Instead he was face-to-face, mind-to-mind, and heart-to-heart with someone who came down from Heaven itself. Not only did Jesus have the divine authority to talk about Heaven, but He also had the ability to get Nicodemus there. Jesus hinted of things to come, pointing to His future sacrificial death on a Roman cross: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14–15).