4. Zane C. Hodges, The Gospel Under Siege (Dallas: Redención Viva, 1981), 17 – 18.
He Calls for a New Birth
the gospel. "In 'looking,' " one author writes, "there is no idea of committal of life, no thought of healing being deserved, no question concerning the subsequent life of the looker, no possibility of surrender to the object of vision."3 Zane Hodges adds, "Could anything be more profoundly simple than that! Eternal life for one look of faith! Clearly here too we meet the unconditional gift which may be acquired by any who desires it. . . . The issue is simply faith in the divine offer."4
Is that the case? Certainly not. The issue is not faith in the offer, but faith in the One who was lifted up. A more careful study of Numbers 21 reveals that Jesus was not painting a picture of easy faith. He was showing Nicodemus the necessity of repentance. In fact, Jesus used this particular illustration precisely because it challenged Nicodemus's Pharisaism. Nicodemus knew the story of the bronze serpent well. As a leader of the Jewish nation, no doubt he identified with Moses. Jesus was showing him instead that he must identify with the sinning, rebellious Israelites.
Nicodemus knew well the helpless state of the Israelites for whom the bronze serpent was erected. They were sinful, defiant rebels against God. They had been judged, and they were dying. They came to Moses in absolute shame and utter repentance, saying, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you" (Num. 21:7). Undoubtedly many were already sick and dying, fast losing their strength. They were in no position to glance flippantly at the pole and then proceed with lives of rebellion. It is noteworthy that Moses records no further occurrence of the kind of rebellion that had brought about their judgment. They turned to God in desperation and with genuine repentance. Jesus was demanding that Nicodemus do the same.
The issue was sin. Jesus was challenging this great teacher of the law to acknowledge that he had been bitten by the great serpent, Satan, and to come to the Lord for salvation. The very concept would have been repugnant to a Pharisee. It cut at the core of his self-righ teous ness. Far from giving Nicodemus an illustration of the ease of belief, our Lord established a painful condition for Nicodemus's salvation: he must acknowledge his sinfulness and repent. He must be willing to include himself among the sinful, snake-bitten, repentant Israelites.
The illustration of the bronze serpent also pictured Jesus' death as the price for salvation. Just as Moses lifted up that serpent, so the Son of Man would be lifted up on a pole — the cross of crucifixion. The word "must" in verse 14 is
3. William LeGrange Hogan, "Th e Relationship of the Lordship of Christ to Salvation" (Th .M. thesis, Dallas Th eological Seminary). Hogan has since rejected no-lordship doctrine, but this statement was cited with approval by Cocoris, Lordship Salvation — Is It Biblical? 13.
4. Zane C. Hodges, Th e Gospel Under Siege (Dallas: Redención Viva, 1981), 17 – 18.
Jesus Heralds His Gospel
significant; Christ had to die. "Without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness" (Heb. 9:22). God's sacrificial system demanded a blood atonement, for "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). Someone must die to pay the price of sin.
That truth leads into what is undoubtedly the most familiar and magnificent statement in all of Scripture: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). What does it mean to believe in Christ? It means more than accepting and affirming the truth of who He is — God in human flesh — and believing what He says. Real faith has at its heart a willingness to obey. There is no way to eliminate that truth from this passage. Jesus does not allow for "faith" that gives lip ser vice to the truth and then goes ahead in sin. Look at verses 20 – 21: "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
Verse 36 goes even further, equating disobedience with unbelief: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Thus the test of true faith is this: Does it produce obedience? If not, it is not saving faith. Disobedience is unbelief. Real faith obeys.
John 3:17 is another rebuke to the religious system Nicodemus represented. The Pharisees were looking for a Messiah who would come to destroy the Gentiles and set up a utopia for the Jews. But Jesus said, "God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him." Those who thought the coming of the Messiah meant glory for Israel and destruction for everybody else were going to be disappointed. He came to bring salvation not just to Israel but to the whole world. That is the reality of redemption. It is offered not just to Pharisees, not just to the Jews, but to "whoever believes in Him" (v. 16).
Jesus made this wonderful promise to sinners: "He who believes in Him is not judged" (John 3:18). He balanced it with a chilling warning to the Pharisees and all others who reject Christ: "He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Condemnation for unbelievers is not relegated to the future. What will be consummated in the final judgment has already begun. "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil" (v. 19). Having hated and rejected the light, those whose deeds are evil consign themselves to eternal darkness.
Thus our Lord introduced His gospel. Note how exclusive it is; Jesus is the only source of salvation. Those who do not believe in His name are condemned,
He Calls for a New Birth
excluded from eternal life. No matter how sincere, how religious, how immersed in good works, everyone must be born again. There is no promise of life — only a guarantee of condemnation — for those who will not identify with the sinful, dying Israelites and turn from sin in obedient faith to the One who was lifted up so that they would not have to perish.