King James Bible
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:"
Jesus references Numbers 21:8-9, where Moses raised a bronze serpent on a pole to heal Israelites dying from snake bites. This historical event becomes a prophetic type—those who looked to the elevated serpent in faith received physical healing, establishing a pattern for spiritual salvation. The comparison reveals divine necessity ('must') in Christ's crucifixion, where He would be physically elevated on the cross. The parallel suggests that just as the Israelites looked up for healing, humanity must look to the crucified Christ for eternal life—transforming an instrument of death into the means of salvation.