As Moses lifted up

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. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. - John 3.14-16

Since Jesus was speaking primarily to Jewish crowds He often use the events of the Old Testament to illustrate great truths.

Every Jew knew the account of the fiery serpents in the wilderness. As a result of perpetual complaining God sent fiery serpents to bite the Jews. The bite caused great agony and death. The Jews quickly came to Moses, confessed their sin, and begged for a solution. God told Moses to make a brass serpent on a pole and lift it up. Anyone who looked to the upraised serpent would be delivered. Looking to the serpent was God’s way of deliverance. Nothing else would work, no matter how hard the people tried.

As Jesus was teaching Nicodemus He said that He too must be lifted up in the same way. He said that just like the Jews anyone who looked up to the raised Christ would not die in their sin, but have eternal life.

Followed by these words are the incredible words so often used to sum up the gospel – ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’

God only provides one way for deliverance from the wages of sin. His way is the only way and His way is the lifted up Jesus.