Jesus proceeds to explain why he left heaven to come to this earth: he came down to be lifted up. By this, Jesus is alluding to his eventual death upon the cross. He makes a parallel to his death with the serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness (Numbers 21:8-9). The people of Israel, because of their sins, were being stricken by serpents from whose bit there was no cure. But God provided a cure, if the people would accept it by looking upon it. In the same way men who sin are plagued with eternal death, a death they cannot avoid. But God is providing a cure by sending His Son, if people will accept the gift and believe on him. No one needs to perish and God does not wish for any to perish. Jesus\u2019 purpose is not to bring final judgment against the world, but to rescue people from the consequences of their own sins.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: In John 3:14, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and speaks of Moses lifting up the serpent. Is this the bronze serpent Moses made? And how does this relate to Jesus and what is Jesus trying to tell Nicodemus? I understand the part about believing and eternal life, but I still think I am missing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[228,959,76],"class_list":["post-16109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-crucifixion","tag-john","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3962,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-know-he-would-die-by-crucifixion-in-advance\/","url_meta":{"origin":16109,"position":0},"title":"Did Jesus know he would die by crucifixion in advance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Jesus know he would die by crucifixion in advance? Answer: Yes, he did know. He spoke of being \"lifted up\" which was an allusion to crucifixion where a person is lifted up on a cross. \"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":79216,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-jesus-mention-baptism-to-nicodemus\/","url_meta":{"origin":16109,"position":1},"title":"Why didn’t Jesus mention baptism to Nicodemus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why didn't Jesus mention baptism to Nicodemus in the gospel of John when he asked? Answer: Great question. I love Nicodemus's story, and I believe it can help us understand the need for water baptism. Firstly, I would like to say we don't see the whole story of Nicodemus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33862,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faces-surrounding-calvary-joseph-of-arimathea-and-nicodemus\/","url_meta":{"origin":16109,"position":2},"title":"Faces Surrounding Calvary: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dave Hart We are given very little insight as to the lives and characters of these two men, but there are some things we know about them which are worthy of our attention. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man, a member of the council or what was otherwise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-believe-in-life-after-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":16109,"position":3},"title":"Did Jesus believe in life after death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Jesus believe in life after death all of his earthly life? Was His knowledge gained from the Torah, or was it revealed specifically to Him by God? Answer: Christians believe that Jesus was God in the flesh and thus the author of the Torah (the five books of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92566,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-proper-explanation-of-john-316\/","url_meta":{"origin":16109,"position":4},"title":"The Proper Explanation of John 3:16","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Carl O. Cooper The fact is, John 3:16, when taken in its proper context, teaches that salvation is by works of obedience when accompanied by proper faith. It's true! This verse, read in its proper context, does not teach \"saved by faith alone.\" In reality, the context of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89917,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bruised\/","url_meta":{"origin":16109,"position":5},"title":"Bruised","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel\" (Genesis 3:15). The very first prophecy of \"the seed of the woman\" bruising the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}