Yesaya 55:4

55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, ¹ 

a ruler and commander of nations.”

Yohanes 18:37

18:37 Then Pilate said, ²  “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to ³  my voice.”

Yohanes 3:14

3:14 Just as ⁴  Moses lifted up the serpent ⁵  in the wilderness, ⁶  so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ⁷ 

[55:4]  ¹ sn Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness (cf. Pss 18:50 HT [18:49 ET]; 22:28 HT [22:27 ET]). See J. H. Eaton, Kingship in the Psalms (SBT), 182-84.

[18:37]  ² tn Grk “said to him.”

[18:37]  ³ tn Or “obeys”; Grk “hears.”

[3:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “And just as.”

[3:14]  ⁵ sn Or the snake, referring to the bronze serpent mentioned in Num 21:9.

[3:14]  ⁶ sn An allusion to Num 21:5-9.

[3:14]  ⁷ sn So must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is ultimately a prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion. Nicodemus could not have understood this, but John’s readers, the audience to whom the Gospel is addressed, certainly could have (compare the wording of John 12:32). In John, being lifted up refers to one continuous action of ascent, beginning with the cross but ending at the right hand of the Father. Step 1 is Jesus’ death; step 2 is his resurrection; and step 3 is the ascension back to heaven. It is the upward swing of the “pendulum” which began with the incarnation, the descent of the Word become flesh from heaven to earth (cf. Paul in Phil 2:5-11). See also the note on the title Son of Man in 1:51.