Yohanes 3:14

3:14 Just as ¹  Moses lifted up the serpent ²  in the wilderness, ³  so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ⁴ 

Yohanes 6:32

6:32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵  it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.

Yohanes 6:49-50

6:49 Your ancestors ⁶  ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 6:50 This ⁷  is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person ⁸  may eat from it and not die.

Yohanes 8:56

8:56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed ⁹  to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” ¹⁰ 

[3:14]  ¹ tn Grk “And just as.”

[3:14]  ² sn Or the snake, referring to the bronze serpent mentioned in Num 21:9.

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

[3:14]  ⁴ 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.

[6:32]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:49]  ⁶ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[6:50]  ⁷ tn Or “Here.”

[6:50]  ⁸ tn Grk “someone” (τις, tis).

[8:56]  ⁹ tn Or “rejoiced greatly.”

[8:56]  ¹⁰ tn What is the meaning of Jesus’ statement that the patriarch Abraham “saw” his day and rejoiced? The use of past tenses would seem to refer to something that occurred during the patriarch’s lifetime. Genesis Rabbah 44:25ff, (cf. 59:6) states that Rabbi Akiba, in a debate with Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, held that Abraham had been shown not this world only but the world to come (this would include the days of the Messiah). More realistically, it is likely that Gen 22:13-15 lies behind Jesus’ words. This passage, known to rabbis as the Akedah (“Binding”), tells of Abraham finding the ram which will replace his son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice – an occasion of certain rejoicing.