JESUS HAS JUST EXPLAINED to Nicodemus the miracle of the new birth, which Nicodemus does not grasp. Jesus then speaks of Israel’s teachers, of whom Nicodemus is one, “and do you not understand these things?” (John 3:9) He then says, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:12) He then refers to an incident in O.T. “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:13-14) All of this precedes the preeminent key verse of evangelical theology: “For 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.” (John 3:16) And we must ask ourselves, “why did Jesus pick this particular O.T. scene to support his next statements?”
In the Pentateuch, the five first books at the core of Torah, the Israelites bitterly complain against the desert journey that God has called Moses to take them on—they will have to take a long detour around Moab to get to their next place of encampment. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” (Num. 21:5) The text does not say that God is furious with them, but the inference is clearly there. “Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.” (Num. 21:6) The people quickly repented. “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” (Num. 21:7) The Lord directs Moses to make a “fiery snake” and put it up 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. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.” (Num. 21:8-9)
This seems a bit incongruous to us. All the Israelites must do to live is to look at the bronze snake, lifted up on a pole? But the support for Jesus’ prophetic statement to Nicodemus is made abundantly clear by this reference, for when he says he will be lifted up, and “that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:16), as Christians we see the reference in an internally coherent biblical and historical context as a direct allusion to his atoning crucifixion. That which foreshadowed God’s grace will/has come into fruition. Look upon Jesus, and live.
There is only one more reference to the bronze snake, and it is found in Hezekiah’s story. “He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)” (2 Kings 18:4) It is important to note the parenthetical amendment, made at some later time to the scriptures. The term is a proper noun coming from either the word for “snake” or “brass,” meaning “The (Great) Serpent,” or “The (Great) Brass.” Snake worship was an established cultic practice of the A.N.E. with even more ancient roots back to Egypt and before, and by Hezekiah’s time it had become a heretical practice for some Israelites, mixing their worship of Yahweh with the cultic practices of the fertility gods of Asherah worship. This was a great abomination to God, breaking both the first and second commandments. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” (Ex. 20:1-4)
By the third century A.D., when the O.T. was canonized, the positive and negative laws found throughout the entire O.T. were numbered at six hundred thirteen commandments. Just centuries earlier, at Jesus’ time, these same laws already existed and were practiced in Judaism, and had predictably become something that absolutely required interpretation by a vocational priesthood. Common people had no way of fully implementing an informed walk in faith. Additionally, the Temple priesthood and practices had become corrupt. Jesus enters humanity at this point, and through his God-ordained prophetically-fulfilled ministry “when the time had fully come” (Gal. 4:4). says simply this, “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Just that, here distilled down to a single element. This is all one has to do to be saved.
Today, there are approximately two and one half billion Christian people in the world. There are more than thirty thousand Christian organizations (groups, branches, or denominations) worldwide, and more than twelve hundred in the U.S. alone. Bible versions number in thousands upon thousands. The average person cannot keep up with the teachings of his or her church, let alone denomination. But God is not confused, nor is his message confused. It remains simply this: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:32)
This is a message that many preachers need to take to heart. There is a time to discuss everything that is in our bible, but when it comes time to preach, keep Jesus lifted up. The core of the gospel is not complicated. Let him be clearly seen as central to each and every message. In Charles Spurgeon’s words, these from his famous “Mysteries of the Fiery Serpent” message, continually cry out, “Believe, believe, believe on him who is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” In those times that we all encounter in the desert, when the journey is long, the body is tired, and the spirit is weary, simply look up at Jesus.
Q. Do I let secondary doctrines and traditional dogmas confuse me about the simplicity of the gospel?
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