The Gospel According to John

Biblical Research Monthly
September, 1955
Dr. David L. Cooper
(Installment Eight)

THE SON OF MAN, THE COMPETENT WITNESS REGARDING HEAVENLY REALITIES

From the conversation which Jesus had with Nicodemus, it is quite evident that He included in His statement regarding the new birth, not only Nicodemus, but also his colleagues who likewise were blind to the spiritual realities of life. The reason for this unusual blindness was the lack of faith on their part to receive at face value the statements of God and those of the Lord Jesus. As we learn from many passages, all men must be born again.

Faith, and Essential to the Understanding of Spiritual Matters

"If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12). From this statement it is clear that faith is the key which unlocks the door to the understanding of spiritual realities. It takes faith, faith on the part of those hearing, to understand what Jesus meant, when he was talking about earthly spiritual things. If men can not understand these things, that are in the world in which they live and move, they can not understand the spiritual things that pertain to the heavenly realm. Celestial realities are far removed from earthly surroundings. It therefore takes even greater faith to accept and to comprehend what Jesus says in regard to the spiritual verities of the eternal world.

On numerous occasions different ones came to the Lord Jesus for blessings, especially for material healing. In different ways they showed their faith in Him and His ability to meet their need. When they thus came and were healed, He usually said, "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Frequently, with the healing of the body, the Lord spoke of forgiving the sins of the healed ones; but His forgiving their trespasses was conditioned upon their faith in Him as healer and as Saviour.

In Paul's roll call of faith, Hebrews, chapter 11, the apostle shows what faith is and what it does. Moreover he sets forth the imperative need that every one who comes to God must have implicit faith in his existence and His willingness and readiness to reward those who seek after Him. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him: for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well-pleasing unto God: and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him" (Heb. 11:5,6).

The Son of Man's Ascension to Heaven

"And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son, of man, who is in heaven" (John 3:13). This verse has been the occasion of much and long controversy. The reason for this fact is that it is one of the profoundest utterances of our Lord. Unfortunately men are not willing to take the passage exactly at what it says, but endeavor to read into it something that it does not assert. When it is taken at its face value, it becomes a glorious revelation.

Some have thought that the ascension to which Jesus referred can mean only His ascension to heaven after His death, burial, and resurrection. This theory cannot be true, because Jesus was speaking near the beginning of His ministry and was reproving Nicodemus and others of His associates for their not believing even the earthly things which He was discussing, and concerning which He spoke on various occasions. Obviously Jesus could not have been speaking of His ascension after His resurrection in His condemning them at that time for not believing and receiving His teaching. Others, however think that He did not refer to His ascending to heaven, but was speaking of the spiritual condition of communion and fellowship with God—one's walking with God by faith. This explanation does not satisfy the demands of the context; for the ascension here referred to is just as clear, positive and definite, as His descending from heaven.

In this language Jesus was talking about the one who was qualified to speak about heavenly things. Concerning such a one He said, "no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the son of man who is in heaven." There was therefore no one—no man—qualified to speak about the eternal realities except the one who had gone up to heaven and had come back to earth, and who was present with them and could speak of the things which He had seen. There is, however, one such qualified witness.

The one who has ascended into heaven, declared Jesus, is the one who, prior to that event, had descended out of heaven to earth. This one is none other than the Son of man. This passage presupposes the pre-existence of the Son of man. In other words, it assumes the correctness of what is stated in John 1:1-14. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. … And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth." The Word which was in the beginning with God and was God took upon himself the form of man, entering the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth. His coming to earth in this manner was in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 and Isaiah 7:14. In the first of these quotations this eternal one is referred to as "the seed of the woman." In the second the manner of the Word's entering the human realm is described as being by miraculous conception and virgin birth. In thus entering the world, the pre-existent Son of God-coequal and coeternal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit—descended to this earth.

After He had descended to this earth, declared the Lord, He ascended into heaven and saw the things there. After witnessing these things, He came back to earth to dwell among men and to tell them about these eternal realities.

When did our Lord ascend to heaven? Since the language is so very definite, we must understand that He referred to a specific experience which He had had. Do we have any hint as to when He had this experience? The probabilities are that He was referring to what occurred at the time of His baptism. Herewith Luke's account is as follows: "Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:21:22). After Jesus had been baptized, He was praying in the Spirit. Then the heavens were opened to Him or as Mark declared, He saw "the heavens rent asunder." (See Mark 1:9-11.) By this experience Jesus was in vision taken into the remotest parts of the heavens and He, as the Son of man, saw the heavens and what was there. He was therefore qualified to speak concerning these celestial realities.

In order for us to be able to appreciate more fully what Jesus is here declaring, let us remember that, when He entered the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth, He imposed upon himself human limitation. This thing He did voluntarily. Having thus circumscribed Himself, He lived by faith, as we are told in Hebrews 12:1,2. Being in human form with its limitations, what He learned of the world, in which He was living and having His being, was received through the five senses, the same as any other human being. He had, of course, laid aside the glory that He had with the Father before the foundation of the world, when He became man, our kinsman-redeemer. In order to be a competent witness under these conditions, to testify regarding the things of the eternal world, He had to have an experience of actual sight of these celestial realities. At the time of His baptism, therefore, the curtains of heaven were pulled back; and in full view of the heavenly realities He, as Son of man and our kinsman-redeemer, saw these celestial eternal verities.

Christ, being the Son of God incarnate, was fully equipped to testify regarding earthly spiritual matters and also these celestial verities. The Jews as a rule were not willing to receive His testimony concerning the earthly things, neither were they willing to accept His teaching regarding heavenly matters. Hence, in refusing to listen to Him, they were rejecting the testimony of the only competent witness to these things.

The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, being God, fills the entire universe—is present throughout universal space. Nevertheless, by divine power He limited himself and, becoming the Son of man, lived among men and taught them the way back to God. All these statements are correct and accurate as to His incarnation. At the same time He was in heaven while He was here upon earth, as He declared in the verse under consideration, "… even the Son of man, who is in heaven." We cannot understand these profound divine mysteries. Since we cannot comprehend them, we must take them by faith. Of course, we accept the testimony of the Lord Jesus at its face value. Thus by faith we can be carried into the celestial eternal world and anticipate some of the glories that await us who have received the Son of God as our atonement and satisfaction for all our sins.

Looking Upon the Uplifted Christ

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life" (John 3:14, 15). In these verses Jesus ceases to refer to the heavenly spiritual realities and resumes his discussion concerning earthly spiritual matters. In Numbers 21:4-9 we have an account of the rebellion of the children of Israel against God and against Moses. Because of this hostile attitude, God sent a plague which came in the form of fiery serpents that bit the people, many of whom died. The terrified Hebrews rushed to Moses and sought escape from the stroke of judgement. God then instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent and to put it upon a pole. The people who might be bitten were instructed to look at the brazen serpent. If and when they did so, declared Moses, they would be healed. As soon as the brazen serpent was lifted up, those people who had been bitten by the serpents, and who came in faith and looked upon the brazen serpent, were healed. Thus the plague was removed.

Our Lord declared that just as Moses lifted up this serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up in order that whoever believes on Him might have eternal life. The lifting up of the Son of man refers to what? Some expositors have interpreted this expression as referring to the moral and spiritual glory to which the Lord was lifted by His holy, unselfish life of devoted service for the redemption of humanity. Others think that it refers to His ascension and exaltation at the right hand of the throne of God at the present time. Still others are of the opinion that it refers to His being lifted up upon the cross to suffer and to make atonement for the sins of the world. There are points of contact between our passage and these three interpretations. It is quite likely that all these explanations blend into one grand, glorious picture. Probably the last one is what Jesus had in mind.

The antidote to the bites of the fiery serpents was the people's looking by faith upon the brazen serpent. It was by a literal serpent that the people were bitten, plagued, and died. It was by looking upon a brazen serpent, the symbol of the creature that bit them, that they were cured. This fact seems to embrace a profound truth which is the very heart of the gospel. It was by man's transgression of the one and only prohibition laid upon him that his death—physical, spiritual, and in the case of those who do not accept the antidote to sin, eternal death—was brought about. The fall of man therefore was brought about by Adam on the level of humanity and in the realm of the will. The loss must be retrieved by a man who is on the level of humanity and in the realm of the will. It was the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, on the level of humanity and in the realm of the will, made satisfaction and atonement for the sins of mankind.

Christ was lifted up upon the cross and poured out His life's blood for the redemption of humanity. In this manner he was carrying out the antitypical meaning of the brazen serpent.

Christ thus was lifted up that whosoever, regardless of all circumstances, should look to Him in faith might not perish but have everlasting life. It is a look of faith that avails. "For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).

Those who thus look to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith alone, depending upon the merits of His finished work on the cross, shall not perish but have everlasting life. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life" (John 5:24).