"4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live."
Numbers 21:4-9
Jesus said that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. How are these words 'lifted up' to be construed, in reference to our Lord? The first and fundamental reality is His being lifted up on the cross. The Son of man had to die, had to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It is in this sense that Jesus said, in another place, 'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me' (John 12:32). But there is a sense in which we can 'extend' the meaning of the words. If the cross were the end of the story, there would be neither healing nor salvation. He arose! He triumphed over Satan, and spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly. In this sense, Jesus was 'lifted up', in His resurrection and exaltation to the Father's right hand, to the place of power. By the same token, we may further extend the thought of His being 'uplifted' in the preaching of the gospel. The preaching of Christ crucified, which to the Jews is a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, is the power and wisdom of God to those that are being saved. The story of the Acts of the Apostles is the story of the Son of man being lifted up in this sense, and what glorious healing is recorded! And finally, we may speak of that 'uplifting' in relation to the lives of His people. We as believers are meant to show forth an uplifted Christ. The test of a true Christian is that he makes it easier for people to believe in God. 'Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me' we sometimes sing. When He is thus uplifted in us, the healing goes forth to bless men's lives. It is ever so.