LIFTED UP

"In response, Adonai sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit the people, and many of Isra’el’s people died.”
Number 21:6

It seems that every person knows John 3:16. Whether we learned it in Sunday school, or saw it posted on a sign at a sports game, the fact is that it can be quoted by almost everyone. But do we know the verses right before this famous one? I first became familiar with this verse in my Hermeneutics class in college. As we dissected this verse and its Hebrew roots, Adonai began to show me personally the relationship between His being lifted up and His love for the world.
If we go back to Numbers 21 we find the story that Yeshua is referring to concerning Moshe. Following the defeat of Hormah (Num 21:3), the people traveled along a route leading to the Red Sea. However, the Isra’elites began another of their many waves of grumbling. They spoke against Adonai and Moshe, cursing them for detestable food and a lack of water. As a result, Adonai sent venomous snakes into the camp. It is recorded that many Isra’elites died as a result of these snake bites. Then seeing the effects of their sin, the people came to Moshe, pleading that Moshe pray to Adonai to take the snakes away and forgive their sin of speaking out against Adonai and His anointed one. When Moshe prayed, Adonai instructed Moshe to craft a bronze snake and place it on a pole. For those who were bit, they simply were to look at the pole and they would not die (Num 21:4-9).
Skipping forward in time to John's gospel writing, John shares in chapter 3 where Yeshua is speaking to Nicodemus. After pointing out that the simple earthly things are not always comprehended and a concern for the heavenly things to also be learned, Yeshua attempted to speak to Nicodemus in a way he maybe better understand. Yeshua related to this time in Isra’el's past where the salvation from the snake bite came by looking at the image on the pole. But as Matthew Henry points out, it was not the snake that Adonai was trying to get Isra’el to worship (as idolatry is a sin), but rather the looking up toward Adonai.
"The Jews themselves say it was not the sight of the brazen serpent that cured; but in looking up to it, they looked up to God as the Lord that healed them."
Matthew Henry Commentary
Yeshua was making a parallel in that the snake pointed people to Adonai. So then, when Yeshua Himself was on the cross, people were once again fixing their eyes heavenward. As the truth of looking on the cross proved to bring physical healing, so the truth of looking on Yeshua as Savior brought spiritual healing. Just as Yeshua was lifted for us, He was bringing all men unto Him. It is on these heels then that John 3:16 makes more sense. For God the Father did love us all so much, just as He did the people of Israel. Because of this love, He gave to the world His Son. If we believe in and look upon Him, just as Isra’el believed in life even after the snake bite when looking on the pole, then we too will have life. Our life will not be the physical as it was for Israel, but rather will be eternal life. Let us lift up our eyes, then, to the one who is lifted up.

Numbers 21:6-20
Numbers 21:21 – 22:1