14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
John 3:14-21
As we read in the previous lesson, Jesus came to give us new life by His Spirit. But the only way such new life was possible was for there first to be a death. Sin, the thing that had separated mankind from God, had to die. Jesus would use the picture of a grain of wheat dying before it could produce more life later (John 12:24). Here He used the picture of the serpent on a pole from Israel’s time in the wilderness (read the story in Numbers 21) – a prophecy of the crucifixion and death of Christ which, for those who believed and obeyed, became life for those without hope.
As a result of His crucifixion and shed blood, the perfect sacrifice for sin would become available to all who believed. All those who believe in Him are not judged, but those who do not believe are already judged. Those who will not believe have condemned themselves simply by failing to believe God.
The truth is, unbelievers hate the thought of being held accountable for their actions. So they hate the light because it exposes their evil deeds. But those who do believe the truth are not afraid of the light because the light will show their deeds to have their source from God.
Jesus demonstrated His divinity (He is God) to Nicodemus by drawing all the Old Testament together for this master-teacher of Israel – together into one.
*Make these verses a permanent part of your life - memorize the 8 verses at the beginning of this lesson.
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