And no one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.
Nicodemus taught Israel, yet he had just stumbled over an earthly thing — the new birth. So the Lord raises a harder question: who can speak about heaven at all?
Why This Sentence Follows Verse 12
Heavenly things need a witness who has been there. No traveller had gone up and come back with a report — and the title that fits the One who can speak is not Messiah.
Nicodemus did not understand these earthly things of Israel's blessing. How then would he understand if the Lord spoke to him of heavenly things? No one had gone up to heaven, so no one could bring word of what was there, or of what was needed to enjoy it. No one, that is, except He who had come down from there. He spoke of what He knew, and bore witness to what He had seen. Not the Messiah — that title had to do with the earth — but the Son of man, who, as to His divine nature, was in heaven.
"No One Has Ascended"
Scripture does record men reaching heaven. The difference here is not arrival, but right.
Two men, Enoch and Elijah, were taken up to heaven; they did not ascend in their own right and title. But Jesus, the Son of Man, belonged to heaven; it was His home. He came down from heaven, and He had the right to leave heaven because of who He was. No angel could come down from heaven by his own choice. To do so would be to leave the place first given him. Some angels did leave it, and they are kept in everlasting chains, waiting for the judgment of the great day.
So the claim is about witness. Nicodemus had no one else to check the report against:
It was plain that there was no one. He is speaking only of witness that men can reach — not of Enoch or Elijah or the spirits of the dead. No one had gone up to heaven to give any confirmation. His own witness must stand alone.
"The Son of Man Who Is in Heaven"
He says this while standing on earth, speaking to a man in a room at night. The phrase is not a slip; it is the clearest window in the chapter into who He is.
The divine-human Person comes out distinctly here, the One always in heaven, though a man on earth: of no created being could such a thing be said.
Taking a body did not shrink what He is. Commentators read the words as a plain claim to be everywhere at once:
Indeed, at that very moment when He was speaking on earth He was "the Son of man which is in heaven." He is God and as such He is present everywhere at the same time. The incarnation did not change this.
William Kelly puts it in terms of right of entry:
Nobody had gone up to heaven. God had taken more than one there, but no one had gone as of right. Jesus not only could go up, as He did later; He had also come down from there. Though man, He was the Son of man who is in heaven. He is a divine person, and His manhood brought no loss to His rights as God. Heavenly things, therefore, had to be natural to Him.
What He Came Down to Tell
This is what shapes the whole Gospel of John:
These are the wonderful truths of the Gospel of John. Here we have the words of One from heaven, telling people on this earth what heaven is and what is in heaven. One came to this earth to give eternal life to men. He came to die for sinners on the cross of Calvary, so that there should be no judgment for them. But He came for more: to reveal to them what was in the heart of God, and what their portion was in heaven if they accepted Him.
Why the Next Verse Must Follow
The next verse turns from coming down to being lifted up. A new nature alone leaves man's guilt unanswered.
If God's nature was revealed, and man's sharing in it meant that he had to do with God, then there must be atonement as well as a new birth. The Son of man took up man's cause. As man He was to hold the inheritance of all things in man's nature. He must be lifted up, like the serpent in the wilderness, made sin for us, so that men might look on Him and live.
Summary
- Descent: No one climbed up to bring back news of heaven; the news came down, in a Person.
- Right: Enoch and Elijah were taken up; He came down — heaven was His home, and He left it by His own right.
- Person: He is God, present everywhere at once. So He could stand on earth and still be the Son of man in heaven, and His manhood cost Him nothing of His rights as God.
- Witness: No other voice could confirm Him, so His testimony stands alone. Heavenly things are natural to Him, not learned.
- Cross: The One who came down must be lifted up; a new nature meets what man lacks, atonement meets what man owes.