Living Water and the Samaritans

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 4:1) When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (2) (Though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), (3) He left Judea and departed again into Galilee.

At the end of the last chapter, Jesus and His disciples had left Jerusalem and were in the country of Judea.  They were baptizing people and more people were going to them to be baptized than to John the Baptist.  John had said it was time for Jesus's work to increase and his to decrease.  The Pharisees became aware that Jesus had made disciples and they were baptizing more than John the Baptist.  Jesus was aware that they knew it and we may take it for granted that He knew they were not happy about it, so He left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

(4) And He needed to go through Samaria.

Samaria was in between Judea and Galilee, so it was necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria.

(5) Then He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 

In Samaria, Jesus came to the city of Sychar which was the same as Sichem or Shechem.  It was near the parcel of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph (Genesis 48:22) and it was also the place where the bones of Joseph were buried (Joshua 24:32).  Even though one reference refers to it as a land Jacob took from the Amorites and the other refers to it as a purchase from the sons of Hamor, both refer to the same area.  If it was two different parcels, they lay close to each other, probably adjacent.  Some Biblical scholars believe Jacob bought the parcel and then had it seized by the Amorites, as early Jewish writers told of a grievous war with the Amorites because of their slaughter and captivity of the Shechemites.  Jacob then had to recapture his parcel of land from the Amorites.

(6) Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat on the well; it was about the sixth hour.

Jacob's well was so-called that either because Jacob dug it or because it was on his land that he eventually gave to Joseph.  Jesus was wearied from His journey and He sat on the edge of the well.  It was about the sixth hour which would have been about noon by our modern clock.

(7) There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."

A woman from Samaria came to the well to draw some water, and Jesus asked her to give Him some water to drink.

(8) (For His disciples had gone away to the city to buy food.)

Jesus was alone at the well because His disciples had gone into the city to buy food.

(9) Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me who is a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans."

The woman of Samaria asked Jesus why He would ask her for a drink when the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans.  The Samaritans were a Jewish religious sect from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, but they had intermarried with Assyrians after their region had been captured by them.  The Jews considered them half-breeds.  The woman wondered why Jesus would ask for water from someone He surely considered a half-breed.

(10) Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water."

Jesus then said to her that if she had known who it was who had asked her, Jesus, the gift of salvation and life given to the world by God, then she would have been asking of Him rather than the reverse, and He would have given her living water of His spirit and grace and doctrine of salvation from sin.

(11) The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; from where then have You that living water?"

The Jews often referred to running streams and fountains as living water as opposed to stagnant water.  That seems to be what the Samarian woman thought Jesus had meant as she asked Him how He was going to get the living water He spoke of when He had nothing to draw water with and the only thing before them was a very deep well.

(12) "Are You greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his children and his cattle?"

The woman asked Jesus if He was greater than their ancestor Jacob who had left the well to them, and who himself had drunk from the well as did his children and his livestock.  The well had been the best source of water for Jacob and his family, so was Jesus greater and had found better water than Jacob had?

(13) Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, (14) But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Jesus answered the woman by telling her that whoever drank of that well water would later find himself thirsty again.  However, whoever drank of His living water would never thirst again, being fully satisfied and not having a feeling of want.  The living water Jesus would give would be a well inside of those who received it, a constant supply that would spring up like a fountain into everlasting life.

(15) The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water that I not thirst, nor come here to draw."

The woman, still thinking Jesus spoke of a running stream or fountain, asked Him to give her of that water so that she would never thirst again nor ever have to come back to the well to draw water.

(16) Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here."

Jesus told the woman to go call her husband and then come back to Him.

(17) The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have spoken well, 'I have no husband,' (18) For you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."

The woman told Jesus that she had no husband, to which Jesus answered that He knew she had spoken truthfully that she had no husband, for He knew that she had had five husbands and the man she was with now was not even her husband.

(19) The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet."

The woman told Jesus that she could see that He was a prophet in that He knew so much about her.

(20) "Our fathers worshipped at this mountain, and You say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

When the woman perceived Jesus was a prophet, she brought up one of the main differences between the Samaritans and the Jews.  The Samaritans had established Mount Gerizim as their official worship site and considered the Jerusalem temple and the Levitical priesthood illegitimate.  "You say," meaning "You Jews say," that they should worship in the temple at Jerusalem.

(21) Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour comes when you shall neither on this mountain, nor at Jerusalem, worship the Father."

Jesus told her that the time was coming when both Samaritans and Jews would not worship God the Father in the mountain or in the temple at Jerusalem.  There would no longer be a preferred place in which to worship God.

(22) "You worship what you do not know; We know what We worship, for salvation is of the Jews."

Jesus told the woman that she as a Samaritan worshipped what she did not know.  The Samaritans' religion had become corrupted after they intermixed with the Assyrians and began to worship idols along with the true God.  However, Jesus said that the Jews worshipped what they knew to be true.  They worshipped at the place God had appointed and commanded.  He told her that salvation had come to and through the Jews.  God brought it to His chosen people first; the Messiah, the salvation of the world, was to come through them.  Thus Jesus had answered the woman's question about the correct place to worship.

(23) "But the hour comes and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth for the Father seeks such to worship Him."

Jesus told her that the hour had come when the true worshippers of God would worship Him in Spirit (in the Holy Spirit, not rituals of man) and truth because that is the way God sought of His children.  He wanted His children to be able to have access directly to Him again, so He sent Jesus to provide a way for that to happen.

(24) "God is a Spirit and they who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth."

Jesus explained to the woman that although the Jews worshipped the more accurate way, God was a Spirit, not of a material body to be worshipped in only one place and He was not impressed by their rituals of man.  He must be worshipped in the Holy Spirit and in His truth, as He was everywhere, pure and holy and not what corrupt men had made Him out to be.

(25) The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ; when He comes, He will tell us all things."

The woman may not have been satisfied with Jesus's answer about the Jews having the right form of religion.  As a Samaritan, she knew that the Messiah was coming.  "Who is called Christ," is actually more likely a parenthetical statement added by the evangelist John as he had previously done in John 1:41.  The woman knew that the Messiah would tell them the truth about everything.

(26) Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

Jesus told the woman that He, the One who was speaking to her, was the Messiah.  Actually, the KJV translators added the word "He" for better understanding.  Jesus will say something similar again in John 18:6 and there the men to whom He said it, fell backward.  Jesus said to the woman in effect, "I AM is the one who speaks to you," establishing the fact He was the great I AM.

(27) And upon this came His disciples and marveled that He talked with the woman, yet no man said, "What do You seek?" or "Why are You talking with her?"

It was at that point that Jesus's disciples returned to Him from their journey into the city to buy food.  They wondered why Jesus would be talking with a Samaritan woman, but they dared not ask Him why He was doing it or ask the woman what it was that she was looking for by talking to their Lord.

(28) The woman then left her waterpot and went her way into the city, and said to the men, (29) "Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did; is this not the Christ?"

The woman then left her waterpot at the well and went into the city and told the men of the city about the man who had told her all sorts of things about herself that a stranger would not have known.  She wondered aloud if He could indeed be the Christ.

(30) Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

Because of the woman's testimony, people came out of the city to go see Jesus.

(31) In the meantime, His disciples urged Him, saying, "Master, eat."

Meanwhile, while the Samaritans were hearing the testimony of the woman at the well and were coming out to see Jesus, His disciples who had just got back from buying food, urged Jesus to eat.

(32) But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."

However, Jesus told His disciples that He had food that they didn't know about.  He referred to the spiritual food He had just given the Samaritan woman.

(33) Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has any man brought Him something to eat?"

Jesus's disciples, of course, thought He was talking about physical food and wondered among themselves if someone had brought Him something to eat in their absence.

(34) Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."

Jesus, knowing what His disciples were thinking, explained to them that His food was to do the will of His Father who sent Him and to finish His work, which of course, was to bring His heavenly food to the world that by ingesting it, the people of the world might be saved from their sin.  What satisfied Jesus more than food was to do this great work.

(35) "Don't you say, 'There are yet four months and then comes harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields for they are white already to harvest."

Jesus, using farming as an illustration, acknowledged that when they sowed seeds they realized it took about four months for their seeds to produce a harvest.  However, when it came to seeds of faith like the one He had planted in the woman at the well, He urged His disciples to look and see that those fields were ready for harvest right then.  It is possible that Jesus could see the Samaritans coming to Him at that moment and urged His disciples to look at them.

(36) "And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together."

The one who reaps receives blessings and satisfaction as he brings souls to Christ, gathering the fruit of souls that have everlasting life in the kingdom of God.  The one who sowed the seed will rejoice with the one who reaped in heaven.  Jesus may have been referring to the prophets sowing the seeds, preparing the people for their Messiah, and now it was time for the harvest of souls that Jesus was there to reap.  Jesus can be seen as the Great Sower or Reaper, but He does instruct us to help with the harvest.

(37) "And in this is that saying true, 'One sows and another reaps.'"

Jesus referred to a proverb that the disciples would have understood, that one sows and another reaps.  He was calling His disciples to reap the souls of the harvest from seeds they never planted.  Additionally, they would be called to plant seeds by their preaching that future men might see come to harvest.  We must modestly remember that when a soul is harvested and fruitful, the one who was there to reap may be the one crowned with success or receipt of his wages (v.36), but there was a seed planted long before that may have seemed to have little effect at the time, but was very necessary to make the soul ripe for the picking.  In like manner, we should be encouraged when we plant seeds even though we may not see any effect at the time.  Both sowers and reapers are necessary and may rejoice together when a soul is harvested.

(38) "I sent you to reap that on which you bestowed no labor; other men labored and you have entered into their labors."

In Jesus's commission to His disciples to preach and teach the Gospel, they were going to where they themselves had not labored to plant the seeds of the Gospel.  Others before them had already planted the seeds, the prophets, the teachers of the word of God, John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ Himself, had planted the seeds and now the fields were ready for harvest (v. 35).

(39) And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."

Indeed, many of the Samaritans of that city came to Jesus and came to believe in Him because of the testimony of the woman at the well who had told them that Jesus knew all the things she had done that He would have never actually known firsthand.

(40) So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they asked Him if He would tarry with them, and He abode there two days.

When the Samaritans had come to Jesus and had believed in Him, they asked Him if He would stay with them for a while.  He agreed and stayed there two days.  

In reading the commentaries of Albert Barnes and Adam Clarke, I see what a simple and remarkable conversion of these Samaritans it was.  We are not told of any miracles that Jesus performed for them.  From a single conversation with the woman at the well, many sinners were converted.  Oh, that all people would be as simple-hearted and teachable!  Those who are wise in their own eyes are much harder to bring to salvation, as with the Pharisees of Jesus's time and with many of the elites and college-educated of our day.

(41) And many more believed because of His own word. (42) And said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your saying, for we have heard ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

During those two days, many more Samaritans came to be saved just by listening to Jesus.  They even told the woman so, that they didn't believe just because of her testimony, but that they heard from Jesus themselves and knew Him to be the Messiah.  Again, we see no miracles, simply the Word of Jesus.  There is a simple lesson in this, that one may be saved by just reading the word of God, His Bible.  Not that just reading will save one, but reading the truth with real desire to know the truth can touch the heart and bring one to repentance and salvation.

(43) Now after two days, He departed from there and went to Galilee.

After two days with the Samaritans, Jesus departed from there and went to Galilee, which had been His destination since He left the country area of Judea (v. 3).

(44) For Jesus Himself testified that a man has no honor in his own country.

As Jesus had been in the country area of Judea, He went to the country area of Galilee, but did not go to Nazareth, His hometown, which is also the definition of the word than was transcribed as "country" here.  In each of the Gospels before, Jesus had said that a prophet had no honor in his own country and even in his own house.  That seems to be the sense here, that John was explaining why Jesus did not go to Nazareth but chose the country area instead.

(45) Then when He had come into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast for they also went to the feast.

When Jesus came into Galilee, the Galileans warmly received Him because they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover (John 2:23) because they had also been at that feast.

(46) So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

Jesus went into Cana in Galilee where He had turned water into wine at the wedding feast (John 2:9).  There was a nobleman there whose son was sick in Capernaum.

(47) When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and asked Him if He would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

When this nobleman had heard that Jesus had come to Galilee, he sought Him out and asked if He would go down to Capernaum and heal his son as he was at the point of death.

(48) Then said Jesus to him, "Except you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."

Jesus told the man and probably all the Galileans in His hearing that they would not believe unless they physically saw signs and wonders or miracles.  The Samaritans had believed without miracles, but the Galileans believed because they had seen miracles.  Additionally, this nobleman seems to have thought that Jesus must go with him to Capernaum in order to heal his son.  He definitely had some measure of faith in Jesus to come to Him in the first place, but he lacked total faith in Him as the Messiah.  Perhaps if he saw with his own eyes Jesus healing his son, he would then believe.

(49) The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

Even though he had received a bit of reproof from Jesus, the nobleman was desperate to have his son healed, and still believing Jesus must go to his son in order to heal him, he urged Him again to hurry before his son died.

(50) Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him and he went his way.

Jesus told the nobleman to go on his way, that his son lived.  The man believed Jesus's word in that and didn't implore him to go with him anymore.  He went his way back to Capernaum.

(51) And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives."

As the nobleman was going down to Capernaum, his servants met him and told him that his son indeed lived.

(52) Then he inquired of them the hour when he began to mend. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."

The nobleman asked his servants exactly when it was that his son became better.  They told him that it had been the day before at the seventh hour which was about 1:00 in the afternoon that the fever had left him.

(53) So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives," and he himself believed and his whole house.

The nobleman knew that that was the same hour that Jesus had told him that his son lived.  Knowing that Jesus had supernaturally cured his son gave him proof that Jesus was the Messiah and he and his entire family came to believe in Jesus.  It does seem that the man needed the miracle to make him fully believe.  However, you could see his faith growing when he took Jesus's word that his son lived.  It is a most loving Jesus who will meet us where we are in our faith.  As Jesus would later say to doubting Thomas, he had believed Him because he saw Him, but truly blessed were those who believed in Him even though they had not seen Him (John 20:29).  Jesus honored and blessed those who believed in Him although they had not seen Him performing miracles, but He loved His people enough to give them what they needed to believe.  However, He also knew when it was useless to give signs and wonders to those who would never believe (Mark 8:11-12) and He would not cast His pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6).

(54) This again the second miracle Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

It's unclear exactly what the evangelist John meant by this statement.  This was indeed the second miracle that he fully recorded with the first being turning water into wine at the wedding feast.  It was indeed the second miracle He had performed at Cana.  However, it was not the second ever miracle Jesus had performed, as John himself seemed to suggest in John 2:23 that Jesus performed miracles at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem.  That is unless perhaps the people at the Passover in Jerusalem believed in Him because they had heard about His miracle at the wedding in Cana, but then again John 2:23 says, "...many believed in His name when they saw the miracles which He did."  One other possibility is that the original word "deuteros" which was translated as "second," which is its primary definition used 90% of the time in scripture, can also mean "again" or "afterward."  Perhaps John was saying that this was another miracle Jesus had performed.  A few commentators have suggested the reason John was pointing this miracle out was to show that Jesus had performed two miracles before He had begun His Galilean ministry which was where the other Gospel writers started.  Indeed, John is the only Gospel author who told about Jesus turning water into wine and healing the nobleman's son, so this seems very plausible.

Nicodemus and the Last Testimony of John the Baptist

Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:

(John 3:1) There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This was very early in Jesus's ministry.  In the last chapter, we were told of His first public miracle and His first cleansing of the temple.  Now John begins to tell us about Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and said to be a member of the Sanhedrin which ruled the Jews.

(2) The same came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that You do except God be with Him."

It seems that Jesus may have done other miracles besides turning water into wine as Nicodemus was aware of miracles that He had done.  He told Jesus he knew He had to be from God because no one could do those things unless God was with Him.  I find it noteworthy that the first person John tells us about seeking Jesus, other than His disciples, was a Pharisee, and a ruler at that.  In the other Gospels, we are made to come to the belief that Pharisees were synonymous with wicked hypocrites and enemies of Jesus.  But here was a Pharisee seeking the truth about Jesus, although he seems to have done it in secret at night.  This proves that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all and was offered to all, although the rich and powerful usually find it harder to accept as we were told in Matthew 19:24.

(3) Jesus answered and said to him, "Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Jesus answered him by telling him that most assuredly a man had to be born again to be able to see the kingdom of God.  It was not enough to just have knowledge about Jesus.

(4) Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus meant by being born again, but he seems very sincere about learning just what He had meant.  He asked how a man could be born when he was old; was he supposed to somehow enter his mother's womb to be born again?

(5) Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Jesus explained that a man must be born of water and the Holy Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God.  Up to this point, Jews were not baptized, at least not until John the Baptist; only those wishing to convert to Judaism were baptized.  Jesus said they, too, must be baptized or washed in water to be made clean, and they also must be baptized by the fire of the Holy Spirit.  Water baptism by itself was not enough; they must also receive the Holy Spirit to be truly born again.  Water baptism represented a person's desire to have their sins washed away by Jesus, and that true desire to repent and become a new person would entitle them to the gift of the Holy Spirit who would then lead them in truth.  However, water baptism was not always necessary if it could not be done, as with the thief on the cross.  There, Jesus washed away his sins like as said in Ezekiel 36:25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you."

(6) "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

Jesus went on to explain that when born of the flesh as man is born by his mother in natural birth, he was only flesh.  Even if he were able to be born again a second time from his mother's womb, he would still be born of flesh.  However, when he is born again of the Holy Spirit, he becomes spiritual, seeking the holy things of God, and becomes a new man striving to become pure in his actions.  

(7) "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (8) The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound but cannot tell from where it comes and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Jesus told Nicodemus not to wonder about how one was actually born again.  It was not something one could physically see, as watching a baby be born.  It was more like the wind that you know is there because you can feel it and see it, but you never saw where it came from or where exactly it would end up.  So it was with someone born of the Spirit.  You might feel and hear of the effects of it, but you can never actually see the Spirit in a person or when it came to be in the person.  You cannot see that second birth just as you cannot see the birth of the wind.

I learned something fascinating as I studied the original Hebrew word "ruach."  It means "wind" or "spirit," and was used many times in the Bible to mean each one almost equally.  It was used in Genesis 1:2, "...And the Spirit (ruach) of God moved upon the face of the waters."  It was used in Genesis 8:1, "...And God made a wind (ruach) to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided."  Also in Exodus 10:13, "And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind (ruach) upon the land all that day and all that night, and when it was morning the east wind (ruach) brought the locusts."  It's fascinating to think of the wind as the Spirit of God as it surely was in those last two examples.  

(9) Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, "How can these things be?"

Nicodemus still didn't understand and asked Jesus how those things He spoke of could be.

(10) Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you a master of Israel and do not know these things?"

Jesus asked Nicodemus if he was a master, or learned teacher, in Israel and actually did not know these things.  After all, why did he baptize converts to Judaism?  Was it not to symbolize a new birth?  And surely the Spirit of God was evident in the scriptures.  What was there not to understand for a learned master of Israel?

(11) "Verily, verily, I say to you, We speak what We know, and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness."

Jesus and His disciples taught what they knew to be true, but it seems that learned teachers of Israel taught what they themselves did not understand.  Not only did Jesus and His disciples teach, but the disciples could testify about what they had seen, the miracles Jesus did proving He was from God, as Nicodemus had said he knew He was in verse 2, yet he did not receive His testimony.

(12) "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

Jesus went on to ask Nicodemus how he would understand and believe a deeper and more spiritual answer when he did not even grasp and believe the earthly things he should have already understood and believed, like water baptism and a simple understanding of the spiritual nature of God.

(13) "And no man has ascended up to heaven but He who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven."

I believe the sense here is that no one has ascended up to heaven and returned to be able to tell about those heavenly things.  Only Jesus, the Son of man, came down from heaven as a son born to human parents, but was also God in heaven.  "Was God in heaven" is not exactly accurate.  When you really look at the words of Jesus, He said, "who is in heaven," present tense.  The omnipresent God was at that moment in heaven and in bodily form there on earth in the presence of Nicodemus.  Jesus was the only one who could talk firsthand about heavenly things.

(14) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, (15) That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

Jesus referred Nicodemus to the scriptures which in Numbers 21:8-9, told of how Moses lifted up the brass serpent on a pole and whoever had been bitten by a fiery serpent could look up to the brass serpent and live.  He said it was to be in the same way of Him, that He, the Son of man, was to be lifted up on the cross, and whoever looked to Him and believed in Him would not perish in their fiery sin but would have eternal life.

I never quite understood why a brass serpent so like an idol of sorts could be symbolic of Jesus.  However, for the first time, I see that just as the brass serpent was used as a symbol of the people's sin and their righteous punishment, so the perfect Jesus Christ on the cross was made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13) taking on all our sins and suffering what should have been our punishment for our sins.  On the cross Jesus was a curse, a symbol of our sins and punishment.  When we look to Jesus on the cross and believe and accept what He did for us, we are saved from eternal death, just as the people were saved from death when they looked to the brass serpent.  Of course, there was no real power in the brass serpent itself, but God gave the people a way to be saved by using it.  The perfect Jesus was not worthy of His punishment and in human reality, just because He suffered and died unjustly does not mean we should be saved.  However, God used Jesus on the cross and Jesus willingly allowed Himself to take on all our sin, so that we could be saved.  But we have to look to Him.  It's not automatic just as making the brass serpent was not an automatic cure.  The people had to look up to it accepting the fact that that was their only way of being saved.  Looking up to Jesus is our only way of being saved!

(16) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Jesus told Nicodemus that it was because God loved His children in the world so much that He gave them a way to be saved from their sin and death.  He gave them His only begotten Son, a term for the nearest and dearest possible bond among men.  There is no more deeper bond; God gave of Himself to save the world.  Whoever believed in Jesus, Son of Man and God on earth, would not die but would have everlasting life.

(17) "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Although the world did deserve to be condemned, that was not the reason God sent Jesus.  He sent Him to provide a way that the world might be saved through Him.  People of the world were unable to save themselves through the law, for all fell short (Romans 3:23), so because God loved His creation so much, He sent them a way to be saved.

(18) "He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

God did not send Jesus to condemn and punish those who did not believe in Him.  They were already condemned because of their sin!  They just remain condemned if they do not believe in and accept Jesus.

(19) "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil."

Jesus explained when the condemnation came.  God's light had come into the world through His word and the prophets and even in the consciences of man that God gave them, but men loved darkness rather than the light because they wished to continue in their evil ways.  Satan may tempt man, but man himself decides whether or not he enjoys his sin.

(20) "For everyone who does evil hates the light, nor comes to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."

Those who do evil do not like the light; they don't want to come near it and have their evil deeds exposed.

(21) "But he who does truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they were done in God."

However, the one who obeys the truth and does rightly has no fear of the light.  In fact, he loves the light and truth and wants to learn more.  He searches for truth and light so that he knows his actions are right.

(22) After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea and there He tarried with them and baptized.

Then Jesus and His disciples went into the land of Judea and stayed a while.  Jesus was probably still in Jerusalem (which is in Judea) when he dialogued with Nicodemus.  He and His disciples now went out of Jerusalem into the country of Judea.  His disciples under Jesus's direction baptized people.  John 4:2 later tells us that Jesus Himself did not do actual baptisms, but rather His disciples did the baptizing.

(23) And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized. (24) For John was not yet cast into prison.

John the Baptist was also still baptizing even though Jesus and His disciples were, in an area said to have much water.  He had not yet been cast into prison so he continued to do the work he had been sent to do.  People indeed did come to be baptized by him and by Jesus and His disciples.

(25) Then there arose a question between John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

A discussion arose between the disciples of John and other Jews about purification.  It seems by what follows that they discussed who should be doing the baptizing as the disciples may have felt some resentment that it was being taken from them.

(26) And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you bore witness, behold, the same baptizes and all come to Him."

John's disciples came to him to tell him that Jesus, the One he had testified of as being the Messiah, was also baptizing and it seemed all the people were going to Him.

(27) John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven."

John answered that a man could not receive anything from heaven by his own will, only if it was given to him by God.  If Jesus was now baptizing, then it was by God that He should do so, and seeing it was God's will, they should be glad and not envious.

(28) "You yourselves bear me witness that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him.'"

John went on to tell his disciples that they had heard him tell them in the past that he was not Christ, but he had been sent before Him.

(29) "He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice; therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled."

John went on to explain and compared himself to the friend of a bridegroom who stood with the bridegroom.  It was only the bridegroom who got the bride, but his friend who stood with him rejoiced greatly for his friend.  In that way, John rejoiced because his purpose had been fulfilled.  He came to prepare the way for Jesus and he had done that, and now Jesus began His ministry.  That was a great joy to John.

(30) "He must increase, but I decrease."

It was time for Jesus to begin His ministry and make His doctrine grow and spread to all people, and as John had fulfilled his purpose of preparing the way for Jesus, it was time for him to decrease his teaching and baptizing.

(31) "He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all."

John told his disciples that because Jesus came from above in heaven He was foremost and above all, even him.  Although John did prophesy about things he may not have had direct earthly knowledge of, he modestly admitted most of what he could speak of were earthly things that he knew about, but Jesus would teach with firsthand knowledge from heaven.

(32) "And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies, and no man receives His testimony."

The old commentators I read believed this meant that no man (or very few) received Jesus's testimony and teaching.  In this context, I see it differently.  I believe it means that Jesus was able to testify of all that He knew of in heaven, and no other man on earth could receive a testimony such as His, only He who had Himself lived it.  Therefore, Jesus had the foremost authority to testify about His own doctrine.

(33) "He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true."

Jesus, the One who received His testimony by living it in heaven proves that God is true!  That's the way I understand it.  But if taken the way many commentators see it, then this was John saying that he was one who had received Jesus's testimony and could certify that God was true.

(34) "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit sparingly."

Jesus, whom God sent to save the world, actually spoke the words of God, for He was God and He was the Word, and God would not limit the amount of His Spirit that He gave this Son of man, so although Jesus was fully man, He was fully God.

(35) "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand."

Father God in heaven loved His Son on earth and had given all things of heaven and authority over all things to Him.

(36) "He who believes on the Son has everlasting life and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Anyone who believes in the Son of God will have everlasting life, but those who do not believe in Him will perish and suffer the wrath of God that already abides on him because of his sin.  It's not that God actively goes forth and punishes those who don't believe in Him, although He could, but every one of us have had the wrath of God already on us because of our sins, and it is only through Jesus and His atonement that we may have His wrath removed from us.  Some commentators believe that at some point in these last verses, it ceased to be the words of John the Baptist, and were the words of John the evangelist, the author of this Gospel.