"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
John 3:14-17
If what we have said in the previous reading is correct interpretation, then it may be said that Jesus in a very real sense literally answers Nicodemus' question in 9, 'How can these things be?' In this connection we should notice two things: the first is that it was not a new message that Jesus brought to him, but one foreshadowed in the Old Testament Scriptures (14); and the second - and this is enormously important and significant in relation to our Lord's method in dealing with the ruler - is that Jesus directed him to the Word of God. This is the secret and fountainhead of all true evangelism. If we believe that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, our first task and concern will be to direct men to the Scriptures, as Jesus did here. It is the Word that is the great means of enlightenment and salvation, and we must learn to trust in its inherent virtue and power to do this to men. The illustration Jesus uses to enlighten Nicodemus - the story of the brazen serpent in Numbers 21 - serves to bear out what John says of Jesus in 2:22-24, 'He knew what was in man...'. His use of this story, therefore, tells us the truth about man's need. The 'as, so' in 14 is conclusive here. As the Israelites were in urgent danger of dying from the serpent bites, and in their desperate predicament because of their rebellion against the Lord, so also man in his revolt against God is in urgent need of the healing that the gospel brings, and for him also there is no time to lose. This is the pulse that must beat in all true presentation of the gospel word.