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John 3:14-21—Sight of Christ crucified results in eternal life. Eternal life comes to those who believe in the crucified Son of God. During Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, He explained how God had showed His love and mercy to a rebellious people by providing the remedy for the deadly snakes. Like the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness, Jesus, the Son of God, would be lifted up on a cross to provide the remedy for sin and death for all people. However, those who have no faith – those who reject the Word of God – condemn themselves.
Jesus says, “whoever” Vv. 15, 16 This is a vital word full of promise and hope. “Whoever” covers every person. The cross was for everybody’s salvation. God’s love in Christ is meant for every person. There is nothing sectarian about Christianity. Predestination and election in terms of some destined to be and others not to be saved have no part in these verses. Because of the universal significance of Christ and the cross, Christianity inherently must be evangelistic and missionary in order that the good news of the cross may be known by all peoples.
God wills to save the world, not to condemn it. His desire to save it is so intense that he pays the supreme price of giving his Son to the world. God wants no one to suffer, die, or go to hell. It is man who condemned himself and who sends himself to hell. He does this by not believing in Christ and by loving the darkness of sin rather than the light of righteousness.
O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, You have safely brought us to the beginning of this day. Defend us in the same with Your mighty power and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger, but that all our doings, being ordered by Your governance, may be righteous in Your sight; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
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