Just as Moses
This phrase refers to the historical account found in the Old Testament, specifically in Numbers 21:4-9. Moses, the leader of the Israelites, is a central figure in the Hebrew Bible. The comparison here is significant because it draws a parallel between Moses' actions and the forthcoming actions of Jesus. The Greek word used for "just as" (καθώς) indicates a direct comparison, suggesting that the events involving Moses are a foreshadowing of what is to come in the life of Jesus.

lifted up the snake
The lifting up of the snake refers to the bronze serpent that Moses made and set upon a pole. In the original Hebrew context, the word for "snake" (נָחָשׁ, nachash) is used. This act was a divine instruction given to Moses to provide a means of healing for the Israelites who were bitten by venomous snakes. The lifting up of the snake symbolizes an act of salvation and deliverance, which is a precursor to the salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

in the wilderness
The wilderness represents a place of testing and trial for the Israelites. It is a significant setting in the biblical narrative, symbolizing both physical and spiritual challenges. The Greek term for "wilderness" (ἔρημος, erēmos) conveys a sense of desolation and isolation, yet it is also a place where God’s provision and presence are profoundly experienced. This context underscores the desperation and need for divine intervention.

so the Son of Man
The title "Son of Man" is a messianic term that Jesus frequently uses to refer to Himself. It has roots in the Old Testament, particularly in the book of Daniel 7:13-14, where it describes a heavenly figure endowed with authority and glory. The Greek phrase "ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου" emphasizes both the humanity and the divine mission of Jesus, highlighting His role as the mediator between God and humanity.

must be lifted up
The phrase "must be lifted up" is a direct reference to the crucifixion of Jesus. The Greek word for "lifted up" (ὑψωθῆναι, hypsōthēnai) carries a dual meaning: it refers to both the physical act of being raised on the cross and the exaltation that follows through His resurrection and ascension. This necessity ("must") indicates the divine plan and purpose for Jesus' sacrificial death, which is central to the Christian faith as the means of redemption for humanity.

(14) And as Moses lifted up.--This verse is closely connected by the conjunction "and" with what has gone before. Jesus has taught that in Himself heaven and earth meet; so that, while subject to the conditions of human life, He, the Son of Man, the representative of humanity, is in heaven. He goes on to show that what is true of the representative is, through Him, true of the whole race. Again the Old Testament Scriptures form the basis of the teaching to their expounder. The people in the wilderness bitten by the fiery serpents, the poison-virus spreading through their veins, and causing burning pain, torpor, and death--this was symbolical of the world lying in the misery, restlessness, and spiritual death, which came from the Serpent's victory in Paradise. The serpent of brass lifted up by Moses, in which the sufferer saw the means of recovery determined by God, and was healed by faith in Him--this was symbolical of the means of salvation determined by God for the world. (Comp. the phrase "lifted up" in John 8:28; John 12:32; and, as an exact parallel with this passage, John 12:34) Nicodemus must have understood that the healing power of the serpent of brass was in the fact that it led men to trust in Jehovah, who had appointed it. This was the current Jewish interpretation. Comp. the Jerusalem Targum, "Their faces were to be fixed on their Father who is in heaven;" so the Targum of Jonathan ben-Uziel, "The heart was fixed on the name of the word of Jehovah;" so, again, the Wisdom of Solomon, "For he that turned himself toward it was not saved by the thing that he saw, but by Thee, that art the Saviour of all" (Wisdom Of Solomon 16:7; see the whole passage, Wisdom Of Solomon 16:6-13). It was the sign of the Eternal in power and in love present to save, and the man who realised that presence lived with a new life. In the divine counsels it was willed, and must be, that the Son of Man should be the witness to the world of the Eternal Power and Love which saves every man who grasps it.

Verses 14, 15. - And. Seeing that our Lord had claimed supreme right to speak of heavenly things, he proceeds at once to speak of them also. There may be many ways of taking the καὶ: supposing that it indicates a transition from the person of the Lord to his work. From his Divine and endowed humanity thus shown to be competent to explain and re veal heavenly things, he proceeds to his atoning sacrifice. These underlying links of connection are not mutually exclusive. Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must also the Son of man be lifted up. The narrative of Numbers 21:8, etc., is one of the most curious in Scripture, and it was a great puzzle to the Jewish commentators, who felt that it was in apparent violation of the second command of the Decalogue. Moreover, in the days of Hezekiah the reverence paid to the serpent led to disastrous consequences and puritanic removal of the idolatrous snare. The Jewish divines consulted by Trypho (see Justin Martyr, 'Dail.,' 94) were unable to explain it. Philo regarded it as a designed contrast to the serpent of the Book of Genesis, but he supposed the antithesis to be that between pleasure and righteousness or prudence ('De Leg. All.,' 2:1.80). The Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 16:6), "The murmuring people were troubled for a while for warning, having a symbol of salvation .... he that turned to it was saved, not by reason of that which he beheld, but by reason of the Saviour of all." Ferguson, in his 'Tree and Serpent Worship,' regards the narrative as an indication that within the bosom of Israel the worship of the serpent had been introduced and had left its traces. But the narrative itself shows that the serpent healing from the serpent bite was a Jehovistie symbol of Divine love and victory. The 'Test. XII. Patr. Benj.,' 9, refers to it as the type of the cross (cf. Philippians 2:9; Acts 2:33). "Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." The fiery flying serpent, with its poisonous bite and its deadly malice, was the vivid type of the evil of disobedience to the Divine command, infusing its malign venom into the whole nature of its victim. The serpent of brass was not venomous, though it bore the likeness of the deadly plague. It was not flying, gliding from tent to tent, but captured, still, hoisted triumphantly upon the pole, a sign of its conquest. The serpent in Hebrew and Christian literature throughout was emblematic of evil, not as in many Oriental religions, of healing or deliverance (see Genesis 3:1; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9; and, properly translated, Job 26:13, Revised Version); and it is possible to see in this type an anticipation of the "lifting up" of Jesus on the cross. There are several interpretations of the ὑψωθῆναι. Paulus urged that Jesus by it referred to the final glorification of himself; but if so, why was not the word δοξασθῆναι used? It may mean, with Bleek, Lechler, Godet, the exaltation upon the cross as the steppingstone to his glory, the way, not only to David's throne, but to the very throne of God - a conception profoundly different from the current Pharisaic notions concerning the Messiah. The word is used in John 8:28 and John 12:32, 34 for the passion of the cross, although Peter (Acts 2:33) and Paul (Philippians 2:9) used it for the glorification consequent upon the Passion. Surely the word does, if it is to correspond with Moses' exaltation of the serpent of brass, point to the exaltation of the cross, but to that as to the very throne of his power and glory. Tholuck says, "A word must have been used in Aramaic which admitted both ideas, and the word זְםקך means in Chaldee and Syriac to 'lift up' and 'crucify.'" Many striking relations thus present themselves.

(1) The Lord was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, though without sin.

(2) The evil of sin was seen in him conspicuously revealed, but conquered; not only conquered, but transformed into a remedy. The enemy of man, the world itself, was crucified on the cross of Christ. Sin was nailed to the cross when, in the likeness of sinful flesh, the eternal Son of God made flesh submitted to all the shame of the flesh. "The world is crucified unto me," says Paul ("in the cross of Christ"), "and I to the world." Jesus says, "Even so must the Son of man be lifted up." The Son of man here on earth, but having always a Divine life in heaven, when revealed in human nature, subject to the laws and destiny of the flesh, "must" be lifted up. This pathway to his glory must pass through the blood and agony of the Passion. There was a needs be in the Divine counsel, in the purposes of Divine love, in the fall measure of the grace which was welling from the heart of God.

(3) The comparison, however, and relation between type and antitype is more conspicuous still in the fifteenth verse, where Jesus added: In order that whosoever believeth might have in him eternal life. Granting that the above is the true text, in our translation an instance occurs of the frequent absolute usage of πιστεύειν (πιστεύειν ἐν αὐτῷ is not a Johannine phrase, while we do find (John 5:39; John 16:33; John 20:31) that "life," "peace," are "in him"). On this ground, if we retain the ἐν αὐτῷ, we translate it as above. The object of faith is not specified; but he who believes, who looks with God-taught longing to the Christ, to the Son of man uplifted to save, sees God at his greatest, his best, and discerns the fullest revelation of the redeeming love. "Believing" corresponds with "looking" in the narrative of Numbers 21. Whosoever "looked, lived." Such looking was an act of faith in the promise of Jehovah; the otherwise despairing, dying glance of poisoned men was a type of the possibility of a universal salvation for sin-envenomed, devil-bitten, perishing men. Let them believe, and there is life. Let them understand the meaning of the Son of man thus exhausting the curse, and enduring in love the burden and penalty of human transgression, and they have straightway a life that is spiritual, fundamentally and radically new, a life heavenly and eternal. Thus can this vast change of which he had spoken to Nicodemus supervene. "How," asks Nicodemus, "can this be?" "Thus may it be," answers the Son of man. It is not necessary that all the mystery of the cross should have been perceived by Nicodemus, yet the subsequent references to this man make it highly probable that, when he saw Jesus suspended on the cross, instead of giving way to unbelief and despair, he was stimulated to an act of lofty faith (John 19:39, and note). In this great utterance we have the answer which Paul addressed to the Philippian jailer, and we have the argument of Paul in Romans 1, 2, and we infer that the sources of the Pauline doctrine were to be found in the known teaching of the Lord himself. Many commentators, beginning with Erasmus, and followed by Neander, Tholuck, Lucke, Westcott, and Moulton, have supposed that our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus ended with ver. 15, and that thenceforward we have the reflections in after times made by the evangelist, in harmony with the teachings which he had received from the Lord. This is urged on the ground that in John 1:18, and at the close of the present chapter (vers. 31-36), when reciting the testimony of the Baptist, it appears to the commentators that John has blended his own reflections with the words of the Baptist, adding them without break to the sentences which he does record (see notes). I am not prepared to admit the analogy; there is nothing in these words, if attributed to the Baptist, incompatible with the purely Old Testament position and transition standpoint to which he adhered. The argument drawn from the past tenses, ἠγάπησεν and ἔδωκεν, is not incompatible with the large view of the whole transaction which the Son of God adopted, as though in the fulness of its infinite love it had already been consummated. We are told that there are certain phrases which nowhere else are ascribed to Jesus himself, such as "only begotten Son" - a term which is found in the prologue (John 1:14, 18) and First Epist. (1 John 4:9), i.e. in John's own composition. The reply is that John used this great word on the specified occasion because he had heard it on the lips of Jesus; that he would not have dared to use it if he had not had the justification of such use, the like to which he here recounts. The believing εἰς τὸ ὄνομά - "on the name of" - does not occur, it is said, in the recorded words of Jesus, though it is found in the discourse of the evangelist himself in ch. 1:12; 2:23; and 1 John 5:13. The same criticism applies. John used it because he had heard our Lord thus deign to express himself. Moreover, the commencement of the paragraph, by the use of the particle γὰρ, shows that no break has occurred, that a richer and fuller and more triumphant reason is to be given for the obtaining of life eternal than that which had already been advanced. He passes from the Son of man (who is in heaven, and came from heaven and God) to the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. He speaks in more practical and explanatory form of the Object of faith, and the Divine source of the arrangement and its issues. A flood of new thoughts and some terms occur here for the first time; but they are no more startling than other words of Jesus, whose awful weight of meaning and rich originality gave to the evangelist all his power to teach. It is quite unnecessary to find fault with the abruptness of the close of this discourse, or the sudden cessation of the dialogue, or the disappearance of Nicodemus, or of any lack of affectionateness in the style of address. Christ is often abrupt, and in numerous replies which he gave to his interlocutors he prolongs the remarks as though they were addressed to the concealed mind of the speakers rather than to their uttered words. If there had been any hint or indication that these were John's reflections, we can only say that he who by the Holy Spirit penned the prologue was not incapable of these splendid and heart-searching generalizations of love, faith, judgment, and eternal life. But there does not appear to be any sufficient reason for such an hypothesis. Still, it must be admitted that we have not the whole of the former or the latter part of this wondrous discourse. Much has, without any doubt, been omitted. John has seized upon the most salient points and the loftiest thoughts. These stand out like mountain peaks above the glittering seas, indicating where the inner and hidden connections of their bases lie, but not unveiling them. We do not doubt that John's mind, by long pondering on the thoughts of Jesus and his words of profound significance, had acquired to some extent the method of his speech, and do not doubt that a certain subjective colouring affects his condensation of the discourses of Jesus. He was not a shorthand reporter, photographically or telephonically reproducing all that passed. He was a beloved disciple, who knew his Lord and lost himself in his Master. He seized with inspired and intuitive accuracy the root ideas of the Son of man, and reproduced them with the power of the true artist. It is incredible, even if we regard the entire paragraph (vers. 16-21) as the language of our Lord, that we have the whole of the discourse, or conversation, of the memorable night. Still less satisfactory is it to suppose that we have in it nothing more than an imaginary scone, an idealization of the bearing of Christian truth on Jewish prejudice. So vast a thought, though it be the burden of the New Testament, and because it is so, issued from the heart of Jesus.

Parallel Commentaries ...

Just
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

as
καθὼς (kathōs)
Adverb
Strong's 2531: According to the manner in which, in the degree that, just as, as. From kata and hos; just as, that.

Moses
Μωϋσῆς (Mōusēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3475: Or Moses, or Mouses of Hebrew origin; Moseus, Moses, or Mouses, the Hebrew lawgiver.

lifted up
ὕψωσεν (hypsōsen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5312: (a) I raise on high, lift up, (b) I exalt, set on high. From hupsos; to elevate.

the
τὸν (ton)
Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

snake
ὄφιν (ophin)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3789: Probably from optanomai; a snake, figuratively, an artful malicious person, especially Satan.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

the
τῇ (tē)
Article - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

wilderness,
ἐρήμῳ (erēmō)
Adjective - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2048: Lonesome, i.e. waste.

so
οὕτως (houtōs)
Adverb
Strong's 3779: Thus, so, in this manner. Or (referring to what precedes or follows).

the
τὸν (ton)
Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Son
Υἱὸν (Huion)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5207: A son, descendent. Apparently a primary word; a 'son', used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship.

of Man
ἀνθρώπου (anthrōpou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 444: A man, one of the human race. From aner and ops; man-faced, i.e. A human being.

must
δεῖ (dei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1163: Third person singular active present of deo; also deon deh-on'; neuter active participle of the same; both used impersonally; it is Necessary.

be lifted up,
ὑψωθῆναι (hypsōthēnai)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Passive
Strong's 5312: (a) I raise on high, lift up, (b) I exalt, set on high. From hupsos; to elevate.


John 3:14 NIV
John 3:14 NLT
John 3:14 ESV
John 3:14 NASB
John 3:14 KJV

John 3:14 BibleApps.com
John 3:14 Biblia Paralela
John 3:14 Chinese Bible
John 3:14 French Bible
John 3:14 Catholic Bible

NT Gospels: John 3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent (Jhn Jo Jn)