A Study of John's Gospel

John 3:14-15: The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

A study of John 3:14-15

"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 ‭ESV‬‬

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-Moses: "Mōysēs", "Μωϋσῆς"; proper masculine noun - Moses = "drawing out"; the famous leader and legislator of the Israelites in their migration from Egypt to Palestine.

-Lifted Up: "hypsoō", "ὑψόω"; verb - lift up on high, to exalt; used of the elevation of Jesus on the cross.

-Serpent: "ophis", "ὄφις"; masculine noun - snake, serpent.

-Wilderness: "erēmos", "ἔρημος"; adjective - used of places: a desert, wilderness, deserted places.

-Whoever: "pas", "πᾶς"; adjective - everyone.

-Believes: "pisteuō", "πιστεύω"; verb - of the credence given to God's messengers and their words.

-Eternal: "aiōnios", "αἰώνιος"; adjective - without end, never to cease, everlasting.

-Life: "zōē", "ζωή"; feminine noun - life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever.

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

In this passage Jesus tells Nicodemus that in the same way Moses made a bronze serpent, attached it to a pole, and lifted it up for all of Israel to see in the wilderness in order to heal them from the plague of poisonous serpents that had come upon them (Numbers 21:4-9), "so must the Son of Man be lifted up." The serpent on the pole was God's miraculous means of healing the people and giving them life in the wilderness after they had rebelled and sinned. Now, Jesus says He will be lifted up in a similar way so that everyone who looks to Him in faith and believes in Him will have their sin forgiven and receive eternal life.

Implication (what does this mean to us):

Jesus says this to Nicodemus after explaining His connection to heaven and earth as the Son of Man. Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man to communicate the fullness of His Deity and humanity. Jesus is fully God and fully human. He is the one who "descended from heaven" and who "ascended into heaven" (verse 13). In Jesus, heaven and earth meet. He is our Savior and Bridge of salvation from death on earth to life in heaven. As the only, unique, eternally existent Son of God and Son of Man, Jesus is the perfect and holy representative for the entire human race in the royal court of heaven. As such, He alone is qualified to tell us of both earthly and heavenly things (verse 12), and we would do well to listen to and believe what He says.

As Nicodemus is struggling with what Jesus just told him about how everyone, including the faithful Jews in Israel, even leaders like him, must be born again of God's Spirit, Jesus continues to graciously explain further. The problem for Nicodemus is not that he did not understand Jesus was telling him he needed spiritual rebirth. He understood that, but at the same time did not understand because he thought as a faithful Jew he had been born into God's Kingdom by nature of his ethnicity and religiosity. To his credit though, he did not walk away from Jesus, offended. He remained, asked more questions, and wrestled with these concepts that challenged his worldview. Because he remained, he was blessed to hear Jesus explain in more detail about what was to come.