⁹ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be possible?” ¹⁰ Jesus replied, “You are the [great and well-known] teacher of Israel, and yet you do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]? ¹¹ I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I told you earthly things [that is, things that happen right here on earth] and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself—whose home is in heaven]. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],^{(A) 15} so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever].