Look and Live

As we continue in John 3, we return to Nicodemus' conversation with Jesus. Nicodemus, a respected Pharisee, had praised Jesus as "a teacher come from God." But Jesus abruptly cut to the heart: he had to be born again. Not a suggestion — an imperative (John 3:3, 5).

Jesus reaches back to a passage Nicodemus knew well — Numbers 21. The children of Israel, bitten by serpents for their murmuring, were under God's judgment. But God gave a strange remedy: raise a bronze serpent on a pole, and whoever looked upon it would live (Numbers 21:8–9).

Here is the point: those Israelites were healed by no work of their own. Their salvation came by one thing — looking at the serpent that was lifted up. So it is with us. We are not saved by works, goodness, or religious knowledge. We are saved by looking to the Savior lifted up on a cross — by believing in the work of the only begotten Son of God at Calvary.

We certainly must believe in the work of the cross, it is an imperative. Accept what Christ has done for you, and live. Our part is not to work; our part is to look. Look to Jesus, believe, and receive eternal life — and you will walk toward the light, following the One lifted up so that you might live.