Three times in John’s Gospel we have the Lord speaking of Himself as the Son of Man who is lifted up. As lifted up, we think of Him as the crucified One, the holy One lifted up on the cross for us. But also it speaks to us of Him as the exalted One who is now lifted up in heaven, crowned with glory and honor!

In the verse above, we have Him as Son of Man lifted up in order to give eternal life to all who believe. The Old Testament illustration was Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, so that all who looked at that lifted-up serpent would live. So today, eternal life is available to all who look to Him—in other words, believe in Him and His finished work on the cross.

In John 8, the Lord speaks of the fact that when the Jews would lift Him up, then they would know that He was the “I am.” While as believers today, we rejoice to know that the Lord Jesus is the “great I am,” this verse in particular looks on to the coming day when the restored remnant of the Jews will at last acknowledge the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. Isaiah 53 gives us their future confession of what the Lord suffered for them.

Lastly, in John 12, the Lord speaks of Himself lifted up that He might draw all to Him. This speaks of that coming day of glory when He will be the center of everything in heaven and earth (cf. Isa. 2:2–4; 11:10, 12).

Once He was lifted up on the cross; now He is lifted up in the glory. He was lifted up so that He might give eternal life to all who believe in Him; He was lifted up so that we today, as well as the future Jewish remnant, might know Him; and He was lifted up in view of that coming day when all will be drawn to Him, when everything will find its center in Himself.