John 15 - Abiding

Notes from John 15

6   - not abiding causes withering.
7   - abiding contributes to powerful prayer
8   - powerful prayer should lead to fruitfulness.
     - fruit is characteristic of a disciple.
9   - abiding results in experiencing His love.
11 - these things will bring joy.
16 - God chose us and sends us to bear fruit
     - He appoints us to powerful prayer.

3:14

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

• Nicodemus wasn’t getting it as Jesus spoke of being born again, so Jesus now presents him an object lesson from the Old Testament.

• This refers to Numbers (21:5 - 9)“We are sick of this useless food,” sent serpents to punish them; and when the people came to Moses and he interceded with the Lord, the Lord commanded that for a remedy they make a serpent of bronze; and this was to serve both as a remedy against those serpents and as a symbol of the Lord’s passion. Hence it says that this bronze serpent was lifted up as a sign (Nm 21:9).

• And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people of Israel, and God sent these little serpents into the camp, fiery serpents, deadly serpents. They began to bite the people and the people began to die as a result of the bites. And they came to Moses and they said, "We have sinned against you and against the Lord by our murmuring. Pray unto God for us that we might be delivered from this plague of serpents." And Moses prayed unto the Lord and the Lord told him to make a serpent out of brass and to put it on a pole, and to stand it up in the middle of the camp. And it shall come to pass that whenever a man is bitten by one of these fiery serpents, if he will just look at the pole in the middle of the camp, he will be healed, he will live. And so Moses made a serpent of brass, put it on a pole, set it up in the middle of the camp; and it came to pass that whosever was bitten by this serpent, when they looked upon that serpent on the pole, they were healed, they did not die. Therein you find the basis for that little symbol that the doctors use, the serpent on the pole, for healing. But brass in the scripture is always a metal that is symbolic of judgment, and the serpent is always symbolic of sin. So, the brass serpent on the pole was a symbol that God had judged their sins. And by looking at that, they were healed. They did not die.

• Now, this is an interesting provision that God made, and by what process looking upon the serpent could save a person's life. You know, there's no physical or scientific explanation for this. It was just God's covenant! God's provision. And He said, "All you have to do is look and you will live." Now, I can imagine that there were some hard heads there in Israel, lying on the ground convulsing as a result of the snakebite, about to die. And their friends say, "Hey, in the middle of the camp Moses set up that pole of the brass serpent. Just look at it and you'll be healed." "Don't tell me that, man, that's ridiculous. I can't make sense out of that. How can looking at that do anything for me? Don't you see, I'm dying, man! I need help!" "Yah, but just look!" "Ah, come on, how can that help?" And I can see him arguing and dying because he can't understand how looking would help.

• People are foolish. Unless they can understand all the processes by which God is working, they won't accept it. I can't explain to you how that believing in Jesus Christ can cleanse you of your sin and cause you to be born again and become a child of God. All I can tell you is it will. It works. That's what God has ordained. Jesus, hanging on the cross, was bearing the judgment of God for your sins. "All we like sheep have gone astray, we turn, everyone of us, to our own ways. And God has laid on Him the iniquities of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up. " And Jesus, hanging there on the cross, was there taking the judgment of God for sin, dying for our sins, dying in our place. And even as those in the days of Israel looked at the serpent and lived, so we, by looking at the cross in faith and in trusting in Jesus, live. We have eternal life. And so, it was quite an interesting parallel, symbolism that God had established.  1
  
• Great picture of us dieing in our own sin and needing something that God has provided so that we can be saved.  The serpent really did bite us all in the fall of Adam and we are born with this disease of death (born into sin).  We need Gods provision that is lifted up to find a reborn life, a delivered life.  This is a shadow or type of the cross and Jesus dieing for our sins that we might be saved from this disease of sin. 2
  
• The verb used for his being 'lifted up' (Gk. hypsoo) is carefully chosen; it denotes not only literal lifting up in space but also exaltation in glory.  In this Gospel Jesus is glorified by being crucified (john 8:28, 12:23, 32, 34) 3

1.  Chuck Smith: commentary on John 3:14

2.  myself

3. F.F. Bruce the Gospel of John p 88