[S I M T A N]

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 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? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 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. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭3‬-‭21‬ ‭KJV

Jesus made the connection between the lifting up of the serpent and the Son of Man to illustrate what saving faith and salvation is all about: Because of the Israelites' continued rebellion and ingratitude, God sent poisonous snakes to bite them. As they watched many of their fellows die, the people begged Moses to ask God to heal those who had been bitten by the serpents.

God then instructed Moses to make a bronze image of a serpent, place it on a pole, and tell the people that if anyone who had been bitten by a serpent would look up at the bronze image on the pole, he would immediately be healed and would live.

"And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived." (Num 21:9)

God could have provided healing for every Israelite who was dying, but He didn't. Instead, God's healing was restricted to those who demonstrated their faith in God's ability to deliver them from death by looking one time at the serpent on the pole.

Jesus used this illustration to show how a person can be saved from eternal death: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)

In the following verse, Jesus applies that story to the issue of salvation:

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (v.16)

Eternal life is gifted only to those who exercise personal faith in Jesus and His ability to deliver them from the eternal consequences of sin.