LISTEN TO JESUS: OUR LORD LIFTED UP

LISTEN TO JESUS

OUR LORD LIFTED UP

John 3:11-12 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?

The MacArthur Bible Commentary:

John 3:11-12 “Jesus focused on the idea that unbelief is the cause of ignorance. At heart, Nicodemus’ failure to understand Jesus’ words centered not so much in his intellect, but in his failure to believe Jesus’ witness.”

Susie: As we have stated before, Nicodemus is trying to analyze everything intellectually rather than just believing Jesus at face value. 

Susan: He was missing the faith factor. For example: I am fully convinced that Jesus is our healer in every sense of the word, but healing of my cerebral palsy has not been physically manifested in my body. However, I know that I have been healed in the most important manner, the healing of my heart. I have faith that I will be completely, physically healed when I am with the Lord if not before. What an exciting day that will be! However, I am blessed and privileged beyond measure that every day that I wake up I have the honor and pleasure of being the Lord’s mouthpiece to share His word and truth around the world.  

Susie: Jesus was explaining that “birth from above” was transacted by God’s grace through faith and was not something to be achieved by man’s own power. 

Susan: Self-effort will not and cannot get you to Heaven, where you will be in God’s presence eternally. 

Susie: No matter how hard I might try, I cannot in my own strength, in my own abilities, be good enough to merit a relationship with the perfect, almighty God.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Susie: Jesus is the One sent from God to provide the way for us to enter Heaven. He is the only one who was in Heaven and came down to earth to reveal truth to us. Paul stated that man was not permitted to speak of such things when recording his vision of being caught up into Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). After Jesus ascended back to Heaven, the Apostle John was instructed to write the Revelation given to him of Heaven, but this was after the time that Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus. Of course, one must be listening with ears of faith to understand that Jesus is the Son of God and equally the Son of Man.

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.

Reformation Study Bible

3:14 Moses. Num. 21:4–9 records the story of the rebellious Israelites, who murmured and complained. God sent fiery serpents into their midst to punish them. Then God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole, with the promise that whoever looked at it would live.

must . . . be lifted up. Here is a key term in this Gospel (8:28; 12:32, 34) which carries the double meaning of crucifixion and exaltation. Christ’s death on the cross, His resurrection, and His glorification together reveal the glory of God. The word “must” points to God’s sovereign purpose. The crucifixion was the keystone of God’s eternal plan to save His people (Acts 4:27, 28).

Susie: Jesus’ crucifixion was not some cosmic tragedy but was God’s plan for salvation all along. 

Susan: When Jesus says He must be “lifted up,” the phrase has a layered meaning. It refers to Jesus’s suffering and being displayed naked on the cross for all to see. . .

Susie: . . . the worst humiliation for a Jew since Deuteronomy 21:23 says that one who is hanged on a tree is “accursed of God.” 

Susan: The second layer of the term “lifted up” is that Jesus must be exalted. 

Susie: He must be recognized as fully equal with God and given all the glory due Him.

The American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828

EXALT'ED, pp. Raised to a lofty height; elevated; honored with office or rank; extolled; magnified; refined; dignified; sublime.

Philippians 2:8-11 (ESV) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Ways we can apply this to our lives:

·     We must believe that Jesus is fully divine (God) as well as fully human – He is the God-Man

·     In order to be saved, we must look to the cross by believing that Jesus died in our place and was raised from the dead

·     We should exalt Jesus, bring glory to His name (reputation) in all we do and say