** The Treasure Valley Fox - The Wicket Gate**
The Night Visitor and the Bronze Serpent
Under the cover of darkness, a respected leader of Israel made his way through the quiet streets of Jerusalem. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, had seen the signs. He had heard the teachings. Something about this man from Nazareth would not let him rest. So he came at night, when no one would see.
He found Jesus and spoke with careful respect:
“Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
Jesus did not flatter him. Instead, He cut straight to the heart:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus was taken aback. The idea sounded impossible. He asked the question that revealed how literally he was thinking:
“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered him directly:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Nicodemus was still struggling to understand. He asked again:
“How can these things be?”
Jesus answered with a gentle but pointed rebuke:
“Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?”
Then He continued:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Nicodemus would have known the story instantly.
He would have remembered how, after years of wandering, the people had grown discouraged when they had to go the long way around the land of Edom. Food and water were scarce. Their souls grew weary, and they spoke against God and against Moses:
“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”
In their rebellion, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. The snakes bit the people, and many died. The venom spread quickly. There was no cure they could make — no medicine, no ritual, only death.
In desperation, the people came to Moses and confessed their sin:
“We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.”
Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord gave a strange and wonderful command:
“Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”
Moses made a serpent of bronze and lifted it high. From that day forward, anyone who had been bitten could look at the bronze serpent in faith — and they would live. The poison did not lose its power, but the look of faith brought healing.
Just as God provided a way of healing in the wilderness, He has provided a way of salvation now. The Son of Man must be lifted up — just as the serpent was lifted up on the pole — so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Now, sitting across from Nicodemus in the quiet of the night, Jesus was saying that the same principle was at work again. Just as the people in the wilderness were dying from the venom of the serpents, so the whole world is dying from the venom of sin. There is no human cure. No amount of religious effort or moral striving can stop its deadly effect.
Then Jesus spoke the words that have become the most famous in all of Scripture:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Nicodemus had come in the dark seeking answers. Jesus was offering him something far greater than information. He was offering new birth — a new life that could only come from above.
The same bronze serpent that brought healing in the wilderness was never meant to be worshiped. It was a sign pointing to the coming Savior. In the same way, the cross is not an end in itself. It points us to the One who was lifted up for us.
And just as it was in the wilderness, the invitation remains the same:
Look, and live.
Bull’s Eye – Yeshua Alone
The bronze serpent was never meant to be worshiped. It was a sign — a temporary, God-given picture pointing to the coming Savior. Anyone who had been bitten could look at it in faith and live. The power was not in the serpent itself, but in the word of God and the faith that looked to His provided remedy.
Yet centuries later, the people of Israel turned that very sign into an idol. They began burning incense to the bronze serpent, treating it as a sacred object rather than a pointer to the true Healer. Because of this, King Hezekiah had to destroy it (2 Kings 18:4).
This is the same error repeated throughout history by false prophets, false teachers, and religious systems: they take something God originally gave — or something that points to Christ — and turn it into an object of trust, ritual, or additional requirement for salvation.
Some religious systems today do exactly what Israel did with the bronze serpent. They lift up good things — prophets, ordinances, temples, sacred rituals, or religious performance — and make them necessary for salvation or exaltation. They may speak of Jesus, but they add requirements beyond simple faith in His finished work. In doing so, they turn the sign into the substance and the pointer into the object of worship.
Yeshua alone is the true remedy lifted up for sin. He is not one option among many. He is not the beginning of a process that we must complete through religious effort. He is the full and final provision of God for sinners. To add anything to Him — whether new revelations, sacred ordinances, or human works — is to repeat the ancient mistake of turning the bronze serpent into an idol.
The invitation remains the same as it was in the wilderness: Look to the One lifted up, and live. There is no other remedy. There is no other name.
Greek Study
For a deeper study of the Greek behind this passage (including the word οὕτως / “so” and the typological connection between Numbers 21 and John 3), see the following notes:
Full Scripture Text
Numbers 21:4-9 (NKJV)
Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
John 3:1-21 (NKJV)
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
Who Was Nicodemus?
Nicodemus is described in John 3:1 as:
“a man of the Pharisees” and “a ruler of the Jews.”
This means two important things:
- He was a Pharisee — part of the strictest and most religiously conservative Jewish sect.
- He was a ruler — almost certainly a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish ruling council in Jerusalem (only 70–72 men held this position).
So Nicodemus was not just a regular Pharisee — he was one of the most respected religious and political leaders in Israel.
What Commentaries Say About Him
| Aspect | What Commentaries Generally Say | Key Commentators |
|---|---|---|
| Why he came at night | Most agree he came secretly because he feared the other Pharisees and the Sanhedrin. He was not yet ready to publicly associate with Jesus. | D.A. Carson, Leon Morris, John MacArthur |
| His spiritual condition | He was sincere but spiritually blind. He respected Jesus as a teacher from God, but he did not yet understand spiritual truth. | Matthew Henry, William Barclay, D.A. Carson |
| His question about being born again | His question (“Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb?”) shows he was thinking in purely physical/natural terms. He had no category yet for spiritual rebirth. | Leon Morris, John MacArthur |
| His later appearances | Nicodemus appears again in John 7:50-51, where he cautiously defends Jesus before the Sanhedrin, and in John 19:39, where he helps Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus with a large amount of spices. Many see this as evidence that he eventually became a believer. | D.A. Carson, Leon Morris |
| Overall view | Most commentators see Nicodemus as a genuine seeker who came in the dark (both literally and spiritually) but was drawn to the light. Some believe he was converted; others say we are not told for certain. | Mixed, but leaning toward genuine seeker |
Key Takeaways from Commentaries
- He was religious but lost. Being a Pharisee and a Sanhedrin member did not mean he had eternal life.
- He was courageous but cautious. Coming at night showed fear, but coming at all showed genuine interest.
- He grew over time. His later actions in John 7 and John 19 suggest his heart was being drawn to Jesus.
- Jesus did not flatter him. Even though Nicodemus was a highly respected religious leader, Jesus immediately confronted him with his need to be born again.
Summary
Most good commentaries portray Nicodemus as:
A sincere, religious, highly educated Jewish leader who was spiritually dead and in need of new birth — just like everyone else. He came to Jesus secretly at first, but there are strong hints that he eventually became a true follower of Christ.
Historical and Literary Context of Numbers 21
Numbers 21 occurs near the end of Israel’s 40 years of wilderness wandering. A new generation is finally moving toward the Promised Land after the failure at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 13–14). The chapter records several events, but the bronze serpent incident (verses 4–9) is the most theologically significant.
What Commentaries Say About Numbers 21
| Aspect | What Commentaries Generally Say | Key Commentators |
|---|---|---|
| The people’s complaint | Their grumbling was not just about food and water — it was rebellion against God and Moses. It revealed a lack of trust in God’s provision and leadership. | Gordon Wenham, Timothy Ashley, Matthew Henry |
| God’s judgment (fiery serpents) | The serpents were a direct, supernatural judgment from God. The “fiery” description likely refers to the burning pain of the venom or the appearance of the snakes. | R. Dennis Cole, John Calvin |
| The people’s confession | Their quick confession (“We have sinned”) is notable. Unlike previous rebellions, they acknowledged their guilt and asked Moses to intercede. | Gordon Wenham, Matthew Henry |
| God’s strange remedy | God did not simply remove the serpents. Instead, He commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it on a pole. Healing came through looking in faith, not through any ritual or human effort. | Timothy Ashley, Leon Morris (on John 3) |
| The bronze serpent as a type | Almost all conservative commentators see this as one of the clearest types of Christ in the Old Testament. Jesus Himself explicitly connects it to His crucifixion in John 3:14-15. | D.A. Carson, Leon Morris, John Calvin |
| The principle of faith | Salvation came by looking — a simple act of faith and obedience. The serpent itself had no power; it was God’s appointed means of deliverance. | Gordon Wenham, R. Dennis Cole |
| Later misuse of the bronze serpent | King Hezekiah later destroyed the bronze serpent (2 Kings 18:4) because the people had begun worshipping it. This shows how easily a God-given sign can become an idol. | Matthew Henry, many others |
Key Takeaways from Commentaries
- Pattern of unbelief: Numbers 21 continues the recurring theme of Israel’s grumbling and lack of faith during the wilderness journey.
- Judgment and mercy together: God judged the people with the serpents, but He also immediately provided a way of salvation when they repented.
- Salvation by faith alone: The only requirement was to look at the bronze serpent in faith. No works, offerings, or religious rituals were needed.
- A clear picture of the gospel: The event powerfully illustrates that sin brings death, and the only remedy is God’s appointed Savior lifted up. This is why Jesus directly referenced it when speaking to Nicodemus.
- Warning against idolatry: Even something God originally commanded can become an object of false worship if people’s hearts turn away from Him (as happened with the bronze serpent centuries later).
Summary
Most good commentaries view Numbers 21:4-9 as:
A powerful picture of human sin, divine judgment, and God’s gracious provision of salvation through faith in what He has lifted up. The bronze serpent was never meant to be worshiped — it was a sign pointing forward to the coming Messiah who would be lifted up on the cross so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.