Journaling Through John in July: Chapter 3:1-16

Are you looking to Jesus?

Read: Numbers 21:1-9 first, then John chapter 3:1-16.

John chapter 3 contains probably the most quoted verse in the Bible, John 3:16. But there is context here that I hope brings deeper understanding and appreciation for those all too familiar words.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the cover of night, not openly. He has questions, but probably doesn’t want to be a victim of the cancel culture forming around Jesus by the Pharisees, who were Nicodemus’s own friends and co-workers. I believe the tone of Nicodemus’s words is curiosity, not condemnation. So there must have been something in Nicodemus that was drawing him to believe. Jesus knew this and uses the word “believe” seven times from verses 11-21.

Jesus tells Nicodemus there is more going on than just a physical thing. There is spiritual work being done. Yes, we are physically born, but we must experience a spiritual birth as well and it is not something you can physically see. The Pharisees were so focused on what was right in front of them. They wanted a pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night like the Israelites exiting Egypt. Jesus tells Nicodemus, “we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:11-12). In other words, if you can’t believe what is right in front of you, you won’t believe what you can’t see.

Jesus points Nicodemus to a wilderness story found in Numbers 21:1-9. God is teaching the Israelites to rely on Him for all things, but they are continually complaining about their situation and “the miserable food.” God sends fiery serpents to their camp and many died. Moses intercedes for them and God instructs Moses to fashion a fiery serpent, place it on a standard, and hold it up for all to see. If those who are bit and doomed to die would simply look up to the fiery serpent on a standard, they would live. There was no physical reason for this to help. It was an act of faith. They believed God and then obeyed. That’s what healed them.

Jesus was trying to make Nicodemus understand a spiritual reality using the physical picture in Numbers. We have all been bitten by the fiery serpent of sin and are doomed to spiritual death. But God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to take on our sin and be placed on a cross and held up for all to see. And like the Israelites in the desert bitten by the snake and looking up, anyone who looks on Jesus and believes will not perish but have eternal life.

I am sure Nicodemus had no idea at the time of his late night conversation with Jesus what he was really saying. He didn’t receive his full answer until Jesus was crucified. But can you imagine the understanding that washed over Nicodemus when he saw Jesus hanging there lifted up for all to see? I imagine him weeping at the foot of the cross thinking look what God has done!

Numbers was a physical foreshadowing of the spiritual redemption Jesus would offer on the cross thousands of years later. The fiery serpents of sin are still among us, but all we need to do is believe God’s word and look up . . . to Jesus.

Questions/Responses:

In what ways do the events of Numbers 21:1-9 foreshadow Jesus on the cross?

Nicodemus came to Jesus with questions. The answer Jesus gave did not make sense until later. What questions do you have for the Lord? How can you position yourself to receive the answer, even if he hasn’t answered you yet?

The Israelites had the pillar of fire and the cloud as a physical representation that God was with them. Jesus told Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit moves like the wind, meaning you can’t physically see his movements. How is the presence of the Holy Spirit made evident in your life? How does that help you believe?

Take some time to pray about your questions, about the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life and about your faith.