With much wisdom comes much folly. The Pharisees had taken their religious training and used it to identify who was not really a part of the “club.” The thought that they understood what God was about and why YHWH would send a Messiah (to reward the faithful and condemn the unfaithful). Jesus was doing His best to completely change that way of thinking.
Jesus mentions the story of Moses and the serpent. This reference comes from Numbers 21. The Israelites grumbled against God, so God sent serpents among the people. The ones who were bit died. When 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.”
God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten could look at the serpent and would live. It was a visible act of repentance.
Sin is like the deadly venom of the serpents, and there is only one God-given cure. The Son had to be lifted up (which we find out later meant being crucified) so that all who believe could live–eternally.
The beautiful part of the story is that God did not want the world to be condemned. If He had wanted that, He wouldn’t have sent Jesus. God loves us and that is why He wants us to have eternal life.
Most people are drowning in a sea of sin. Death is eminent, but they refuse to grab hold of the lifeline that Jesus has offered them. They are destined for death by their refusal to repent. They are drowning because they love their sin more than t hey love righteousness and they are ashamed of what the righteousness might expose about them.
Those who come into the light are there by the grace of God, and their righteousness is not because of the things they have done, but because of the things Jesus did. The only way Christians can stand in the Light is by putting on the righteousness of Christ.
