John 3:13–16

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

It's unfortunate that John 3:16 is so often memorized out of context. The word, “for” at the beginning (“gar” in Greek) means Jesus is explaining what He just said. Out of context, it’s sounds like Jesus is explaining why he saved us. That’s not wrong; it’s just that in context, He’s mostly explaining why He came.

This is a recurring theme throughout the gospels. Jesus was sent. The incarnation is God’s spectacular plan to glorify Himself. Christmas is our biggest holiday for a reason.

Resurrection is cool, and provides the best evidence that Christianity is true, but it’s a straightforward miracle. We don’t fully even understand what incarnation is. It’s like a composer becoming a note or an artist becoming a brush stroke.

Unfortunately, we tend to focus on how all this affects us—how we get saved. That’s understandable and not even all that sinful, but we miss the best part—how it’s all about God’s glory.

When we use John 3:16 out of context, we erroneously see the gospel as all about us. It’s about God.

So, Moses lifting up the serpent in chapter 21 of Numbers was part of the plan all along.

Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. — Numbers 21:6–9

The irony here is important. Just looking at a bronze serpent couldn’t possibly have any natural curative powers. It’s all about faith. Plus a bronze serpent is a model of the problem, not its solution. Yet God specifically tells Moses to make this symbol, to raise it on a pole, and to have everyone look up at it.

This foreshadows Jesus on the cross. The punishment for sin is cured by looking up to the cross—the symbol of Roman punishment for sin.

James Tissot’s painting “View from the Cross” captures this concept perfectly. It’s a chilling portrait of people looking up to the cross from Jesus’s point of view.

https://www.artbible.info/art/large/495.html

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.