<p>3:14 <i>As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up</i>- Perhaps these were the &quot;heavenly things&quot; which the Lord had intimated He wanted to tell Nicodemus of in :12.</p><p>It was the serpent which gave salvation to sin-stricken Israel, not Moses; and the <i>serpent</i> represented Christ in this case. It was as it were a dead serpent; the Lord had put to death the power of sin within Himself. Moses &quot;lifted up&quot; the serpent in the same way as the Jews &quot;lifted up&quot; Christ in crucifying him (8:28). Moses drew attention to the serpent and its power to save, in the same way as his Law drew attention to how sin would be condemned in Christ as the means of our salvation. The connection between Moses &ldquo;lifting up&quot; Christ&nbsp;and Israel doing likewise is another indicator of how Moses was representative of Israel (cp. Christ). The altar &quot;Jehovah-Nissi&quot; connected Yahweh personally with the pole / standard / ensign of Israel (Ex. 17:15). Yet <i>nissi</i> is the Hebrew word used for the pole on which the brass serpent was lifted up, and for the standard pole which would lift up Christ. Somehow Yahweh Himself was essentially connected with the cross of Christ. &ldquo;There is no God else beside; a just God and a Saviour (Jesus)... look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth&quot; (Is. 45:21,22) is evident allusion to the snake on the pole to which all Israel were bidden look and be saved. And yet that saving symbol of the crucified Jesus is in fact God Himself held up to all men. The Hebrew word <i>nasa</i> translated &quot;forgive&quot; is also translated 'bear' as in 'bearing / carrying iniquity'. When God forgave, He bore / carried sin; and the idea of carrying sin is obviously brought into visual, graphic meaning in the literal carrying of the cross by the Lord Jesus. Indeed, the Hebrew word <i>nes</i>, translated &quot;pole&quot; in the record of the bronze snake being lifted up on a &quot;pole&quot;, is the noun for which <i>nasa</i> is the verb. The essence of cross carrying had therefore been performed by God for millennia, every time He forgave human sin. It's understandable, therefore, that He had a special manifestation in the final sufferings and death of His Son. See on Jn. 19:19.</p><p>Jn. 3:13,14 link the Lord&rsquo;s ascension to Heaven, and His &lsquo;lifting up&rsquo; on the cross. They were all part of the same, saving process. Likewise the atonement is a function of His death and resurrection combined; it was only the empty tomb that gave the cross any power at all. &quot;Lifted up&quot; is literally to exalt; His lifting up by His enemies was in their eyes His final disgrace, to die the death of the cross; but to spiritual eyes, it was His greatest exaltation. There are many similar things in life today which from a secular viewpoint may be a man's nadir, but which from a heavenly perspective are his greatest exaltation. The process of death itself is often an example.</p><p>The same <i>must</i> which led Him to His passion (see on Mk. 14:49; Lk. 2:49) is the very same compulsion which &ldquo;behoves&quot; us to preach that passion which we have witnessed and benefited from. In His ministry, He had taught that we <i>must</i> be born again, and in the same discourse spoke of how He <i>must</i> be lifted up in crucifixion (Jn. 3:7,14). His cross, His will to die in the way He did, must be our inspiration. &ldquo;Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and <i>we ought</i> to lay down our lives for the brethren&quot; (1 Jn. 3:16).</p>