Page 34 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

The Answer for Unbelief

John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
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14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone
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who believes in Him will have eternal life. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only
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Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son
into the world that He might judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

The only one possessing true knowledge of heavenly reality is He who descended from heaven: The Son of Man.
Beginning in verse 14, Jesus appealed to an Old Testament illustration to make this point, further emphasizing
that there is no excuse for Nicodemus, an expert in the Scriptures, to be ignorant of the way of salvation. As a
time of his sacrificial death on the cross, the Lord referred to an incident recorded in Numbers 21:5 – 9. The
point of Jesus analogy was just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up (crucified; 8:28; 12:32, 34). The term must emphasize that Christ’s death was a necessary part of God's
plan of salvation (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22; 17:25; 24:7, 26). He had to die as a substitute for
sinners, because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). The stricken Israelites were cured by obediently looking apart from any works or
righteousness of their own in the hope and dependence on God's word at the elevated bronze serpent. In the
same way whoever looks in faith alone to the crucified Christ will be cured from sin's deadly bite and will in him
have eternal life. This is the first of 15 references in John's Gospel to the important term in eternal life.

Verse 16 is undoubtedly the most familiar and beloved verse in all of Scripture. Yet its very familiarity can cause
the profound truths it contains to be overlooked. God's motive for giving his indescribable gift of Jesus Christ
(second Corinthians 9:15) was that he loved the evil, sinful world of fallen humanity. Verse 16 clearly cannot be
teaching universal salvation, since the context promises that unbelievers will perish in eternal judgment (versus
16 – 18). God's gracious gift of salvation is freely and only available to whoever believes in Christ (Romans 5:15 –
16; 6:23; first John 5:11). The free offer of the gospel is broad enough to encompass the vilest sinner (first
Timothy 1:15) yet narrow enough to exclude all who reject Christ (John 3:18).

The free offer of the gospel is broad enough to encompass the vilest sinner

yet narrow enough to exclude all who reject Christ

The guarantee given to those who possess eternal life is that they will never perish. Genuine salvation can never
be lost; true believers will be divinely preserved and will faithfully persevere.

14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

A Comparison for Nicodemus
What was Jesus’ point in relating this story of the bronze serpent to Nicodemus? His intent was to make a
comparison. After asking Nicodemus to recall this incident from the Old Testament, Jesus declared, “As Moses
lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.”

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so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. “For God loved the world in this way: He gave
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His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Not only is
this undoubtedly the best – known verse in the New Testament, it’s probably the most distorted verse, as well.
Why? It is because people who love the apparent universality of this verse hates the undeniable particularity of
it.

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