Where do we look for peace, acceptance, or joy? When you stop to ponder this question there are so many ways God has given us to interact with others through relationships and His creations. Oh the joy of nature, and the beauty of the world around us, or the love we experience with friends and family. The gifts He has given us, and how we feel centered and full of joy when we are living in our strengths and making a difference in the world around us.

Chapter 3 of John is the next portion of my Bible study, Discovering Jesus. This chapter has the most quoted verse, John 3:16, and the focus throughout is how to know Jesus and His love. We learn about Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and a ruler of the Jews, comes to Jesus to accept His love and to understand Him.

Blueletter Bible:

Everlasting life: This describes the duration of God’s love. The love we receive among people may fade or turn, but God’s love will never change. He will never stop loving His people, even unto the furthest distance of eternity.

We may say there are Seven Wonders in John 3:16.

God	The Almighty Authority
So loved the world	The Mightiest Motive
That He gave His only begotten Son	The Greatest Gift
That whoever	The Widest Welcome
Believes in Him	The Easiest Escape
Should not perish	The Divine Deliverance
But have everlasting life	The Priceless Possession

“If there is one sentence more than another which sums up the message of the Fourth Gospel, it is this. The love of God is limitless; it embraces all mankind. No sacrifice was too great to bring its unmeasured intensity home to men and women: the best that God had to give, he gave — his only Son, his well-beloved.” (Blueletter Bible, Bruce)

John 3:14-15 were the verses that moved me to pray and meditate.

“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.”

Jesus refers back to the Old Testament, explaining that the serpent in Numbers 21:4-9 was a foreshadowing and a picture of His work to come.

“Serpents are often used as pictures of evil in the Bible (Genesis 3:1-5 and Revelation 12:9). However, Moses’ serpent in Numbers 21 was made of bronze, and bronze is a metal associated with judgment in the Bible, because bronze is with fire, a picture of judgment. So, a bronze serpent does speak of sin, but of sin judged. In the same way Jesus, who knew no sin became sin for us on the cross, and our sin was judged in Him. A bronze serpent is a picture of sin judged and dealt with.” (Blueletter Bible)

The commentary discusses that some people in the Old Testament may have thought it foolish to look at the serpent on the pole for healing.

 In the Numbers 21:4-9 account, the people were saved not by doing anything, but by simply looking to the bronze serpent. They had to trust that something as seemingly foolish as looking at such a thing would be sufficient to save them, and surely, some perished because they thought it too foolish to do such a thing.

As it says in Isaiah 45:22: Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. We might be willing to do a hundred things to earn our salvation, but God commands us to only trust in Him — to look to Him. (Blueletter Bible)

It’s a powerful image, isn’t it? At that moment in the wilderness, the people were bitten and desperate, and the cure was seemingly so simple, so utterly reliant on faith rather than effort. It mirrors our human tendency to seek solutions, do something, anything, alleviate our anxieties, and find a sense of peace or salvation, rather than simply looking to Jesus.

Think about it. How often do we find ourselves gazing at modern-day “bronze serpents,” believing they hold the remedy to our unease? It’s so easy to get caught up in striving, isn’t it? We often pour ourselves into our careers, hoping the next achievement will finally bring that sense of peace we’re longing for. Or we find ourselves drawn to the idea that having more things will somehow make us feel more complete. We might also lean heavily on our relationships or the approval of others to define our worth, or try to control every aspect of our lives, thinking that will keep us safe. In all these efforts, we’re searching for something that truly satisfies, but perhaps we’re looking in places that can’t ultimately provide it. Looking to Jesus, with his invitation to humility, to focus on what truly lasts, to find our security in him, and to trust even when things feel out of our control, offers a different path, a quieter way to find the peace we seek.

One of my favorite hymns,

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace