From today’s reading of John 2-4

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. – John 3:14-15

The quote above is from Jesus’ famous night conversation with Nicodemus, and comes right before the far more well-known statement of John 3:16.

A recurring theme from the opening refrains of the gospels is that Jesus was “appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel” (Luke 2:34). I believe that Jesus knew that he himself would have the largest fall, and also the highest rise. The fall, his deep dive of humility, came first in his voluntarily laying aside of his heavenly throne so that he could be Immanuel, God with us. His ultimate rising is in his exaltation as the risen Savior and in the time to come where every knee shall bow and ever tongue confess that he is Lord. But there is another rising that Jesus is referring to here: the lifting up of the Son of Man on the cross.

Regarding the bronze serpent, Jesus is referring to this strange episode from the wilderness wanderings of the Jewish people:

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. – Numbers 21:4-9

Now this is a peculiar happening, isn’t it? God sends fiery serpents among the impatient, complaining people of Israel, and the only healing is to look at a bronze replica of the very thing that is killing them. Yet in the light of the gospel this event takes on glory.

What ails us is us. Jesus came in the likeness of sinful men, though he himself is without sin. His deep dive of humility placed him in the presence of our fiery-serpent sinfulness, to be lifted up on a cross so that anyone who looks to him for healing and salvation will be saved.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

To some of the Israelites’ darkened minds, it made no sense to look at a snake on a pole to be healed from snakebite. To our darkened minds if often makes no sense to look at a condemned man in the form of a criminal, nailed to a cross, to save us from the wrath of God’s justice. Yet that is the only cure. We can try all the man-made healing available to us, but there is no other name by which we can be saved from our snake bitten ways than the name of Jesus. There is no one else lifted up for our salvation. Only Jesus. When Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, he was preaching the gospel. To us.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. – John 12:32-33