It is only in the Gospel of John that the term “lifted up” is used for the crucifixion of Christ. It is, moreover, a striking thing that the word so rendered means also “exalted”; and it will be seen in our meditations that while it signifies, as the evangelist tells us, the character of the Lord’s death (John 12), it includes, in the presentation of the truth in connection with it, His exaltation. It occurs only three times, and each time it is employed in different connections as to the teaching, so that taken together these scriptures set forth an immense scope of truth, embracing indeed the whole of the present interval, the manifestation of Christ to His earthly people, and His exaltation and glory in “the world to come,” that is in the Millennium when He will shine forth unhinderedly as the Sun of Righteousness. We may then proceed to consider each occurrence of the phrase, “lifted up,” hoping to be enabled to give an outline of its various teachings.
The first time the words are found is in John 3, where, as indeed in each case, it falls from the lips of the Lord Himself. Speaking to Nicodemus, after pressing the absolute necessity of the new birth, He says, “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. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life...” (John 3:14-1614And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:14‑16)).
It will be noticed even by the most casual reader that the necessity for the Son of man to be lifted up is as absolute as it is for man to be born again. Both necessities are indispensable — one for man, and the other for God. It is sometimes, indeed, advanced that the necessity for the Son of man to be lifted up was for man, inasmuch as he could not otherwise have approached God. This is undoubtedly true, but the question is whether this is the aspect of the truth presented in this scripture. Attention to its terms will show, we judge, that it is not that it teaches us, rather that it was a necessity for God in the accomplishment of His purposes for the bestowment of eternal life upon those who should believe in His beloved Son. For this end it was necessary that the judgment of death should be borne and its power set aside if life out of and beyond death were to be revealed, into which the believer could be brought in association with Christ. This might be illustrated in another way. Before God could reach the heart of man, and shed abroad His love there through the Holy Spirit, three things were required: 1) man, the man in the flesh, must come up under the eye of God for judgment, and this came to pass in the cross of Christ, and so effectually that he has disappeared forever from before God; 2) Christ must be exalted in virtue of His death; 3) the Spirit of God must be given (see John 7:3939(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:39)). In this way God, if we may use the expression, was set free to work according to His own eternal thoughts in Christ Jesus. And it may be added, that these eternal thoughts of His have already been accomplished in the One whom He has glorified at His right hand, for He is the true God and eternal life.
The Son of man then was lifted up, and the One who has been thus lifted up is presented as the Object for faith. He has been lifted up “that whosoever believeth in Him.” This will explain the remark already made that His lifting up includes His exaltation; for where is He presented to men as the object of faith? Is it on the cross? No; it is as glorified at God’s right hand; it is to Him there that the gospel directs men, and it is to Him there that men must believingly look if they are to enter upon the blessedness here unfolded.
To whom then, it may be inquired, is this gospel proclaimed? It is to the whole world, not only to the Jew, but also to the Gentile; for the rejection of Christ by the Jew was but the occasion for the out flowing of the grace of God to all men of every clime and race. There is, therefore, absolutely no limit; for as the Apostle Paul teaches, after he has demonstrated by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This much indeed is involved in the “whosoever,” for this term includes the possibility of any one in the wide world receiving the testimony of God.
And together with believing in the Son of man having been lifted up, but now glorified, is linked eternal life — that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Rescued from the judgment of God under which he lay, from the wrath of God (vs. 36), and from Satan’s power, so that he should not perish, the believer has eternal life. “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” Eternal life is thus connected with the knowledge of the Father as revealed in and through the Son; and it is enjoyed when in the experience of our souls we have reached Him on the other side of death, where in association with Him we are as sons before the Father’s face. If anyone should earnestly inquire how Christ may be reached on the other side of death, the answer may be given in the Lord’s own words, “Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:5454Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)). It is then by the appropriation of (making our own) the death of Christ, so becoming identified with it in this world, that we pass morally (not actually, but in spirit) out of this world and join Christ where He is, and thus enter upon the enjoyment of eternal life. Every believer in the One who has been lifted up has an undoubted title to eternal life; but it is only through the appropriation of the death of Christ that eternal life can really be possessed. When, however, we are raised up at the last day according to the Lord’s promise, that we shall be actually in association with Christ, and all alike will possess, in a sphere where death can no more enter, this divine and unspeakable gift.
One thing more has to be observed. All this blessedness proceeds from the sovereign love of God — God so loved the world. We have said the sovereign love of God; for surely, as everyone will admit, there was nothing in the world itself to call forth this expression of His heart. Pity there might have been, but not love; on the contrary, there was everything to call down the execution of His judgment, for all had gone out of the way, and there was none that did good — no, not one. And yet He loved — such is God!
And remark that the greatness of the love is seen in the greatness of the gift; He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. It was the Son of His bosom whom He gave; and the Son became man that He might accomplish the will of Him that sent Him; and in His death on the cross He endured all the judgment which lay upon man to open up the way by which God could righteously satisfy His own heart in bringing to pass His eternal counsels for the blessing of His people. What a theme for meditation! And it is a theme which, the more it is considered, the more it will beget in the soul thoughts of praise and adoration in the contemplation of such ineffable love and grace.
The second occurrence of the expression, “lifted up,” as applied to the Son of man, is found in chapter 8. Surrounded by the unbelieving Jews who had refused the plainest testimony to Christ as being the Sent One from the Father, Jesus said to them, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things” (John 8:2828Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. (John 8:28)).
The first thing to notice is that it is not now, The Son of man must be lifted up, but it is, When ye have lifted up the Son of man. If in chapter 3 it is, as we have seen, divine necessity, here, as evidently, it is the guilt of the Jew. On this account we are here in altogether a different circle. In John 3 it is all the saints of this present period who are in view; here it is the Jew (but including as representing the Jews of a later date) who is brought before us in these words of our blessed Lord.
Wherein, we may inquire first of all, lay the guilt of the Jew as here indicated? It may be seen in two ways — in their rejection of the word and works of Christ, and finally in His crucifixion. For the Jew, as indeed for every soul to whom Christ is presented, everything depended upon who He was. If He were the Sent One of the Father, if God were His Father, as the Jews themselves alleged that He claimed, thus making Himself equal with God (John 5:1818Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18)); if, moreover, the plainest possible testimony to the truth of His Person were brought to them (John 5:32-47; 8:18-1932There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. 33Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. 34But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. 35He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. 36But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. 38And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. 39Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41I receive not honor from men. 42But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only? 45Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:32‑47)
18I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. 19Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. (John 8:18‑19)), then they had no excuse for their sin in rejecting His claims. In truth they had not, for in their willfulness they had closed their eyes both to the testimony of John the Baptist and to that of Christ Himself; and they waxed harder and harder in their opposition to His claims, so that, while confessing that they could not deny that He did many miracles (John 11:4747Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. (John 11:47)), they persevered in their determination to put Him to death. Besides this, they were so obdurate in their enmity that in order to accomplish their end, they denied before Pilate all their national hopes and expectations in declaring that they had no king but Caesar (John. 19:15).
Such was their shameless guilt; and the Lord, knowing all from the beginning, charged this home upon them in the words, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man.” Pilate, indeed, was willing to let Jesus go — to release Him at the feast — and in passing judgment upon Him, he only yielded to the passionate demands of the Jews in giving sentence as they required (Luke 23:2424And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. (Luke 23:24)).
Coming back again to the terms of our scripture, two things would follow upon His being lifted up by the Jews: 1) they should “know that I am. He”; 2) “that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things.” When they asked Him, “Who art Thou?”
He replied (we give another translation), “Altogether that which I have said to you”; that is, His word was the perfect expression of Himself; but, as we have pointed out, they refused this testimony, and yet the time would come when they would know who He was, and whence His testimony — whether as connected with His word or His works — had proceeded. To what time then does the Lord refer? First of all, there may be, and undoubtedly is, an allusion to what took place at Pentecost, when a multitude were smitten at heart with the sense of their sin in crucifying their Messiah. They knew then, and they confessed who He was. Great, however, as was the blessing in these Pentecostal days, there cannot be a doubt that the meaning of these words of our blessed Lord requires a vast extension beyond that period, and that they will include the time spoken of by Zechariah, when God will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; “and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zech. 12:1010And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)).
In the full interpretation, therefore, of this scripture, the Lord undoubtedly looks onward to the time of His appearing, and the effects of it upon His unfaithful people, when, like Thomas, who typifies this remnant, many will see and believe. It may be also that, as Revelation 1:77Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7) seems to imply, some among them will be convinced when they see the Son of man coming in His glory, that Jesus of Nazareth was their Messiah, and yet still resist His claims. This indeed would seem plainly taught, awful as is the testimony to the character of the heart of man in Matthew 24-25, and other scriptures. But it should be remembered that Christ is the test of men now, as He will be then, and consequently that our relationship to God depends upon our attitude toward His beloved Son. One remark may be added for the better understanding of this scripture. As will be seen, it is not only that the Jews will know after they had lifted up the Son of man, that Jesus as presented to them in His humiliation was their Messiah, but they will also acknowledge that He was the Sent One and the Revealer of the Father.