The revelation of the Divine plan of salvation. Redemption is the essential content of revelation. The Incarnation carries with it the necessity of the Crucifixion. I. THE NATURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SYMBOL HERE PRESENTED TO OUR VIEW . "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." 1 . This refers to the last miracle wrought by Moses on the borders of the promised land. ( Numbers 21:7 .) 2 . The... read more
An emblem of salvation. It was Christ's teaching that Moses testified of him. This Moses did by foretelling the advent of a prophet like unto himself, and still more strikingly by the whole system of sacrifice which he perfected, and which the Messiah both fulfilled and superseded. He did so likewise by symbolic acts, thus unconsciously witnessing to Christ and his works. It was natural that our Lord's first mention of Moses should occur in his conversation with a Hebrew rabbi, an... read more
The lifting up of the Son of man. These are probably the closing words of Jesus to Nicodemus. Jesus has had to teach him great spiritual truths from the analogies of natural birth and the wind blowing where it listeth. Now he will conclude with an historical parallel. I. AN HONOURED NAME IS MENTIONED . Nicodomus and his sect professed to glorify Moses. Jesus did glorify him ia reality. Perhaps Nicodemus is beginning to think that, after all, there is nothing in Jesus likely... read more
For God so loved the world. The Divine love to the whole of humanity in its condition of supreme need, i.e. apart from himself and his grace, has been of such a commanding, exhaustless, immeasurable kind, that it was equal to any emergency, and able to secure for the worst and most degraded, for the outcast, the serpent-bitten and the dying, a means of unlimited deliverance and uplifting. The Divine love is the sublime source of the whole proceeding, and it has been lavished on "the... read more
The immensity of God's love to the world. The apostle here emphasizes the love which was manifest in the method of salvation. I. THE TRUE ORIGIN OF SALVATION . "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." It is God's love, infinite, eternal, unchangeable. 1 . Salvation is not wrung from the Father by the Son. The atonement was the effect, not the cause, of God's love. 2 . This love is no contradiction to the wrath of God, which is implied in this... read more
The greatness of God's love to the world. This will be seen if we consider— I. THE OBJECT OF HIS LOVE . "The world"—the fallen human family. 1 . There was nothing in the world to attract and deserve his love. For he loved the world, not as he made it, but as it made itself by sin. God loves all holy beings. This is natural, as natural as it is for a virtuous father to love a dutiful son. But God loved the world in its disobedience and sin. It was the magnitude and... read more
The love of God in deed and truth. Here the producing cause of the gospel is briefly stated—why men need it, and why God sends it. How God regards the world and what he would do for it are here set before us. I. THE WOULD IS A PERISHING WORLD . If those believing in the Son of God will not perish, the conclusion is plain that those who remain unbelieving in Christ will perish. The word might have been, "God so loved the world as to fill it, with all manner of things pleasant... read more
"The gift of God." This is the language either of our Lord himself or of the evangelist. If these are Christ's words, they contain his authoritative testimony to his own declaration. If they are the words of John, we have in them the inspired judgment of one who was in most intimate fellowship with Jesus, and who was peculiarly competent to represent his Master's work in accordance with that Master's own mind. Familiar as this comprehensive and sublime utterance is to all Christians, there... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - John 3:14-15
And . Seeing that our Lord had claimed supreme right to speak of heavenly things, he proceeds at once to speak of them also. There may be many ways of taking the καὶ : supposing that it indicates a transition from the person of the Lord to his work. From his Divine and endowed humanity thus shown to be competent to explain and re veal heavenly things, he proceeds to his atoning sacrifice. These underlying links of connection are not mutually exclusive. Even as Moses lifted up the... read more