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The Desire of Ages
heart. While they were sticklers for the letter of the law, they were
constantly violating its spirit. Their great need was that very change
which Christ had been explaining to Nicodemus,—a new moral birth,
a cleansing from sin, and a renewing of knowledge and holiness.
There was no excuse for the blindness of Israel in regard to the
work of regeneration. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah
had written, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags.” David had prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O
God; and renew a right spirit within me.” And through Ezekiel the
promise had been given, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My
Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes.”
Isaiah 64:6
;
Psalm 51:10
;
Ezekiel 36:26, 27
.
Nicodemus had read these scriptures with a clouded mind; but he
now began to comprehend their meaning. He saw that the most rigid
obedience to the mere letter of the law as applied to the outward life
could entitle no man to enter the kingdom of heaven. In the estimation
of men, his life had been just and honorable; but in the presence of
Christ he felt that his heart was unclean, and his life unholy.
Nicodemus was being drawn to Christ. As the Saviour explained to
him concerning the new birth, he longed to have this change wrought in
himself. By what means could it be accomplished? Jesus answered the
unspoken question: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Here was ground with which Nicodemus was familiar. The symbol
of the uplifted serpent made plain to him the Saviour’s mission. When
the people of Israel were dying from the sting of the fiery serpents,
God directed Moses to make a serpent of brass, and place it on high in
the midst of the congregation. Then the word was sounded throughout
the encampment that all who would look upon the serpent should live.
The people well knew that in itself the serpent had no power to help
them. It was a symbol of Christ. As the image made in the likeness of
the destroying serpents was lifted up for their healing, so One made
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“in the likeness of sinful flesh” was to be their Redeemer.
Romans
8:3
. Many of the Israelites regarded the sacrificial service as having
in itself virtue to set them free from sin. God desired to teach them