No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
13. No one hath ascended to heaven. He again exhorts Nicodemus not to trust to himself and his own sagacity, because no mortal man can, by his own unaided powers, enter into heaven, but only he who goes thither under the guidance of the Son of God.
We found, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that few were brought to Christ at Jerusalem; yet here was one, a considerable one. It is worth while to go a great way for the salvation though but of one soul. Observe, I. Who this Nicodemus was. Not many mighty and noble are called; yet some are, and here was one.
Commenting on John 3:1-21
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,.... The history referred to is in Num 21:8. There is, in many things, an agreement between this serpent, and Jesus Christ: as in the matter of it, it was a brazen serpent; it was made not of gold, nor of silver, but of brass, the meaner metal, and was a very unlikely means, of itself...