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Sermon

Believe the One Descended from Heaven

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 3:9-15

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In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia continues examining John 3:1-21, which is Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus as recorded by the apostle John. In this passage, John reveals four astonishing truths that should cause you to give up your own ideas about salvation and instead believe in Jesus. In verses 9-15, John reveals the second of these astonishing truths.

1. Only the Spirit-Begotten Enter God’s Kingdom (vv. 1-8)
2. The Heavenly One Authoritatively Reveals God’s Salvation (vv. 9-15)

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

This passage from John 3:9-15 teaches us that Jesus, as the one who descended from heaven, is the sole authoritative revealer of God’s salvation plan. We are confronted with the reality that human corruption naturally bends religion toward self-exaltation, causing even the most learned religious leaders—like Nicodemus—to miss what God clearly revealed throughout the Old Testament: that salvation has always been by sovereign grace through faith, not by human works. We are called to humble ourselves before Christ’s unexpected revelation that the Son of Man must be lifted up on the cross—an act that is simultaneously his shame and his glory—so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.

Key Lessons:

  1. Salvation by God’s sovereign grace through faith is not a New Testament invention but is woven throughout the entire Old Testament, from Abraham to the New Covenant promises.
  2. The primary obstacle to understanding God’s salvation is not a lack of information or evidence but willful unbelief rooted in human pride and self-exaltation.
  3. Jesus alone has descended from heaven and therefore speaks with absolute authority about God’s salvation plan—his word must be trusted above all human ideas and feelings.
  4. The crucifixion of Christ was not a shameful defeat but the necessary and glorious means by which God chose to save sinners and display his own glory.

Application: We are called to examine whether we have reshaped God’s revelation to fit our own preferences and feelings, and instead to humble ourselves and believe the full testimony of Jesus as recorded in Scripture—even the parts that challenge our assumptions about God and salvation.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what areas of your life might you be reinterpreting or ignoring Scripture because it conflicts with your feelings or cultural expectations?
  2. How does the Old Testament evidence of salvation by grace (Abraham, Jacob, Deuteronomy 30:6) change or deepen your understanding of how God has always worked?
  3. How does seeing the cross as both Christ’s humiliation and his glorification reshape the way you approach suffering and unexpected circumstances in your own life?

Scripture Focus: John 3:9-15, with extensive references to Genesis 12, 15, and 25; Exodus 33:19; Deuteronomy 29:4 and 30:6; Numbers 21:4-9; Isaiah 55; Jeremiah 31; and Ezekiel 36—all demonstrating that God’s salvation has always been by sovereign grace through faith.

Outline

Introduction

Right, okay, that’s great. Father in heaven, we come to hear and see more of Christ. Open our eyes to see his beauty. Transform our hearts to reflect his own. Make us more like him in the way we think, the way we speak, in the way that we act. And Lord, as this will be a theme today, let us trust your word over anything else—even our own feelings, even the wisdom of the world. You are to be believed above all. In Jesus’ name, amen.

I’d like to begin again this morning by talking to you about babies. Yes, this is the problem when your pastor has a new child. Benjamin does not realize that he has become a repository of sermon illustrations.

What Babies Know: The Problem of Inherited Sin

I’ve been thinking lately about what babies know and what babies are able to do from birth without being taught. There’s plenty that babies don’t know or can’t do without learning first. For instance, babies can’t talk. They don’t know words. They don’t even know what a word is.

They kind of know how to eat and sleep, but they’re not that good at it. They have to get better with assistance from their parents. They need to learn much about the world.

But there’s still some knowledge that babies apparently bring with them that they don’t need any teaching or training about. For instance, crying. Right from the womb, babies have an amazing ability to make known their hunger, pain, and discomfort by loud wailing. No one has to teach babies how to cry. Babies naturally cry very well.

“No one has to teach babies how to cry. Babies naturally cry very well.”

This is from God. This is a grace. In a fallen world, it is good that babies cry so they can alert their parents that baby needs tending. Baby needs care.

There’s something else that babies know without teaching, and that’s how to smile. How to smile when pleased or contented. We might think that this is a learned ability, only comes from babies observing their parents. And while it is true that smiling is something that babies don’t do right away, it’s knowledge and ability that manifests later.

Even blind babies will begin smiling after one or two months. So smiling, therefore, is not learned by observation. It’s something else that God put in babies. And this also is a grace. It helps babies communicate without using words and gives a little reward to a baby’s tired parents to see the baby smile.

If there’s something else that babies know very well without being taught, it is how to sin. Thankfully, this also is an ability that does not manifest itself right away. But you don’t have to teach a child how to lie. How to willfully disobey his parents. You don’t have to teach a child the idea that he is the center of the universe.

He comes with that knowledge. It comes bound up in the foolishness of his own heart. Such is the inheritance of corruption that humanity has received from its first parents, Adam and Eve, when they sinned.

Instead of being born with a desire, a drive to love and serve God wholeheartedly, every person—all of us—are born with a drive to serve ourselves and even to exalt ourselves to the very place of God. This is why we naturally love those who love us and who assist us in getting what we want. This is also why we naturally hate those who don’t love us or who get in the way of what we want.

“Every person is born with a drive to serve ourselves and even to exalt ourselves to the very place of God.”

How Sin Corrupts Religion

We are committed to ourselves. Indeed, our sinful nature causes us to twist and misuse all the good that we receive from God in this world. I can go through many examples, but one I want to highlight for you is actually religion itself—our relationship with God.

Because of sin, it has turned into something that is man-centered. Really, consider all the religions of the world. Every religion outside of biblical Christianity basically teaches that God is ultimately about you. He is there to serve you and give you what you want and to eventually bring you into his paradise.

Now, perhaps God and a particular religion does this automatically because he’s just so loving and humans are so precious to him. He’s going to save everyone. But usually, religions teach that God needs a little convincing. God or the gods—they are powerful. They are holy.

So before God can give you what you want, you have to give him something that he wants. You’ve got to keep his rules. You’ve got to go through some rituals. You gotta say some prayers. You have to do some other good works.

You see some variants of this in every world religion. Thus, all religions end up proclaiming the same basic truth: humans can earn God’s favor and even earn their own salvation.

“All religions end up proclaiming the same basic truth: humans can earn God’s favor and even earn their own salvation.”

Even the Bible, in man’s corrupted bent, is reinterpreted or simply ignored for the sake of affirming this man-made idea, this tradition, that you can work your way to God and to heaven. Consequently, many people—many religious people—yes, many even professing Christians—will think that they are serving God in their lives when really they’re only serving themselves.

God’s Response: Prophets and the Son

Now, this is evil. This is self-righteousness robbing God of the glory and the worship to which he is due. A holy God could have justly judged the whole world immediately for this. But this is not what he’s chosen to do.

In kindness, God has given man time to repent. He’s also sent messenger after messenger—his prophets in ancient times—to set the record straight and to call for people to repent, to turn, for all humanity to turn from its false religion, from its effort at self-exaltation, to turn back to God, exalt God to the place that he deserves, and have a true relationship with him.

But God did even more than that. God sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to reveal God’s truth in the fullest way so that there is no mistake about who God is or what God’s about. He sent his Son to reveal the truth in the fullest way and even to die for sinners.

“God sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to reveal God’s truth in the fullest way so that there is no mistake.”

God has previously in his prophets, but even now in his Son, given a message for all to hear so that they are not confused about what true religion is. He sent that message even to you, even to you here this morning.

The Central Question: Have You Listened?

But the question is: Have you listened to it? Are you listening to Jesus, the Son of God, as the one sent from heaven, the one descending from heaven to correct what is a natural corruption of your thinking? Have you therefore let go of your proud, self-made religious ideas to believe what he said?

Or do you still trust in your own corrupt religion? Do you still worship a god of your own mind that is not really the true God? You may call him God. He may call him Jesus. But he’s really an idol that you fashioned in your own image.

“Have you listened? Have you let go of your proud, self-made religious ideas to believe what he said?”

This really is the central question of our next text in the Gospel of John today. If you would please open to John 3:1-21.

The title of today’s message is also its main application: “Believe the one descended from heaven. Believe the one descended from heaven.”

Scripture Reading: John 3:1-21

John 3:1-21. You’ll find this on page 1060 if you’re using that Bible. We’re going to read the whole passage, though we’re focusing only on verses 9 to 15 today. I think it’s profitable for you to get the context, though. Let’s read all 21 verses: John 3:1-21.

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.’

Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? You cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it’s going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?

Truly, truly I say to you, 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, you do not believe. How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

This is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Review: Only the Spirit-Begotten Enter God’s Kingdom

We’ve returned to this famous conversation between Jesus and the Rabbi Nicodemus. This took place, you’ll remember, during the first Passover visit Jesus took to Jerusalem during his public ministry. I remember what I said to you last time. We have some familiarity with these verses. Don’t let that cause you to miss the fact that what Jesus declares to this Rabbi, to Nicodemus, and what John declares to his audience of Hellenistic Jews by reporting this conversation—it would have been shocking in a way it still is.

And why is that? Because here the Son of God essentially declares that everything that the Jews and other religious people naturally believe about God and his way of salvation is wrong. As the Son sent from heaven, Jesus has arrived to correct the record, to authoritatively clarify God’s salvation. And he does so by revealing four astonishing truths to Nicodemus.

“The Son of God declares that everything religious people naturally believe about God’s way of salvation is wrong.”

We began to see this last time. Remember the main idea of this old conversation, this old passage? It’s the following: In John 3:1-21, Jesus reveals, and John our author reports, four astonishing truths that should cause you to give up your own ideas about salvation and instead believe in Jesus.

We saw the first astonishing truth that Jesus presents last time in verses 1-8. We summarize that with the heading: Number one, “Only the spirit-begotten enter God’s kingdom.”

Nicodemus, this pious Pharisee, this great Rabbi, this ruler of the Jews—he comes to Jesus by night, ready to talk with the teacher who’s clearly sent from God because of the miracles he’s doing. He’s ready to talk to this teacher about some religious matters. But Jesus, as always, is the one who knows all things and knows what is in man. He exposes the real issue of Nicodemus’s heart and declares right away to Nicodemus: “Unless you are born again or begotten from above, you cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Trusting in your Jewish lineage or your law-keeping will do you no good. The only ones who get into Messiah’s everlasting kingdom are the ones who are cleansed from their sinful corruption and are given new life by God’s spirit himself. Those are the only ones.

And just as there is nothing you could do to bring about your own physical life by conception, there’s nothing you can do to give yourself spiritual life by the Holy Spirit. It all comes down to the sovereign grace of God, his choice on whom he’s going to show favor, and his spirit blows mysteriously like the wind. You cannot fully understand it.

Now, with such a declaration, I think it’s safe to say that Nicodemus did not know what he was getting into. This was an astonishing word. How is he going to respond to it? Well, I kind of spoiled it last time, but the answer is: Nicodemus will not believe. Nicodemus will not believe what Jesus just said.

Nicodemus’s Unbelief

Which leads to a second revelation, a second astonishing truth in verses 9 to 15, which is our focus today. What’s the second astonishing truth that should cause you to give up your own religious ideas and instead believe in Jesus? Number two: “The heavenly one authoritatively reveals God’s salvation. The heavenly one authoritatively reveals God’s salvation.”

Let’s look at this more closely, starting in verse 9.

“Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’” What are these things to which Nicodemus is referring? Almost everything we just summarized. That salvation is not according to any fleshly work or ritual or inheritance, but it is only by the grace of God.

Nicodemus hears all that, and it doesn’t say, “Wow, God’s ways are greater than I had even imagined,” or “Praise God for showing such undeserved grace to sinners like me.” No, instead he says, “How can these things be?” This is a statement of incredulity, of not being able to understand or accept what Jesus has just declared.

“”How can these things be?” is a statement of incredulity—not being able to accept what Jesus declared.”

“What do you mean? It all comes down to God’s grace? That the entire Jewish religion as taught by the rabbis is wrong and useless and getting anyone to the kingdom? Jesus, I can’t deny your miracles, but what you said is—it’s radical. It is crazy. I can’t see how what you’ve declared could possibly be correct.

Entrance into God’s kingdom by keeping rules makes sense. What you said doesn’t make sense. How could God be as you have said? How could entrance into the kingdom be as you’ve said?”

The Teacher of Israel Should Have Known Better

Well, Nicodemus’s statement of disbelief doesn’t draw sympathy from Jesus. Instead of rebuke, look at verse 10.

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?’” The phrase “the teacher of Israel” is significant here. That definite article in front of “teacher”—the “the” in our English translation—indicates that Nicodemus is not just a religious teacher, but he is the teacher par excellence in Israel.

He’s better than all the others. He is the best or the most recognized Rabbi. He’s the teacher of Israel.

People in Israel had a religious question? They should go to somebody like Nicodemus. He’s at the top of the game. Yet even Nicodemus doesn’t understand, doesn’t accept what Jesus says about God’s salvation by grace. What does that suggest about the other teachers in Israel or even about the Jews as a whole?

Actually, Nicodemus’s position as a prominent teacher in Israel is the reason for Jesus’s implied rebuke. “Are you the teacher? Nicodemus, yeah, even you do not understand what I’m saying.” Do you see the implication of Jesus’s question? Nicodemus, you really ought to know better. You who study God’s scripture diligently. It really should not be hard for you to understand or accept at all.

“Nicodemus, you really ought to know better. You who study God’s scripture diligently.”

Indeed, is salvation by God’s sovereign grace apart from works? Is that consistent with the Old Testament? Is that revealed in the Old Testament? Well, it is. And it’s all over the place.

We may not think of this right away because we think of the Old Testament as law, law, law. There’s a good part of that. Let me just give you a sampling of other parts of the Old Testament. This is the same thing that the New Testament apostles say. I’m just giving you a sample of what they say, but you can read about this more in the New Testament.

Sovereign Grace Throughout the Old Testament

Salvation by God’s sovereign grace is evident in the Old Testament as well, even grace through faith. Consider Abraham. When in Genesis 12, God called Abram to leave where he was and go to Canaan, God proclaimed to Abram that God would bless him and make Abram’s seed a blessing to all families of the earth.

Had Abram yet done anything to deserve such a blessed promise from God? Nothing recorded in Genesis 12.

In fact, Joshua 24 suggests that before this calling from God, Abram and his father were idolaters. They were serving the gods beyond the river. So why would God choose Abram to reveal himself to him and to bless him and to bless his seed? It’s sovereign grace.

Or more famously, in Genesis 15, when a childless Abram again asks God about this promised seed, which he hasn’t seen yet, God affirms to Abram that his seed will be as uncountable as the stars. What does Genesis 15:6 say?

Genesis 15:6: “He believed in the Lord, and Yahweh reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

He believed, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. No work, no ritual. He wasn’t even circumcised at this point yet. How did God regard Abram’s faith as righteousness, as making Abram acceptable to God? It would later make a choice among Abraham’s seed.

In Genesis 25, Isaac, Abraham’s descendant, had twins: Jacob and Esau. Yet before they were born, God declared that the younger—that God had chosen the younger over the older. The younger one would receive the blessing of the Abrahamic promise.

What had this younger one, Jacob, done to deserve God’s favor in this way or even to deserve God’s salvation? He wasn’t the older one. He shouldn’t have inherited what belonged to the family in that way. What did he do to deserve it? Nothing. It’s God’s sovereign grace.

Going further in Old Testament revelation, when Moses asks to see a revelation of God’s glory after God forgave Israel for the golden calf rebellion, God tells Moses in Exodus 33:19:

Exodus 33:19: “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord—that is, Yahweh—before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”

Can God get any clearer about his sovereignty and his grace? God’s sovereign grace cannot be forced at all. It cannot ever be earned. It is favor granted without regard to merit. It’s on whomever he wills.

God’s Heart Changes Promised in the Torah

And then get this: Even at the end of the law given to Israel—the law that over time, by Jewish tradition, became their hope of getting into the kingdom—at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, we have two special pronouncements of God through Moses to the people of Israel.

After recounting all the miracles God did for the people in the wilderness, we hear this in Deuteronomy 29:4.

Deuteronomy 29:4: “Yet to this day Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.”

In other words, Moses tells Israel, “You won’t keep following God because you need a new heart, and God hasn’t given it to you yet. He must be the one to change your heart by his sovereign grace.”

What’s interesting? In the very next chapter, after foretelling the judgment which will come upon Israel one day because they will turn away from God, Moses also foretells a national repentance, even saying this in Deuteronomy 30:6.

Deuteronomy 30:6: “Moreover, Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul so that you may live.”

Did you hear that? God promises that he—one day will do the work that only he can do for the people of Israel. He will then make them acceptable to him. He will transform their hearts to love him and live.

What is that ancient promise if not a demonstration of sovereign grace?

Deuteronomy 30:6: “Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and soul.”

Grace Beyond the Torah

And this is just from the Torah. All that I’ve said to you is just from the first five books of the Bible. What about the rest of the Old Testament? What about everything that God did with David and promised to his descendants?

What about God’s promise to Elijah: “I will leave seven thousand in Israel who will not bow to Baal”? What about God’s invitation in Isaiah 55, that people can have life without cost if they will turn from their idols and seek the Lord and his abundant pardon? Nothing earned. It’s pardon. It’s grace.

What about the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36, in which God says that he will give Israel a new heart and will forgive the people their sins? All this and much more shows that God is and has always been a God of sovereign grace and acceptance with God.

Salvation, entrance into his kingdom—it has always been by grace through faith in God and in God’s promised provision for sin.

“Salvation and entrance into his kingdom has always been by grace through faith in God’s promised provision for sin.”

God has been entirely consistent in his Bible. Jesus was more than justified in rebuking Nicodemus for not understanding or accepting Jesus’s teaching at the beginning of John 3 of the need to be begotten from above.

This really wasn’t a new concept. It’s the way God has always been.

The Problem Is Not Lack of Information but Unbelief

But perhaps you’re wondering, “Well, if the truth has always been so clear in God’s Bible, how did Nicodemus miss it?” Well, Jesus is about to reveal the answer in the next two verses. Look at verse 11.

So back to John 3:11.

“Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.” Is that favorite phrase of Jesus again? “Truly, truly” or “Amen, amen”? I say to you. Jesus is going to say something else that is astonishing. He knows it’s going to sound radical, but it’s true and must be received as such, prepping Nicodemus for another astonishing revelation.

“Jesus is going to say something astonishing. He knows it’s going to sound radical, but it’s true and must be received.”

Who Are the ‘We’ and the ‘You All’?

But notice the pronouns of what Jesus says next in this verse. He says, “We speak, we know, we testify what we’ve seen. It’s our testimony.” And then he refers to a “you,” and you can’t say this in English, but in the Greek, that “you” has shifted to a plural, second person plural. So it’s “you all.”

Previously in this conversation, he was just talking about “you” singular—Nicodemus—and now he says, “You all. You all do not accept.” So Jesus is putting two groups against each other. There’s the “we,” and there’s the “you all.”

Well, who are these groups? The “you all” is the easier group to identify here. This must be the group that Nicodemus represents. Remember, back in verse 2, he actually had used a plural pronoun to describe himself: “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God.” Well, that must be the same group as the “you all.”

So with the “you all,” Jesus must be speaking of Nicodemus, his colleagues among the Pharisees in Sanhedrin, and really the Jews as a whole. “You all, you Jews, you Jewish leaders, and you Jewish nation.”

“With ‘you all,’ Jesus must be speaking of Nicodemus, his colleagues, and really the Jews as a whole.”

But who’s the “we”? Who’s the “we” with whom Jesus identifies, which is clearly a group that is giving generally unaccepted testimony? This is a harder question to answer. Some think that Jesus is merely speaking of himself but using “we” as a rhetorical device to parallel Nicodemus. “Oh, Nicodemus, you say that we know something? Well, we know something too.” He’s just talking about himself. That might be a little too clever, though, and we don’t see a parallel in Jesus’s other words to suggest that that’s what he’s doing here.

Others think that with “we,” Jesus is speaking of himself and his group of disciples—my disciples and I, we. But though the disciples would certainly give testimony of Jesus later, that would be rejected, their knowledge and testimony of Jesus at this point is pretty limited. Doesn’t quite fit with Jesus’s words.

Two other possibilities are that Jesus is grouping himself with either John the Baptist or with God the Father. After all, John the Baptist’s testimony is what opened this gospel, and Nicodemus had probably heard it at some point himself. Furthermore, the end of John 3, which comes right after this conversation, it will be John the Baptist’s testimony again.

And then when we get to John 5, when Jesus reasons with the Jews as to why they should believe in him, he points back to John’s testimony. “Remember what John said? That’s why you should believe.” So perhaps Jesus is saying “we” in reference to John the Baptist and himself.

Then again, also in John 5, we see that Jesus, as much as he says John’s testimony is valuable, he says there’s something much more valuable, and that’s the testimony of my Father. And he’s testifying by the works that he’s given to do. Jesus also mentions the scriptures as giving him testimony.

So who’s the “we” of John 3:11? It’s tricky. My view is that Jesus is referring to all who knowledgeably testify of Jesus, which would include John the Baptist, certainly include Jesus himself, would include the Father. I think by principle it would later include Jesus’s disciples—anybody who knowledgeably testifies if Jesus is going to be found to be true of the words of verse 11.

Notice again, though, what Jesus asserts about this group testifying. It says, “We speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen.” So we are sure about these things. We speak of them with authority. But “you all, you Jewish leaders, you Jewish people, you do not accept our testimony.”

Rejecting Testimony Then and Now

What’s Jesus basically saying? “Nicodemus, the problem with you and your group is not a lack of information. It’s not a lack of testimony about who I am or who God is or how God’s salvation works. It’s your unwillingness to accept the testimony that has been given.”

Doesn’t this sound a little bit like what we talked about with John 2, where the Jews asked for a sign? The Jews miss salvation by God’s sovereign grace not because they were simply ignorant of the Bible or unskilled at reading it. Rather, their proud hearts did not want to see or believe what was clearly written there.

Over time, the Jews began ignoring parts of the Bible or reinterpreting them or studying them only according to the rabbinical commentaries on that particular passage. Thus, they slowly recrafted the religion of God from what it actually is and was to something that better fit their own self-exalting, salvation-earning mindset.

“Their proud hearts did not want to see or believe what was clearly written there.”

And the same continues today, not just among the Jews, but among Christians too. How many so-called Christians have overruled what God put in the Bible by man-made tradition? How many even among Protestant evangelicals constantly rewrite what God put in his Bible to fit with their own feelings, what’s popular in the culture?

But let’s not just keep this out there. Let’s bring it in here. What about you listening today? Do you reject certain parts of the Bible because they don’t make sense to you or don’t fit with your concept of God or simply because you don’t want to believe them?

“Oh, my Jesus would never send anyone to hell for not believing in him. He’s too kind. Oh, God is a gentleman. He waits until someone chooses him before he elects them to salvation. Oh, God wouldn’t want me to remain in this unhappy marriage. He wants us to divorce.”

My friends, if you ignore and reinsert scriptures like this in your proud unbelief, then you are just as much in need of rebuke from Christ as Nicodemus is here. You must be aware because this is the kind of behavior that might cause you to totally miss God’s salvation because you’re not willing to humble your heart and listen to what he actually said and believe in a way that is saving.

Don’t kid yourself that if someone just satisfactorily explained to you the why, if somebody could make clear to you God’s mind and the whole rationale for what God does and what he declares in the Bible, that then you might be willing to take at face value what the Bible says. Don’t kid yourself because look at what Jesus says next to Nicodemus in verse 12.

Earthly Things and Heavenly Things

Verse 12.

“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you the heavenly things?” Notice here Jesus puts his finger right on the problem. It’s unbelief. It’s not a lack of information. It’s not a lack of evidence that holds you back. It’s willful unbelief at what God said.

“It’s not a lack of information. It’s not a lack of evidence. It’s willful unbelief at what God said.”

What does this teach about earthly things versus heavenly things? Well, this is actually plainer than it might seem at first glance. Notice Jesus says, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe.” That phrasing implies that Nicodemus and his group have clearly manifested unbelief, that Jesus must have already spoken of the earthly things.

What is it that Jesus has already spoken? What elicited a “how can this be” from Nicodemus? Well, verses 1-8. The sovereign, gracious activity of God’s spirit on earth in begetting sons and daughters to enter God’s kingdom.

Even though this involves the activity of the spirit from above, this is the spirit’s activity on earth—activity that can be verified in part by the people who live on the earth. Just as you can’t see the wind, but you can see its effects and hear it, so people can observe differences in those who have been transformed, begotten by the spirit. This is earthly.

What then are the heavenly things? Logic would suggest that the heavenly things must be opposite to the earthly things. The heavenly things refer to the activity of God primarily in heaven. It can involve the earth, but it’s activity that cannot really be detected, cannot be verified by those dwelling on the earth. It’s more secret.

So then Jesus is telling Nicodemus here: “If in stubbornness you will not believe the basics of God’s activity among mankind—activity for which you can see evidence on the earth—what chance have you had believing or appreciating anything that I tell you about God’s activity in heaven, even the secret unveiling of God’s glorious salvation plan?”

In a way, verse 12 is an answer to verse 9. Nicodemus wants more heavenly knowledge, more heavenly evidence. He wants to know more of what’s going on behind the scenes before he can maybe believe the basics of God’s work. But Jesus says the opposite is actually true. You won’t believe the basics. Learning more of what’s going on in secrets? Not going to do you any good. You won’t believe that either.

Now, you may ask: “If the earthly things are represented in verses 1-8, then are the heavenly things also represented somewhere in this conversation?” I believe they are. I believe verses 16-21 represents Jesus’s presentation of the heavenly things because these verses really are a behind-the-scenes look of what God is doing in his salvation plan.

But that may provoke another question: “Why would Jesus still speak of heavenly things in light of Nicodemus’s unbelief? You just said he’s not going to be able to believe it, so why would he go on to speak it?” It’s a good question. I don’t know.

Perhaps Jesus said these things for Nicodemus to recall later after God softened Nicodemus’s heart. Perhaps Jesus said them mainly for his disciples’ benefit because they were witnesses to this conversation. Certainly, it’s for our benefit today.

No One Has Descended from Heaven but the Son of Man

And one fact is clear: No one is better suited to reveal the heavenly things of God than Jesus. Look at what Jesus says in verse 13.

“No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, a son of man.”

Now, here is a profound, if somewhat puzzling, verse. Let’s start with the simplest part: the last phrase. This is the second time we’ve seen the title “son of man” in this gospel. It’s Jesus’s favorite title for himself in all the gospels.

It’s a title that obviously emphasizes Jesus’s humanity. He was born of humanity. He is the son of man.

But it’s also a title that connects with Jesus’s divinity, even his status as the exalted Messiah, because of what is said about one like the son of man in Daniel 7. Jesus takes this title for himself. Whatever Jesus is asserting in verse 13, he is applying to himself because he is the son of man.

But what is Jesus asserting? There are two puzzles in verse 13. First, didn’t Elijah in Old Testament times ascend into heaven in a fiery chariot? How can Jesus say that no one has ascended into heaven? We have at least one example.

Second, the way verse 13 is worded, it sounds like Jesus is saying that before he descended from heaven as the son of man, he first ascended into heaven. How can that be?

Without getting technical about the Greek grammar of this verse, the solution to both puzzles is understanding Jesus as speaking about humans coming from or coming back from heaven with revelation. In verse 12, Jesus just mentioned the idea of presenting heavenly revelation: “How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

So the question that arises in the following verse is: “Is there any human who has ascended into heaven, saw heavenly revelation, and then come back down to reveal it to his fellow humans?”

True, Elijah ascended into heaven according to the Old Testament, but he didn’t come back with revelation. Yes, there are prophets who had visions of heavenly things, even of God’s throne room in heaven. But they didn’t actually travel to heaven. They didn’t reside in heaven.

We can confidently say with Jesus here: “No one has ascended into heaven.” That is, no one has ascended for the purpose of coming back with new heavenly revelation. But there is an exception to that rule. There is a human who has come from or come back from heaven, and that is Jesus, the son of man.

“There is a man—the only man—who has descended from heaven to reveal the mysteries of God.”

Here’s a man—in fact, the only man—who has descended from heaven to reveal the mysteries of God. He didn’t need to ascend first. He already resided there. He’s descended to declare the heavenly mysteries.

Trust the One Who Has Been to Heaven

What does that mean? What are the implications? Well, one thing that means is that what Jesus reveals from God in heaven can be trusted completely. After all, Jesus has been to heaven. He is testifying of what he’s seen and heard in the celestial councils of God. He speaks with authority about God’s salvation to mankind because he’s the one—he’s the only man who has descended to earth from heaven.

This also means that if there is ever a contradiction between what the Son of Man declares and what some other man declares, who should be believed? Well, just ask yourself this question: “Has the other person ascended and descended from heaven?” No. Well, then I think we know who has the credentials here.

There are a lot of people who have claimed to have visited heaven and come back with revelation across history, even in recent times. But Jesus actually did descend from heaven with revelation, and he had the words and the miraculous works to prove it.

So what should you do? Listen to the one descended from heaven. Don’t proudly assert your own religious ideas against the revelation of the Son of Man. If your thoughts and feelings ever contradict what is in the Son of Man’s word—Jesus’s word—well, just remember that he’s been to heaven and you haven’t.

“If your thoughts and feelings contradict the Son of Man’s word, just remember he’s been to heaven and you haven’t.”

And that’s a truth that should both humble you and also comfort you. It should humble you because you must admit you need the revelation of the Son of Man to understand rightly the things of God. You will not get there on your own. You come from a corrupted place due to your flesh. You need the Son of Man to set the record straight.

But it should also comfort you because when you do this, when you humble yourself and receive and believe the Lord’s word, what Jesus declares is so kind, so beautiful, so wonderful it’s almost hard to believe it’s true. It’s balm for your soul and it’s salvation.

The Bronze Serpent and the Lifted-Up Son of Man

The final verses of our text, verses 14 to 15, begin to transition us to this unveiling of God’s heavenly mysteries. In these verses, we see again why Jesus is perfectly suited to serve as God’s revelator, God’s explainer. Just like John once said. But we also see—or rather, we begin to see—just how unexpected the glorious plan of God’s salvation is.

Look at verses 14 and 15.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him have eternal life.” Jesus is alluding here in these two verses to an event of Old Testament history, and it’s the one that we read about in the account earlier in our service: Numbers 21:4-9. We won’t reread it now, just summarize.

In Numbers 21:4-9, the people of Israel set out to enter the promised land again after 40 years of wilderness wandering. Remember, they tried the first time. They wouldn’t go in, and God said, “I’m not letting you go in now. You got to go 40 years in the wilderness.” Well, that time it expired. That generation had died, replaced by a new generation, and they’re going to go back in.

However, God did not take them straight up into Canaan like he did the first time. He took them the long way, going southeast around the land of Edom. And the text says that the people became impatient because of the journey, and they then complained. They complained against God. They complained against Moses, who was God’s appointed leader.

Now, God hates to see the sin of complaining, especially after he’s done so much in kindness for his people. What does God do? He sends fiery serpents among the people. Fiery doesn’t mean that they were breathing fire or they were on fire. It could refer to the coloration of the serpents or to the burning sensation of the snake’s bites, likely due to venom.

Whatever fiery means exactly, these snakes were no joke because the text says that many people died after being bitten by these snakes.

The people of Israel quickly realize their sin, and they confess it to Moses, and they ask for Moses to intercede to God for them. Moses does so, and God responds with a saving solution. God tells Moses to fashion an image of a fiery serpent out of bronze and to put it up on a standard, lifted up above the whole camp of Israel.

So anyone who was bitten, no matter where they were in or around Israel’s camp, they could look at this bronze serpent, which was the very image of death, and they would miraculously live. That was the design, and that’s exactly what happened according to Numbers 21:9. Numbers 21:9 says: “It came about that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”

Well, in John 3:14, Jesus applies a picture from that Old Testament event to himself. He says: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up.”

Okay, but what does that mean? Nicodemus and Jesus’s disciples probably didn’t understand Jesus’s meaning right away. But here is another cryptic foretelling of Jesus’s death on the cross. Rome always made sure to elevate the victims of crucifixion, put them up on the two pieces of wood, and put it nice and high so that as many people could see the victim as possible. And then get the message: “Don’t mess with Rome. We’re going to lift up this criminal nice and high.”

And Jesus was saying, “Like the bronze serpent, I, the son of man, will also be physically elevated to a position that everyone can see, and I will become the very symbol of death. But just as the lifting up of the serpent was purposeful, so is Jesus being lifted up on the cross.”

Because verse 15 adds: “So that whoever believes in him have eternal life.” This is really another parallel to the Numbers 21 event. When people looked to the bronze serpent after being bitten, really suffering the penalty of their own sin, they were looking to the serpent with a kind of faith, trusting that God would heal them by means of looking to this raised serpent, and that God would grant them physical life, which is what the text says God did.

“Whoever looks to the lifted-up Christ in faith will obtain not just physical life but eternal life.”

Jesus says the same will be true of him, but in a greater way. When Jesus is lifted up on the cross for his people’s sins, he declares that whoever looks to him in faith, whoever believes in Jesus, will obtain not just physical life but eternal life.

And that’s an interesting phrase. I think it’s the first time we see it in this gospel. The original Greek for eternal life is “zoe aionios,” literally “life of an age,” the age there in mind is the everlasting age of God’s Messiah’s kingdom. When you look to the lifted-up son of man, you will gain the everlasting life that comes from God’s blessed kingdom.

The Cross: Shame and Glory Together

What is this? What strange revelation this is! What will happen to the Christ, the son of man, the Son of God? And not just what will happen, but notice verse 14: “It must happen.” Literally, it is necessary. It is necessary that the son of man be lifted up this way.

No Jew ever expected this of their coming king. Which is why you must listen to the one descended from heaven above your own preconceived religious ideas. He just says, “You’ve got to be ready to readjust your thinking. This is the revelation of God from heaven.”

Why would God do this with his own son for sinners? Verse 16 and following will tell us more and kind of pull back further the curtain of God’s heavenly mysteries. But we already get an answer here in verses 14 to 15.

You see, “lifted up” as a term has another meaning, doesn’t it? To lift up can mean, on the one hand, to raise something or someone up physically. On the other hand, lifting or lifting up can mean to raise someone up figuratively—that is, to exalt, to glorify.

Both Jesus and our author, the disciple John, love to use words with poignant double meanings. I pointed out a number of them already in our study of this gospel. We definitely see another one of those here in these verses.

It is precisely in the son of man being lifted up in shame before the onlookers of his crucifixion that the son of man would be lifted up before all people in glory, all people of the earth. Thus, it was necessary. It was necessary for the son of man to be lifted up in this way because he is the Son of God, and he must be glorified.

It’s not just necessary to save sinners. It is necessary for the glorification of God. The son of man must be lifted up. You’re going to see this theme throughout this gospel. The cross is not some sort of shameful thing that we just want to get past as quickly as possible. No, Jesus is going to keep talking about it, and John’s going to keep talking about it as the way God was going to glorify himself through the Son.

“The cross is not some shameful thing to get past quickly. The cross is the Son’s glory.”

The cross is the son’s glory. Now, talk about unexpected revelation! The Jews could never conceive of a cursed Messiah. Their law says, “Cursed is any man who hangs upon a tree.” There’s no way God would ever let the Messiah be that.

But is that what God said, or is that what was man’s own idea? That was man’s idea. Jesus shows us that God’s ways are not man’s ways. The Lord’s salvation plan takes place in a very unexpected way.

Believe the One Descended from Heaven

But are you ready for that? Are you willing to believe that? And not just that, but all the other things about God’s revelation that might be unexpected? Are you willing to listen to the one descended from heaven and even to believe in him as the crucified yet glorified king of your life?

This is the central question. I hope that the answer is affirmative because if you simply hold fast your own religious ideas, you will die in your sins and you will miss God’s glory. But if you will believe, you will behold the spectacular glory of God’s Son—totally unexpected but totally greater than anything man could have come up with.

In addition to that, you will receive eternal life. Believe in Jesus. Believe in his revelation.

“If you will believe, you will behold the spectacular glory of God’s Son and receive eternal life.”

Closing Prayer

Well, at this point, we’ve seen two astonishing truths from Jesus in this passage. Next time, I’ll look at the last two. Closing prayer.

Great God in heaven, how true it is a thought has often entered my mind that no one could come up with the salvation that you have revealed. It goes against everything that man considers to be wise because we’re always, according to our bent of corruption, we’re always thinking about things that will exalt man and not God.

But if you truly are God, if it is truly your revelation, it’s going to be something we didn’t expect, going to be something that exalts you and not us. And that is exactly what we hear from your son, Jesus.

Lord, how glorious is this revelation! How glorious and good is your word! And how great is your salvation! We still can’t fully understand, God, how the Son of God should come to save sinners—save sinners like us.

Why should the one from heaven come down and be humiliated in such a way? And yet we take by faith what your word declares. It was necessary for the one descended to do this so that he could be lifted up.

It was always your perfect means of enjoying your glory and manifesting it to the whole universe. Oh, Lord God, thank you for your salvation. Be glorified indeed in the son, not just in God and what you have done, but when you continue to do in our lives.

Save those, Lord, who have heard this message and have not yet believed. And sanctify those, Lord, who do believe so that they may walk in accordance with the mighty revelation of this heavenly one.

Oh, God, I pray that you would cut down every self-exalted thought from our hearts, Lord, that resist your revelation and resist your way of living. Instead, God, may you humble us so that we can enjoy you and your glory just as you have meant from the beginning. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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