 That, thank you so much for this day, Lord. Actually, as we're about to learn the book of John, you may understand the depth of the book of John. That all our demos will be cleared up and understand the life of John. And thank you so much, Lord, for understanding lineup with your understanding. God, thank you for everything, for us with your wisdom. You need me pray, Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Asha. All right. So today we would look into John chapter 3. And John chapter 3 is a very familiar chapter, especially because of John 3.16. But then we'll see what new insights we can gain from this passage and also what learnings that we can gain for our own lives. All right. So let's get started. And as usual, even as I request you to read out one verse or two verses, if you could read it out. And don't hesitate to read. Just as soon as I ask, one of you can just begin to read. So you don't have to wait and hesitate so that we can maybe cover a little more extra things in today's passage. So we will begin, of course, with verse 1. And if you could just have someone read out just verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Yes. That's how the chapter begins. Now, of course, the chapters were all introduced later when they had the other translations. In the original, it was not divided into chapters. But anyway, the people who did the division regarded this to be a good starting point for this particular chapter. And so we have Nicodemus being introduced as a Pharisee who belonged to the Jewish ruling council. Now, earlier in chapter 2, verse 23, I think, we had seen a statement made over there. It was on 223 where it said, now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. So over here, the statement made was that people saw the signs he was performing. All of these signs were pointing towards something. They were indicating something. They seemed to be implying that this person who was able to do extraordinary things must definitely be the Messiah. So when the people saw these signs, these indications, they began to be convinced that this must be the promised Messiah. And so one of the persons who has seen these signs is Nicodemus. And therefore, he now comes to Jesus to have a conversation with him. And if we could read out verse 2, please. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that your teaching comes from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Yeah, so he has come there with a very specific purpose. He wants to know something. And so his opening lines are this. He says, we know that you're a teacher who has come from God. Why are we saying that? Because it says here, no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. So it's very, very clear that you have come from God. And so Nicodemus, I think, is about to ask the question because you seem to have come from God. Now, are you the Messiah that we have been waiting for? That's the question which they posed to John the Baptist earlier. And John the Baptist was very plain in replying that, no, I am not the Messiah who has been promised. I'm only preparing the way. So now here is someone else who is performing signs which indicate that he is from God. And so now Nicodemus probably wants to confirm whether this is the promised Messiah. And we have a lot of theories raised about why he comes to Jesus at night. Now, me giving my personal opinion, I don't think he was afraid or scared because at that point of time, most scholars believe that this incident took place somewhere around the beginning of Jesus' ministry. So at that time, the opposition had not really increased against Jesus to an extent where Nicodemus would feel afraid to be associated with Jesus. I think he's just being cautious because he's a public figure. He's a member of the ruling council. He's somebody whose opinion people would look up to. And so he needs to be careful whom he is associating with and what he's saying about those people that he's associating with. And so he comes privately. First of all, to find out whether this indeed is the Messiah. And then he can maybe publicly acknowledge his loyalty to him. And so with that intention, with that intention, we see Nicodemus coming first to have a private conversation and really verify whether this is the promised Messiah. Okay, so, and yeah. So he asks, he says, it looks as though you are from God, depending on the signs that you are doing. And then Jesus is, this is Jesus' reply to that statement of Nicodemus, which we see in verse three. If you could have someone read out verse three, please. Jesus answered. Jesus answered and said to him, Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now we see no connection between what Nicodemus just said and what Jesus is now saying and there seems to be a real disconnect. Now, of course, we know that all the conversations here recorded in our Bible are not literally verbatim word by word translations because that would take up too much space. So we have summarizations of conversations. So even over here under the influence of the Holy Spirit, John has chosen to summarize this particular conversation in this compact manner, you know, into a few verses. And so he would have been highly careful in what he's choosing to convey of that conversation. And so it is so interesting that you have Nicodemus making a statement like this saying, I think you are from God and is kind of waiting for confirmation whether this is the Messiah. And Jesus takes up a topic which is in no way connected to what he's trying to say. And Jesus says, very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. So Nicodemus seems to have come over here trying to verify whether this is the Messiah whom they have been waiting for. Jesus on the other hand seems to be saying, it's all very well that you're looking for the Messiah to even realize your deep need for the Messiah. Maybe first you should understand where you are, your condition, your need for the Messiah. And then I will tell you whether I am the Messiah or not. So Jesus brings Nicodemus' focus onto a more vital point, his personal need for a Messiah because Nicodemus probably is under the impression that he is a good person and does not need any kind of spiritual help or spiritual salvation. All he's probably looking for is a Messiah who will come and take over the throne once again and restore the kingdom of Israel. So Jesus first sets out to correct this man's perspective and then talk about Messiahship and all of that. And so Jesus takes this new line and he says, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Now this would have sounded rather strange to Nicodemus and in fact to any of the other Jews because they had been taught from childhood that if they are the descendants of Abraham, if they are God's chosen ones, then it's really a piece of cake. I mean, they all are going to make it into heaven because they are descendants of Abraham, the one that God chose and God promised and said, through you, I will prepare a nation for myself and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you. So they are so assured of their place in heaven and Nicodemus is also under the same impression and now here is Jesus saying a person needs to be born a second time only then would he even get into the kingdom of God and so what Jesus is saying here would have sounded rather surprising to Nicodemus. Now we are not very sure exactly how Nicodemus would have understood this particular statement because the word used over there, the Greek word anothen, that can be translated as unless they are born again or it can be translated as unless they are born from above. The word anothen can mean again or the word anothen can also mean from above. In fact, we see it used as from above in John 3.31. If someone could just read out that little phrase over there in 3.31. John 3.31. He who comes from above with above or he who is of the earth and speaks in an active way. That should be enough. Thank you so much. Over here, the word that is used the one who comes anothen is above all, the one who comes from above. This word over here when it is used earlier in verse 3 it could mean unless they are born again or it could mean unless they are born from above. It could be either one of those translations and Nicodemus is very puzzled by this and we see him making his statement in verse 4. If we could now have someone read out verse 4 for us. 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? When Nicodemus hears Jesus' words he is thinking about a physical birth. His question is obvious. He says it is impossible for a person to be physically born a second time and he kind of fails to make the connection because he is a man who is a teacher of the law so he is aware of his Old Testament scriptures and there are scriptures where God talks about a new kind of birth but right now he has not yet made that connection. He is thinking more in terms of physical birth so he says how is it even possible for a person to be born a second time physically? But then you know if we were to kind of reflect upon Jeremiah 31-33 where you know I will just read that out it says the Lord is speaking and he says this is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time declares the Lord I will put my laws in their minds and write it on their hearts. So God is talking about creating something new he says I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. So over here when Jesus makes his statement about someone entering the kingdom of God and being born from above Jesus is talking about how God from above will put his law in the minds of people he will write it on their hearts and then they will be in a position to want God they will want to honour him and submit to him and they will be in a position to be part of his family and also enter his kingdom. So there are these very important scriptures from the Old Testament which the people of Israel at that time were depending upon they considered these things to be at the core of their belief system. So maybe we could have one person read out Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 1 to 6 I know it's a rather lengthy passage but then you see this is something that they were clinging on to the people, Nicodemus and the people were clinging on to the promises being made over here so if someone could read out for us Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 1 to 6 Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 1 to 6 and when all these things come upon you the blessings and the curse which I have said before you and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has given you understand to the Lord your God you and your children and obey his voice when all that I command you today with all your heart and with all your soul then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you and he will gather you again from all the people who are the Lord your God has gathered you if you are out in the atom of cuts of the heavens from there the Lord your God will gather you and from there he will take you up to us 4, 5 and 6 please Okay, 4 is done and the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your father possess that he may possess it and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your father and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may be amen Okay, so yes, amen So there are two important promises being made over here to the people of Israel the first is that the Lord would gather them from all the nations where he has scattered them and the people in fact saw this happening they had gone, been taken away to the land of Babylon and there was no hope of them ever being restored and it's so extraordinary the emperor, the king of that land voluntarily says go back to your place and I in fact will help you in rebuilding your temple so he returns all the stolen vessels and the objects of purification and sacrifice which had been stolen earlier by Nebuchadnezzar that emperor sends them back with his royal support to go back to their own land to restore their temple and so in a most extraordinary manner the Lord gathers them from all the nations where they have been scattered and so they see this promise of God being fulfilled Now the second promise that is made over there in that particular passage is that God himself would circumcise their hearts and they would then be able to love him with all of their hearts and souls so they believe, the people of Nicodemus they believe that these two promises have been fulfilled by the Lord already and they are just waiting for the third main promise to be fulfilled which we would see in Jeremiah 23 verses 5 to 6 if someone could read out Jeremiah 23 5 to 6 please Behold the days are coming says the Lord that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely now this is his name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness Okay so they are happy and confident that God has finished fulfilling the first two promises of regathering them and also circumcising their hearts and so they are just waiting for this third promise to be fulfilled where you would have the king who will come and reign wisely and who will bring back justice and write into the land so Nicodemus has now come with a hope that maybe this is the person who will be fulfilling this third promise and so Jesus needs to reorient his thinking and help him see that no circumcision has actually happened in people's hearts yet there are a lot of them who are still following just the outward form of the law without allowing the law to have any kind of work of transformation inside their hearts so that Nicodemus needs to be able to see and so Jesus is basically trying to lead the conversation in that direction to help him see that the first promise has been fulfilled the people have been regathered back to Jerusalem but the second promise of circumcision is not yet been done and so the coming of the king to reign once again will be a thing of the future because first of all the second promise needs to be fulfilled so Jesus goes on to say in verse 5 about some more details regarding how to enter the kingdom so if someone could read out verse 5 for us Jesus answered please continue Asha thank you Jesus answered very very asian to thee accept a man with more water and loves the spirit so a person needs to be born of water and the spirit and the person who has fulfilled both of these conditions only that person will enter into the kingdom of God and so there has been a lot of debate on what exactly this phrase means but it is very clear from verse 10 which we would come to later where Jesus seems to think that Nicodemus being a teacher will obviously understand what he is saying so we have to assume that whatever is being said over here in verse 5 it must be something out of the Old Testament something that Nicodemus as a teacher of God's word would be familiar with so the best interpretation for this phrase born of water and the spirit would have to be Ezekiel chapter 36 verses 25 to 28 okay so Ezekiel 36 25 to 28 if we could have someone read out please Ezekiel go ahead Charles was inquiring was it Ezekiel chapter 36 the first part 36, 25 to 28 it goes like this 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be cleaned from all your and from all your idols I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh amen and verse 27 also please okay verse 27 and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statute and be careful for my roles and so over here we see that the person will be born of water and born of the spirit God is saying that this is what he would do so this is what Jesus is referring to when he is talking about how a person can enter into the kingdom of God only when they are born of water and born of the spirit so this is something that Nicodemus would be familiar with it's just that right now he's rather confused and it's not yet made the connection with the Old Testament scriptures at this particular point of time yes we have we do not know how to pronounce your name if you could tell us how your name is pronounced and then you can ask your question go ahead please my name is Shai Mark thank you Mark for giving me the opportunity to ask my question Shai right? Shai yes Shai you're correct no man would be able to see the kingdom unless he's born again he now describes further and says until the man is born of the spirit and of water he will not enter into the kingdom of God my question is seeing and entering I think the same thing was Jesus referring to the same thing was he just basically explaining what he was earlier saying is there a difference between a person seeing the kingdom and then entering the kingdom you are referring to verse 3 which comes first yeah no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again so over here it's obviously not just referring to the kingdom on earth it's also referring to the person entering into heaven one day so a person will not enter into the heavens one day and see with his eyes God's dwelling place and he will not be able to behold that with his eyes unless he is first born again so it's in that sense so over here in verse 5 Jesus is using a different wording rather than saying seeing he is saying no one can enter so it's obviously after we enter in that we would see and behold God's dwelling place of God and we will be able to stay there with him forever and ever so it's just two different ways of expressing our ability to go into his presence and dwell over there one day I suppose yeah thank you Ma just one more question again just one more question my apologies for taking time so I know that ultimately we all will go into heaven but again I'm looking at I'm looking at his verses could Jesus be referring more than just going to heaven well everyone dwelling in Jesus day were getting a chance to see the kingdom of God entering into the world because Jesus says now the kingdom of heaven has come they are seeing the beginnings of God's kingdom being established here on earth but not everyone was part of it they only ended up as mere viewers of what is taking place only some believed and placed their faith in him and began to be part of that kingdom so in that sense I mean your question is is he referring to just heaven or even the kingdom of God taking shape down here yes everyone in fact who could see and hear were seeing the beginnings of the kingdom of God coming in they could see the science and the miracles they could see the new value system that Jesus was bringing in a higher moral system all of that they could see so at a human level everyone could see it everyone could hear it but only the ones who believed in it and chose to make a commitment to him and submit to him as Messiah and Lord only they actually became part of this kingdom which was taking shape so yes the kingdom of God is also on the earth at the moment in the sense that we see God doing his work fulfilling his purposes but of course the ultimate would be heaven and the new Jerusalem where the entire kingdom would be in a would reach its completion at that point of time thank you so much thank you alright then so sorry so we looked at Ezekiel 36 25 to 28 which explains to us what is meant by born of water and born of the spirit and then we come to verse 6 yeah if someone could read out for us 6 and 7 please that which is born of flesh 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 ok so the main problem with people like Nicodemus and the other godly people who genuinely cared about the things of God they were trying to live good lives they were trying to be righteous but these were things that they were trying to do in the flesh so you see whatever they did their efforts would always fall short of perfection you know everyone falls short of God's perfect standards no one can reach up to that level it is only through the work of the spirit where God forgives us of what we are and just simply freely grants to us Jesus' righteousness only those people can say that we are truly righteous because now they are no longer depending on their own human righteousness they are now simply freely putting on the righteousness of Christ which has been given to them freely so over here Jesus is trying to bring across that point that a physical birth and a physical work of righteousness is not enough flesh gives birth to flesh and the other godly people are going to try to live good lives they will always fall short of the perfect righteousness which God expects only Jesus is that righteous and so Jesus has to freely give it to us and only then we will be able to enter into the kingdom of God so these are all things that Jesus is beginning to explain to Nicodemus of course in later he would have explained these things in greater detail to him but this is the initial conversation that is going on and so he says in verse 8 you know yeah if someone could read out verse 8 for us please the wind bloweth where it lifted and now here is the sound thereof but cannot tell when it comes and where it goes so is everyone that is born of the spirit so this very interesting point that Jesus makes here he says you know at a human level you know how the wind operates in the sense you have seen it blowing up things you know you have seen it you can feel it on your skin when it is blowing by you have seen all of that now you don't really understand the physics behind it you don't really know how this wind comes from where it comes why it is more strong and violent sometimes and why sometimes it is just a gentle breeze what are the things that makes it you know stir up into some kind of a storm and what is it that makes it so gentle sometimes these are all things that a person doesn't understand but one thing they know they can hear it when the wind comes they can hear it and then they can choose whether they want to respond to that sound or not you know they can quickly go running and close all their windows or they can just ignore in the same way you know Jesus is saying over here you may not really understand everything there is to know about the spirit but you can hear the spirit you can sense him in your heart and without having understood all the details you can either choose to respond or you can choose not to respond so here Nicodemus is asking for explanations and it's not yet time to reveal all of the full explanations because later under the anointing of the Holy Spirit Paul will come along the other you know Apostles will come along and then they will explain to us to the church the full meaning of all of these things right now it's still too early to be giving out the details of these things and so Jesus is saying just like the wind you don't really understand all of it but you hear it and you respond in the same way at this stage are you willing to just receive what the Spirit is now speaking to you in your heart okay so Jesus is kind of asking Nicodemus to be ready in his heart to receive this new things which Jesus is revealing and then let's just come to verse 10 maybe and we could yeah maybe we can have someone read out verses 10 and 11 you are Israel's teacher said Jesus and do you not understand these things very truly I tell you we speak of what we know and we testify of what we have seen for still you people do not accept our testimony okay so over here Jesus says we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen so over here the we probably refers to John the Baptist who came and gave his testimony and then Jesus himself is now speaking up and we also have the witness of the Father and the Spirit you know so the we probably talks about people who have started to talk about the Messiah and have started to explain who the Messiah is so he says we have testified about what we have seen and what we know but you do not accept our testimony and over here in NIV just to make the meaning more clear they have used the term you people because over here the you is not talking about Nicodemus alone it's talking about plural you know in the plural word is used but you do not accept our testimony maybe specifically Jesus is talking about you Pharisees are not accepting the testimony because they have they are learned people and they have already made up their minds that this is what the Old Testament scriptures are saying and now they may not be that willing and open to accept a new interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures so Jesus is saying there are new things being revealed about these Old Testament scriptures and we are testifying about something that has been seen but you are not accepting our testimony so Jesus is kind of telling Nicodemus don't fall into that category don't be like these other Pharisees who are unwilling to learn unwilling to hear the voice of the spirit and without even having fully understood all the details being willing to submit and say okay this is a new truth that I am willing to accept so Jesus is asking him to have a different attitude from the other Pharisees what else can we look at yeah maybe we can have maybe we could read out verses 12 and 13 verse 12 and 13 the Bible says if I have told you other things and you do not believe how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven the son of man so over here Jesus refers to himself as the son of man this is something that we looked at last class I think where the term son of man is a direct reference to what is mentioned about the Messiah in Daniel 7 so now finally Jesus is coming to the topic which was first raised by Nicodemus because Nicodemus had come over there trying to verify whether this is the Messiah and now by you know through these sentences in 12 and 13 Jesus is confirming that yes I am indeed the Messiah and I am telling you new things are you willing to believe are you willing to trust and of course later on you know as we read the Gospels we get to know that Nicodemus does believe he does place his trust in Jesus so verses 13 and 14 are a little debated and people are a little confused about these two verses so maybe we can look at that if we could read out 13 14 15 yes right 13 no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven the son of man and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life yeah some people find it upsetting that for some reason Jesus seems to want to link himself to a snake I know and the son of man is being compared to the snake that was lifted up in the in the wilderness that would be the numbers chapter 21 story so they kind of people in our modern times they say why why would Jesus do that going and comparing the son of man the Messiah the promised one the righteous one why would someone why would Jesus want to compare someone like that with a snake that's because of the kind of modern negative implications that are attached to the snake but to the Israelites this would have made a lot of sense even in number 21 when that bronze snake was first lifted up it would have made a lot of sense to them because because God was trying to convey something to that specific group of people using imagery which they would have fully understood and so it would have been highly significant for them so just to look at little bit at this background of the numbers 21 story we know right I mean if we were to go to number 21 it's the story would be in verses 4 to 9 the people are now going through the wilderness and they're not very happy because I mean God is providing them with mana on a daily basis but they want to have other things and so it's a very shocking thing that in fact we say in verse 5 I think in number 21 verse 5 they say we detest this miserable food I mean it's such a shocking thing to say God is feeling miraculously providing them with food in a place where there is absolutely no food and thousands of people are getting fed every single day without putting in any effort and instead of appreciating and really praising God for what is being provided they actually say this they say we detest this miserable food and that's such a shocking statement and so obviously because of their attitude God's judgment comes upon them and you have poisonous snakes which come and bite the people and a lot of them begin to die and then Moses prays on behalf of the people and God says in verse 8 verse 21 verse 8 anyone who is bitten can look at it and they will live why did God at that point of time why did he ask Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole now we know that snake had a lot of significance for the Egyptians and that is basically where the people of Israel had been living and the hearts of the people of Israel was full of Egyptian culture, Egyptian religion, Egyptian lore because Joshua chapter 24 very openly says to us that these people when they were living over there rather than worshipping Yahweh they were very very busy worshipping the gods of the Egyptians so the Egyptian gods were something that these Israelite people would have been highly familiar with and we see something being done in Exodus chapter 7 verses 8 to 12 this is your initial story when Moses and Aaron first go to Pharaoh and we know right I mean at that point of time there is a sign which is given God gives a sign which they can show to Pharaoh where Aaron would throw down the staff the wooden rod which he is holding and he would turn into a snake and then we know the story how even the magicians, the Egyptian magicians are also able to turn their wooden staffs into snakes and then we know the outcome Aaron's staff Aaron's snake is able to swallow up all of the other snakes and why is that entire sign being given over there to show the snake was one of the chief gods of the Egyptians and when Aaron's snake swallows up all of the other snakes very openly Yahweh is demonstrating and showing you think that your gods are real and that they have power but look your snakes got swallowed up, your gods got swallowed up by Aaron's wooden staff and so there is a point that was being made over there and even when you look at the clipart of Pharaoh paintings of Pharaoh you always see him wearing that crown with that snake sticking out over there in the front and that was a very important symbol because you see that snake that God of the Egyptians symbolized that even if this Pharaoh falls sick he would be healed that snake God would bring him healing it would protect him from all bad omens and things like that so the crown of the Pharaoh would always have that thing sticking out so here in the wilderness when the people are saying oh I wish we had not left Egypt I wish we were still over there we don't want to eat this miserable manna and you know they are really cribbing about the whole thing and God's judgment comes upon them and then God says to Moses to raise up a bronze serpent and Moses conveying the message to the Israelites and saying you want to go back over there to Egypt you want to go back to those Gods but you know what healing and deliverance doesn't come from those Gods you look at this bronze snake which I am setting up over here and healing will come to you from me not from those Gods so there is a very clear distinction that God is making over there in that particular passage and he is showing that he is all and all these other entities which may have some power you know they are not Gods in any sense of the word so we see that those things being brought out in the numbers 21 story and now over here Jesus is referring to that particular story and he says in the same way that bronze serpent was lifted up at that time now in this day I am going to be lifted up and whoever believes in me they will be saved so you can have people who are still looking to other messiahs who are looking to other saviours to deliver them or you could be like those Israelites those few Israelites who were willing to lift up their eyes and look at the bronze serpent and save their lives you can be like that you can place your faith in me the true messiah even though what I am saying may not make sense to you you can choose to be like that or you can be like the other Israelites of that time I mean they all were getting bitten and they all were dying so they were a huge camp of thousands of people so anyone who really wants to look at the bronze snake would have to crawl them and come over here in their bitten condition even as they are dying whatever that bronze snake has been placed and they would have to look upon it and believe in it it would take some amount of effort and some amount of belief but some were willing to do that others would have said here I am bitten who is going to go and look at one bronze snake out there and they would not have gone so there would be two kinds of attitudes now Jesus was saying I am going to be lifted up who is willing to believe me so there would be some people who would be willing to believe in him and look upon him as the messiah, as the true saviour and there would be others who would say what can one person on a cross do and they would probably continue looking to other saviours and other messiahs for their deliverance and that would not work so those are all the points which Jesus is bringing across even as he says these things so someone has raised their hand okay it's 947 we were supposed to have a break at let's see if it's a short question we will finish with it now so yes please go ahead Charles thank you I am looking at the imagery that God used it to use the the God of Egypt to be put on a pole so that those that are going to take the faith and look at that present second they will be healed by the God of Heaven not at all the Israelites and the Egyptians who had all placed their faith in those egyptan gods believed that those snake gods would be able to deliver but Yahweh said those gods are not even real gods they can do nothing and so God raises up a bronze statue just a mere statue just like Aaron's wooden staff became a snake it was not a god in any sense of the word it was just a wooden staff but it took on the shape of a snake to convey a message to these people who are all snake worshipers in the same way here in the wilderness as well the bronze serpent which Moses has made it is not a representation of the egyptian gods it is saying that these gods are useless on the other hand this image which God has created that is a symbol of God's power so the same way Aaron's staff which turned into a snake is not a god in any sense of the word the bronze serpent which was raised in the wilderness is also not a god in any sense of the word these two are symbols which are saying egyptian gods versus God's symbol egyptian gods on one side and Yahweh's symbology the symbols that he is using of a staff which turns into a stake of a bronze serpent which is lifted upon a pole these are just symbols that he is using to point to who he is so when the people who are getting bitten over there in the wilderness would go and look at that bronze serpent they are not looking at the egyptian gods not at all in fact this particular bronze snake probably would not even have looked the way the egyptian idols would have looked because God is definitely not trying to say that he is using an idol over there as his symbol no definitely not he is saying that if you believe in bullocks hey you know what I am a more powerful bullock I am the all ultimate bullock are you people worshipping goats you know what I am the ultimate goat I am just using a very very weak example but what I am trying to get across is he is using the terminology which is familiar to those people and is speaking in terms that they can understand and he is saying these things are nothing you know what I am the ultimate so in that sense so that bronze serpent which was raised in the wilderness was not an egyptian god it was not meant to be a representation of egyptian god it was meant to be a symbol of the all powerful Yahweh who is far above any snakes that the egyptians can come up with in that sense is that kind of clear please just it is clear but I am looking at this is realized that had seen the god of Egypt as a serpent don't you think some of them might have come through what this snake remembering the culture they left behind if they had come with that kind of a belief and looked upon that snake I doubt it would have helped them in any way they probably would not have got healed because when Moses would have taken some time to make it right I mean he didn't exactly have a bronze serpent sitting in his bag so he would have had some taken some time to actually mold it and make it and while that process was going on the elders and leaders would have explained to the people what is going on why god is asked for this and what it means so all that would have been very clearly explained to the people that we have of a few verses we don't really get all the details but no way would Moses have done that without first explaining to the people what is being shown why it is being shown what is trying to be conveyed to them so very clearly all of that would have been explained to the people you know so it would have taken at least maybe an hour at the most because I mean people are dying so it has to be done quickly but at least there would have been one hour of time where some clear explanation would have been given to the people of how God is trying to show that he is the real deliverer he is the real healer and these egyptian snake gods are nothing so if after having listened to all of that explanation if someone had gone over there still hoping to look at that serpent and compare it in his mind to the egyptian gods I doubt it would have done him any good because the healing would come from Yahweh so the person would have to place his faith in Yahweh not in those gods yeah something like that does it help alright so yeah let's take a break now so at 10 o'clock we will resume our class thank you