The Hope of John [Be Lifted Up]…

October 30, 2007 | 12:00 AM

Let’s fast-forward to the time of Jesus. The Torah, or Law, has been twisted, and many of the people of God have turned away from him once again—this time to a legalistic form of religion. The Pharisees, who were the keepers of the Law, were constantly testing Jesus, and eventually would plot to kill him. In John 3, we find the Pharisee Nicodemus deeply confused during a conversation with Jesus. Here’s what Jesus says to the confused Nicodemus:

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. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 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.  (-John 3:10-17, ESV)

Did you catch it? As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. It is not through man that we are saved, but through the Son of Man—Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelled among us. And it is this statement by Jesus to Nicodemus that foreshadows the greatest act of love that has and will ever occur.

Posted in Christianity, Hope of John Series, Life, New Orleans, Theology