Born from Above

John 3:1-21

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

I was incredibly blessed (and I didn’t know the extent of that blessing until much later in life) to have a church and parents who together made sure I learned the stories in the Bible starting at a very young age. As a result, I’m a big believer in teaching children the stories and letting God’s Word work in their hearts. But I confess that there were a few of those stories that were confusing for a kid, one of them being the story of the snakes biting the Children of Israel and the bronze snake on the stake. That was one of those moments when God didn’t make much sense to me at all. Now, a few decades later, I get it.

Let’s review the story from Numbers. The Children of Israel were not treating God like He is God. They were grousing about the manna that God provided for them daily, saying, “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!” (Numbers 21:5) So, God sent snakes to bite them. The poison from these snakes brought death. Disobedience has a consequence. Suddenly, they are repentant. They ask Moses to pray for them. God commands Moses to craft a bronze snake and hang it from a pole.

Numbers 21:8-9

⁸And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The people had to look up to that bronze snake to be saved. What I didn’t understand as a kid was that the bronze snake was a “type” of Christ. Now, we look up to the cross to see the Savior who has died for our sins. It isn’t because we looked up but because He died that we are saved. The bite of sin has been taken care of by His blood. Nicodemus would have known this story (and quite probably have been able to quote the passage) well and been able to make an instant connection. This Jesus also, of whom he spoke, would become as the bronze snake, with the power to save. Jesus confirms his (and I’m speculating here) new understanding by speaking the words the one of the most famous passages in all of Scripture, John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Nicodemus does indeed become a believer in Jesus as the Messiah and helps Joseph of Arimathea (another believing Pharisee) remove Jesus' body from the cross and bury Him after His death. He brings a substantial amount of myrrh and aloe to the experience of caring for Jesus’ body. His late-night visit to the Lord and subsequent conversation proved to be the turning point in his spiritual life that saved his eternal soul.