John 3:11-16 Understanding Heavenly Things

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Understanding Heavenly Things

John 3:11-16

Introduction: If we summarized the condition of Nicodemus it would be best described in light of what he had attained, and therefore the challenge Jesus has presented. Paul explains this about himself: Phil. 3:3-7:

It is a reminder of whatever we have “attained,” it counts nothing toward gaining Christ or gaining eternal life. In fact, it is only possible to gain Christ if we count all of what we have attained as nothing. There is an exchange that is made. That is the challenge for Nicodemus.

We have noted that Nicodemus is still incredulous (vs. 9). This great teacher of Israel is realizing that Jesus’ teaching would tear down foundation upon which Judaism was built. “How can these things be?” 

1. Becoming Aware of the Text
   1. Notice the “we” and “you” (plural) in verse 11. Jesus suddenly is no longer talking to Nicodemus, but to the nation Nicodemus represents. The Jews in general did not receive, nor had ever received the testimony of God and His prophets. In other words, nothing has changed with the nation.
   2. We may be able to say that the basis for Nicodemus’ shock and the Jewish unbelief is Deuteronomy 9:4-6 (quoted by Paul in Romans 10). When God saved them from Egypt and made them a special nation separated from the Gentile nations, they began to believe that their own “distinctness,” visually seen in outward symbols (Leviticus), meant that they had attained their own righteousness. This led to pride, which led to disdain for others who did not follow their outward distinctiveness. (Cf. Mark 7:19; Simon the Pharisee).
   3. Next is Jesus’ rebuke that if Nicodemus and the Jews cannot understand earthly things, how will they possibly understand when he tells them heavenly things?
   4. Jesus follows with “heavenly things”:
      1. The Son of Man descending from heaven.
      2. The Son of Man being lifted up as the serpent in the wilderness.
      3. The love of God in giving the Son, and belief in the Son providing eternal life.
2. Earthly and Heavenly Things
   1. Notice in verse 10 that Jesus has already pointed out that Nicodemus did not understand “born again” even though this teaching should have been understood from the OT. Therefore, we can conclude that “earthly things” is what Jesus had already told Nicodemus. 
   2. There are numerous OT texts that speak of the necessity of heart transformation. Remember, physical circumcision was a sign of what God required of his people. That Israel somehow came to the conclusion that the physical sign of circumcision was the key ingredient to entering the kingdom was incomprehensible to Jesus.
   3. Therefore the heavenly things would be what Jesus speaks of in verses 13ff on how God accomplishes rebirth. Rebirth is necessary (earthly things), but how God does that through the Spirit are the heavenly things that the Jews would reject.
   4. “Ascending and descending of the Son of Man”:
      1. Paul mentions it in his description of the “righteousness that is by faith” in Rom. 10:5-8. Paul contrasted the righteousness by faith with the righteousness based on the Law by speaking of “bringing Christ down” to the earth, and then bringing Christ up from the dead. The quotation was from Deut. 30.
      2. Deut. 30:11-15 gives the explanation. Now the command is not too hard. Now they will be able to hear the word and do it because it is not “far off” (impossible to achieve). Now “life” is set before you. In fact, Israel would have been able to have that “life” in prospect of what God would do if they would recognize that their salvation was based on the faithfulness of God and not on their law-keeping.
      3. So the heavenly things have to do with the work of Christ. God’s faithfulness is fulfilled in Christ who descends to the earth to offer atonement with his blood, his resurrection, and ascension to intercede in heaven (3:16).
      4. Jesus explains his work in descending from heaven in verse 14. He will be “lifted up” just like the serpent on the pole in the Numbers 21. When God sent the poisonous vipers among the people, who would save them from the judgment of God? Only God! In graciousness, God also sent healing.
3. Lessons for Us
   1. It is amazing that Jesus is shocked at Nicodemus because he did not understand. Would you have understood Ezekiel 36 or Deut. 30? Here is a teacher in Israel, a person who had studied the scriptures carefully and taught it, and yet he is completely wrong in his understanding and he is not in the very kingdom that he confidently believed he was in. Does this not give us a strong warning about being careful in our Bible study, the importance of continuing to seek, and the danger of the preconceptions placed upon us by our culture?
   2. “You do not accept our testimony” – the reason they did not accept it is because they were attempting to seize the kingdom for themselves (Mt. 11:11-12; 23:13; Luke 19). We seize the kingdom when we are not coming to the Lord and serving Him on His terms. But changing or tweaking the Lord’s salvation, Lord’s church, the Lord’s purpose, and the Lord’s worship to suit man’s desires is a common way the kingdom has been seized today and the Lord’s testimony has not been accepted.
   3. Finally, we need to consider more carefully how we see the parallel between the serpent lifted up and Jesus lifted up. Some think we are to see Satan in the serpent and somehow parallel that to Jesus. However, in the original story of Numbers 21, the serpent on the pole is their salvation. Instead, let’s see how the context of Numbers 21 and the context of John 3 match.
      1. If we put ourselves in the original context, we could think of all sorts of ways we might try to save ourselves from the bite of the serpents. Just look at what we have done for the past two years trying to avoid death from COVID, and our virus isn’t even close to being as deadly as the serpents. The serpent’s bite was a 100% death rate.
      2. God sent the serpents based on their sin. The serpents’ bite parallels the result of sin. Sin brings death – 100% of the time. Israel could have tried many remedies for the bite, none of which would have saved one soul. People today seek a myriad of remedies for their sins and the eventual consequences. Both churches and private and public social organizations try to solve the problems created by sin. But no one can solve the root problem. We deal with the symptoms; but death is a surety.
      3. Therefore, God was gracious. He gave Moses a remedy. Note that the remedy was not “climb a high mountain” or some other “human feat” that would be worthy of being saved from the serpent’s bite. No, when you get bit, turn and gaze at the one on the pole. He is the only one who can heal the poison in your body.

Berry Kercheville