John 3:14-15 Jesus explains to Nicodemus, “ 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.”
Now Jesus had to deal with Nicodemus in first understanding the world. Two Latin words are used to define what English describes as “the world”. The first word is “mundus”, meaning “this physical world” or “this place”. The second word is “seculum” meaning, “this time” or “the here and now”. It is from this word that we get our English word “secular”, pertaining to the present world, or to things not spiritual or holy as living for self or living for this day without thought of God; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly. The secular concerns of life respect making provision for the support of life, the preservation of health, the temporal prosperity of men and women.
Nicodemus, and most of us, dealt in secular earthly reasoning with spiritual blind spots and non-discerning hearts, so Jesus unpacked God’s spiritual plan of Salvation from sin through the messianic “Son of Man” of Daniel 7:13 to link this everlasting Lord to the spiritual Redeemer of the soul and Savior of the lost and dead in sin world. Moses in Numbers 21:8-9 bronze serpent of a pole that saved, foreshadowed the “Son of Man”, the sacrificial Lamb of God that took away the sins of the world [transformed from spiritual death to spiritual life] when lifted up by faith as God’s gracious gift to those who believe.
In John 3:16-17 Jesus concluded, “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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The “Son of Man” in Scripture is the “Son of God” today. The human race sinned against a just and hoy Creator God and the spirit of man died breaking the spiritual connection to their Almighty heavenly Father. Sin forever dwelt in their fleshly heart desires and the wrath of God against that sin in the grave’s eternal separation and Hell. But, God had a Salvation plan. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, but Ephesians 2:4-9 proclaims to us that “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
We cannot buy our salvation with tithes, offerings or charitable donations. We cannot earn our salvation by doing good works, ministry to the world or helping others. These are the fruits of having been saved by faith in Christ. Not everyone will receive Jesus Christ as Savior and lord, but John 1:12-14 tells us that “ as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. These “good works” are what true Christians willfully and joyfully do as children of God. We do not deserve salvation; we were spiritually dead and dead people can do nothing. It’s a gift to the born again. John 3:35-36 declares, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
1 Peter 1:22-23 “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”
Gospel truth is good news, here, now and forever.
Dead to sin and alive in Christ, Brian
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