John 3:14-15 - Homiletics

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 Israelites were to see in it the sovereign hand of God, and not to ascribe the efficacy of the cure to the mere outward symbol— the brazen serpent—apart from Divine power.

3 . They were to see in the whole incident, not a mere effective comparison, but a preparatory type—a figure of "good things to come," exhibiting

II. THE WORK OF CHRIST . "Even so must the Son of man be lifted up."

1 . Consider the meaning of this expression.

2 . There was a Divine necessity for the death of Christ. "The Son of man must be lifted up."

III. THE DESIGN OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST . "That whosoever believeth in him should have eternal life." Mark the various points of comparison between the type and the antitype.

1 . The poison of the serpents in the wilderness represents the deadly nature of sin. That poison was death; so sin is death.

2 . The gaze of the stricken Israelites answers to the look of faith. "There was life in a look."

3 . The brazen serpent answers to Christ the Son of man. We admit none of the fancies of divines respecting this matter. The one point of analogy was in the "lifting up." Jesus is the Object to be looked at by faith; and, as such, is seen

4 . The healing of the Israelites answers to that eternal life which is the result of faith. Thus the death of Christ is indispensable to the life of believers. And it stands in causal connection with eternal life as their inheritance. This passage proves not, as some divines say, that life is first, and that the acceptance of the sinner flows from the life; but that acceptance flows from Christ's death, and that life issues out of the acceptance.