The Tenderest Revelation Of His Perfect Love

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 

so must the Son of Man be lifted up, John 3:14 (ESV)

'The Son of Man must be lifted up.' And what does that mean? It means the same thing that He said when, near the end, He declared, "the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified." We are accustomed to speak--and we speak rightly--of His death as being the lowest point of the humiliation which was inherent in the very fact of His humanity. He condescended to be born; he stooped yet more to die. But whilst that is true, the other side is also true--that in the cross Christ is lifted up, and that it is His throne. For what see we there? The highest exhibition, the tenderest revelation, of His perfect love. And what see we there besides? The supreme manifestation of the highest power.

- Alexander MacLaren