Whose Idea Was Salvation?

Have you ever noticed that we often miss things that are right under our noses?  Kids can get the strangest notions, too.  I am grateful that we are always learning and yet that means I am often embarrassed by what I thought I knew.  I have an old pin that simply says, “PBPGINFWMY”.  I can’t remember where I got it or when but I think it was from the 70’s.  It must have been a big ministry's campaign and it became a popular saying at the time.  Oh…I almost forgot to tell you what the acronym is for:  “Please Be Patient.  God Is Not Finished With Me Yet.”  How true that is!  How true it will always be!   

Those words came to mind when thinking about the scripture I am about to speak on.  The most famous scripture in the Bible is John 3:16.  Any teaching on that would be considered elemental and many would pass it up, assuming they knew all there was to know about it.  That's why it’s almost embarrassing to share that I have learned something about it after all these years of being a believer but that’s the case so here we go.  

Maybe you’ve felt or believed some of the things I did or maybe you can relate because of some other mistaken belief in life.  At any rate, I hope you’ll open your heart and mind to consider these things and be kind to me, just a sister on a journey towards “perfection” but knowing I’ll never be perfect until I am in my new body.  (Matt. 5:48; Rom 12:2)

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;

1Co 13:10  but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.

1Co 13:12  For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.

Over the years, I often felt that God was portrayed as a harsh God Who created rules we couldn’t possibly obey, Whose judgments were extreme.  In fact, at times, He seemed a rather disgusting God who desired the killing of animals to be sacrificed to Him all day long.  I can't imagine being a priest whose job that was!  

Finally, the fulness of time had come when His son, Jesus, would come to save us all.  The way it is often taught is that Jesus, whose real name is Yeshua (which in Hebrew is "salvation"), came along and fulfilled His Father’s demands so we could get out from under the system His Father set up.  It's as if He fixed what His Father didn’t get right…sort of a good God/bad God concept.  

The truth of the matter, though, is found in the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16:  

“For GOD so loved the world that HE gave His only begotten Son (so) that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”  Did you catch that? 

“For GOD so loved the world…that HE gave...”

The following verse continues, “For GOD did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (vs 17)

This seems so elementary that I am almost embarrassed to write about it but I have heard from others that they felt the same way.  I can’t quote a particular pastor or teacher who taught this so I am not blaming anyone; just trying to right a wrong, so to speak.  The funny thing is that I KNEW this verse BY HEART and BELIEVED it with my WHOLE heart...and yet, that idea of a good God/bad God came back again and again in teachings.

So, it's time to move on to what might seem a silly question...

Who spoke or wrote these words?

Was it John, who wrote this “book” of the Bible?   

NO!  It was JESUS...a.k.a. YESHUA...a.k.a. Salvation Himself!  

In fact, He was speaking to Nicodemus when He said it.  I’ll give those verses again, along with a little more context:

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

Joh 3:15  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Joh 3:16  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Joh 3:17  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

In case you wonder, in verse 4, Nicodemus had asked that famous question, "How can a man be born when he is old?   Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

In verse 14, Yeshua was giving Nicodemus a history lesson, if you will.  In Numbers 21:5-9, we can read what happened.  (Nicodemus, a Pharisee, would have known this story.)

Num 21:5  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 we loathe this worthless food."
Num 21:6  Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
Num 21:7  And 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.
Num 21:8  And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live."
Num 21:9  So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Yeshua was letting Nicodemus know that He was going to be hung on a cross, lifted up so that others might believe in Him and live.  Then, in verse 16, Yeshua made it clear that this was GOD’S plan, not His.  There are other truths in what He told Nicodemus and these are truths that any Hebrew would have known from that story, namely that confession and belief were involved.  The stories aren’t exactly alike but once the people confessed to Moses and he prayed for them, God made a way for them to be saved.

I’m not sure where the individual belief part comes in but here’s something to think about:

I’ve always pictured a tall pole that was raised up and all the people could see it at once but I honestly don’t know if there was a place high enough that all the people would have been able to see.  Somewhere along the way, I learned that there were at least 1.5 million people who left Egypt.  (Some say it could have been as many as 3.5 million!)  That’s way too many people to see any thing at the same time so either the pole would have had to have been paraded through the camps, which would have taken way too long and been a logistical nightmare OR the people had to come to the pole, suggesting that they had to believe it would work.  

Perhaps that was the first step of repentance; having to go to the temple to look up at the fiery serpent on a pole.  It’s just a thought and might seem more plausible when you read Yeshua’s next words...

Yeshua continues…

Joh 3:18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Joh 3:19  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Joh 3:20  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Joh 3:21  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

See?  Yeshua said that not everyone chose to come to Him (the light of God); because they loved their life of darkness and didn’t want His light to expose their sins.  Since He had just used the reference of the fiery serpent pole from Moses’ days, it seems possible, if not likely, that it would have been true of those who had to choose to look at the pole to be saved, as well.  

Well, it’s food for thought and there’s plenty more where that came from but I think I’ll save it for another time.  For now, let's just return to our focus on the One Whose idea it was to send His son...and Who did it out of HIS LOVE for us!!  Hallelu Yah!