The Serpent, the Son, and Deliverance I. Introduction A. John 3:14 B. We can only imagine Nicodemus' confusion! 1. Jesus has taught him many hard spiritual things on that Judean evening 2. Verse 14 presents perhaps the greater difficulty 3. He would understand the referent, but what of the application? C. Of what does Jesus speak? II. Jesus' Referent: Moses and the Serpent A. If we are to understand Jesus' application, we must first understand His referent B. Speaks of Moses lifting up a serpent in the wilderness C. Narrative of event found in Numbers 21:4-9 1. Israel in the wilderness 2. Grumble about their plight, as usual 3. Even complaining about food God gives them! 4. God sends fiery serpents to bite the people 5. People recognize their sins, beg Moses to pray for them 6. He does; God charges him to make an image of the serpent 7. All who look upon it, even if bitten, are delivered D. Deliverance came from power of God to those who looked upon the image of the serpent III. Jesus "Lifted Up" on the Cross A. Jesus must be "lifted up" like the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness B. What Nicodemus may not have understood then, we do now: Jesus was to be lifted up on the cross C. Jesus knows the fate that will befall Him 1. Matthew 16:21: prepares His disciples for it 2. Matthew 26:26-28: part of the institution of the Lord's Supper; Jesus' blood as shed for the forgiveness of sin 3. John 1:29: Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the world 4. Jesus soberly knows, when speaking to Nicodemus, what will befall Him D. Deliverance also the result 1. Jesus did not die for His own sin, for He had none (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:20-22, Hebrews 4:15, 7:27) 2. His death allowed for us to have remission of sin and be in restored association with God (Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 26:28, 1 John 1:7) E. Zechariah 12:10 1. Fulfilled directly by soldiers piercing Jesus' side with a spear (John 19:37) 2. Must, in turn, also apply to us 3. We have pierced Him by our sin; He went to the cross because of our sin (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 5:6-8) 4. We must also look to Christ whom we have pierced on the cross and mourn for our sin! 5. If we look upon Him in obedient faith, we gain our deliverance! F. Just as the Israelites needed to look to the serpent to be healed of their wounds, so we must look upon Christ on the cross if we desire to be healed of our iniquities! IV. Jesus "Lifted Up" in the Resurrection A. Jesus is not just lifted up on the cross 1. If it were so, His death would be worthless 2. We would still be in our sin (1 Corinthians 5:12-18) B. Jesus is again "lifted up" 1. On the third day, the first day of the week, Jesus rose again (John 20:1-28) 2. Lifted up in the resurrection! C. Jesus was no less aware of His resurrection as He was of His death 1. Matthew 16:21, 26:29 2. John 2:13-22 3. Disciples later remembered how He spoke of His resurrection 4. Nicodemus, no doubt, reflecting back on the events of John 3:1-16, would have seen how Jesus spoke of such things then too! D. How does it relate to Moses and the serpent? 1. Connection perhaps not immediately apparent 2. Found in Moses and the serpent as a type of the reality of the resurrection 3. God sends serpents, people delivered by looking at image of same serpent 4. Image of the thing that is killing leads to life E. Another Serpent and Death 1. The serpent also evokes a deeper level of mortality 2. Serpent in the garden beguiles Eve, she eats, leads to death and sin for all (Genesis 3:1-6) 3. God leaves us with a promise: Genesis 3:15 F. Genesis 3:15 1. Men have been bitten by snakes and have killed snakes for years 2. God principally speaking of the conflict between man and Satan (cf. Revelation 12:9) 3. Sin has bitten our heels, and we are under sentence of sin and death (Romans 3:5-23) 4. Jesus, however, has bruised Satan's head, being victorious over sin and death through His death and resurrection (Romans 5:12-18, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22) G. Jesus gained the victory, and we in Him (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)! H. Type and Reality 1. Israelites bitten by snake, healed by looking at image of snake, defeating snake 2. We are bitten by sin, healed by looking toward Jesus who has the victory over sin and death, and we share in that victory 3. Begins with baptism (Romans 6:3-7) and ends at the resurrection day (1 Corinthians 15:20-58, 1 Peter 1:3-9) V. Conclusion A. The bronze serpent appears again 1. 2 Kings 18:4 2. Called Nehushtan 3. Had become an object of worship 4. Destroyed by Hezekiah B. Sober warning 1. Too often, people begin worshipping objects of deliverance, not the God who empowered the objects 2. We see today people venerating the cross or the emblems of the Lord's Supper 3. They do much the same as their Israelite forebears C. God intended us to remember what has been done 1. He established the Lord's Supper, the bread and the fruit of the vine, representing the body and blood of Jesus (Matthew 26:26-28) 2. Christians observe it on the first day of the week, the day on which He was raised again (Matthew 28:1ff, Acts 20:7) D. The focus not on the objects! 1. Provides a concrete reminder of what God has done! 2. We have the opportunity to look to Jesus on the cross and in the resurrection when we observe the Lord's Supper E. Opportunities to Remember 1. We look upon Him whom we have pierced with our sin on the cross 2. We grieve for our sins and Jesus' suffering because of them 3. We remember that Christ was raised in that we partake on the first day of the week 4. We recognize that we are under His lordship and await His return (Matthew 28:18, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26) F. As the Israelites looked up to Nehushtan and received deliverance from the snakebite, let us take the opportunity provided by the Lord's Supper to look up with eyes of faith to Jesus lifted up on the cross and in the resurrection, that we may have eternal life (John 3:15)! G. Invitation/songbook Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14). Jesus was teaching Nicodemus about the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus was finding it difficult to understand Him. Jesus explained that He would have to be lifted up like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. We can only imagine what Nicodemus thought of such things. Why did Jesus need to be lifted up? 2: So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived (Numbers 21:9). The Israelites again grumbled against God in the Wilderness. This time God sent "fiery," or venomous, snakes against them. Many were bitten; some died. The people cried out; God told Moses to make a bronze serpent. Any who looked up to the serpent once they were bitten would be healed. Why would God thus punish His people? 3: Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again" (John 2:19). How was Jesus lifted up like Moses lifted the serpent in the Wilderness? Jesus was lifted up on the cross; He suffered on it so we could all be healed from sin. Yet Jesus was also lifted up in the resurrection so we could all overcome death. Both Jesus' death and His resurrection prove crucial for our healing and restoration. How can we find healing in Christ? 4: [Hezekiah] eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan (2 Kings 18:4). The story of the bronze serpent has a sad conclusion. The object by which Moses brought forth healing from God itself became an object of veneration. Humans have a tendency of making too much of objects and can give them the honor and devotion which should be given to God. We must remember these things as it relates to the cross, the Lord's Supper, the Scriptures, and other such things. Why do we so easily give God's honor to the things God has made?