John 3:14

"Bottom line, Nicodemus, you remember the story of how Moses places a bronze serpent on a pole for all to see and be saved, so is it necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up." John 3:14 EFP

Jesus makes a reference that will bring into focus the main truth he has been trying to share with Nicodemus.  It is an allusion so far-fetched for a typical Jew that it must have thrown Nicodemus for another loop. 

Jesus brings to mind the bronze serpent Moses manufactured and placed on a high standard for all of Israel to see, at God's command no less, in order for the people of Israel to be healed of the venomous bites of vipers that had invaded the Israelite camp while they wandered in the desert (Read Numbers 21).  Let's overlook the obvious conflict in the story, since God had asked something that seems to directly violate the second commandment-- making a "graven image" for the purpose of seeking supernatural intervention from the aforementioned icon.  The Israelites were commanded by God to look to the "fiery serpent" for healing (salvation) from their affliction.  But now Jesus takes this problematic passage and applies the scenario to the Son of Man, which is a term used in the Jewish Scripture to refer to the promised Messiah (Read Daniel 7).  To equate the Messiah with a bronze image of a serpent was abhorrent.  It would have created such cognitive dissonance in the mind of Nicodemus that he may have been close to shutting down.

Jesus is actually describing himself as a serpent lifted up on a pole.  He is the Son of Man.  He would be lifted up on a cross.  But the most surprising and inconceivable part of this concept is that the sinless Son of God would become the "serpent" in order to save the people from death. Jesus literally "became sin" for us to deliver us from the power of sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).  The core of the good news is dawning in the mind of Nicodemus at the very moment when nothing seems to make sense.  I have to hand it to Nicodemus, he doesn't jump ship.  He stays through it all.  He wrestles with his doubt and resistance to this new theology. In the end, he would live to see the fulfillment of this prophecy.  I look forward to the day when I can hear the story directly from Jesus’ lips in the kingdom of heaven.