1:12,13 and in this section in John 3:16-17?
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• - What is the brutally true reality described in John 3:17-18, (consider also Jesus’ claim in John 14:6)?
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• - What is the best response to Jesus? Why?
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