“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14,15).

Lifted up was He to die,
“It is finished” was His cry;
Now in heav’n exalted high:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

The people of Israel many times rejected God’s plan and ways. Once their complaining brought deadly serpents into the camp as a judgment of God (Numbers 21:5–7). In response to Moses’ intercessory prayer, God said: “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and . . . every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (v.8).

This episode provides a clear illustration of our sinfulness and God’s remedy. As in our text, those who look upon the cross of Christ with the eyes of faith, believing that His death provides a glorious remedy for our sin-wracked souls, will not only “live,” but will have “eternal life.”

While on that “pole,” Almighty God died as “the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2). This infinitely difficult work had been initiated at the time when sin first entered into and thereby spoiled creation (Genesis 3). And as He completed His sacrifice, He cried out “in a loud voice” (Luke 23:46) the awesome victory cry: “It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).

But death does not end the story, for the grave could not hold the Creator of life. He rose in victory over death and the grave, thereby conquering sin, its power and penalty, for ever, for “when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

Hallelujah, what a Savior! JDM