3:14
The necessity of looking to Jesus is reinforced by His referring to the incident with Moses and the bronze snake, recorded in Num 21:4-9. God has sent venomous snakes among the Israelites because of their grumbling. Moses had to make a bronze snake and anyone who was bitten had to look at the snake in order to be healed. The Son of Man being lifted up is an obvious reference to the cross. “Lifted up” can also mean “exalted”. The world saw the cross as the ultimate humiliation, in reality it was the exaltation of Christ. It was the place of His victory over sin.
3:15
The purpose of Christ being lifted up and our need to look to Him is now made clear. It is that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life in Him. The “in Him” is important. Eternal life is not an ephemeral concept, it is life in Christ. We live in Christ. Moses’ bronze snake eventually had to be destroyed (2 Kings 18:4) by Hezekiah. For the bronze snake had become an object of worship along with other idols, they had been burning incense to it. It is very easy for symbols to become idols. The Israelites were saved by looking at the snake, it was God’s grace that saved them. Christ is different, we need to believe in Him. The sending of Christ was an act of grace on the part of the Father, but Christ Himself is our salvation.
This is the first mention of “eternal life”, its literal meaning is “life of the age to come”. It is much more than just going on forever.
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