Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee. He came to Jesus “by night” and told Jesus that because of the miracles Jesus performed, “we” know that “thou art a teacher come from God.”
This is where Jesus tells Nicodemus that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus took this statement literally, and of course questioned a second physical birth. Jesus spoke of a spiritual birth. Nicodemus then said, “how can these things be?”
John 3:10-21
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe , if I tell you of heavenly things?
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Than whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Nicodemus was a scholar of the Old Testament scriptures. In Ezekiel 36:26 it says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh (a new heart).” Nicodemus knew scripture, but it is one thing to memorize, it is another to spiritually appraise the spiritual.
Jesus tells Nicodemus “we” speak and testify what we know, and you don’t receive it; how can you believe if we spoke of heavenly things? “We” is the trinity, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus clarifies with reminding Nicodemus of a ‘heavenly thing’ … that Jesus came down from heaven!
Now let’s focus on verses 14 and 15. They so often go unrecited, unnoticed, and they are so important!
When Moses was leading the Israelites through the wilderness, they had their moments of unbelief and even of outright whining and complaining. This was one of them. They said to Moses in Numbers 21:5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, wherefore have ye brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread and neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. THIS WAS THE MANNA GOD PROVIDED!
In Numbers 21:6-9 we then read:
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
So, before we read John 3:16, we need to understand John 3:14-15!
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
We have all been bitten by the serpent! But to live after being bitten, as the Israelites did, we need to “behold” the Son of man, Jesus! In this passage, ‘behold’ means ”believe’… so now we are ready to read John 3:16.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
The simplicity of the gospel!
Yet there are still those who feel God is judging the world… but this is not what we read next:
John 3:17-18
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Once again, the simplicity of the gospel!
Jesus even explains the ‘condemnation’ itself…
John 3:19-20
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
… and finishes with a contrast…
John 3:21
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
This verse speaks of the born-again believer. He or she may be weak, may be a new believer, but with his or her heart has believed unto righteousness:
Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
“He that doeth truth” does not run from the light! And how do we know that a believer’s deeds are ‘wrought in God’? Let’s go back to a few verses that we have spoken of many times:
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:13
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
