What Do the Bronze Serpent and the Cross Have in Common? John 3:9-21

John 3:9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”16 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Nicodemus, still thinking in the natural state of mind, cannot make sense of what Jesus is saying.  Jesus is surprised that Nicodemus, one of Israel's primary teachers, has no idea of what this idea of spiritual rebirth means.  The prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah both talk about God replacing the hard hearts of the people of Israel with a new heart full of the Spirit.  

Ezekiel 11:19
"And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God." (ESV)

Ezekiel 36:26-27

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

Jeremiah 31:33-34

"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 

In verses 11-13, Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, "If you can't even understand earthly analogies, then how can I tell you the mysteries of heaven."  He is also stating clearly the nature of his divinity when he says that he has been in heaven and now he comes to earth to make these things known.

John 1:14 uses a very visual image from the Old Testament, when the Jews were wandering in the wilderness with Moses their leader.  A serpent was the symbol of evil, and was used as a metaphor for the devil in Genesis 3:1.  But what does it mean that it was a bronze serpent?  

"However, Moses’ serpent in Numbers 21 was made of bronze, and bronze is a metal associated with judgment in the Bible, because bronze is with fire, a picture of judgment." (Guzik)

Numbers 21:8-9 also tells us that Moses told the people, 

"The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 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, they lived."

So when you put theses two ideas together, you have the picture of the judgment of sin. But the picture of the bronze serpent is replaced by the image of Jesus.  Instead of looking at the bronze serpent for healing, the people could now look up to Jesus on the cross, and by believing in him they will live.  The poison of sin is healed by the judgment of God, not on us but on His Son.  

And the gift we receive is eternal life.  The devil tempted Adam and Eve to sin and through sin death entered the world.  The devil was allowed to slither around on the ground like a snake still inflicting harm to God's people.  But now on the cross Jesus defeated sin, death and the power of the devil.  

Oh what a change in perspective Jesus gave regarding the Messiah's purpose in coming from heaven to earth. 

"The Son of Man is to be lifted up. Yes, but not on a throne in Herod’s palace. He was to be conspicuous, but as the brazen serpent had been conspicuous, hanging on a pole for the healing of the people.” (Dods)

This then is the context for the most memorized and quoted bible verse of all time.  John 3:16.  God so loved the world (not just Israel or just you and me but the whole world) that He gave his one and only Son that whoever should believe in him will not perish but have eternal life.  Jesus cancelled our debts on the cross and took away the venom of our sin, so that we might live forever. 

Unlike what some people believe, God is not a condemning God.  His greatest desire is to declare us "not guilty".  Jesus took our guilt upon himself and the only thing God asks us to do is to receive and believe.  If we don't accept the cure for our sin, we still have the disease just as the Israelites who didn't look at the bronze serpent on the staff  got sick and died. 

How do you think Nicodemus, though an esteemed teacher of the Law, became so ignorant of what the Law pointed to in the new birth through the Spirit?  Since Jesus has come down from heaven, died on the cross and is now in heaven, who will give the testimony of what He did for all of us?  Why is John 3:16 such a powerful verse?  What does it mean to you?  Do you think you can know without a shadow of doubt that you have eternal life?  Why or why not?