Al-Kadhi asks how we are to read the following scripture:

John 3:14-15 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man belifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

He says this lifting up is akin to Elijah's being transported to heaven by the fiery chariots, and to Enoch's being quickened into glory. He denies that it means a crucifixion. The scripture Jesus alludes to about Moses reads:

Numbers 21:8-9 "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived."

The serpent is on a pole. It is a symbol with the power to heal. Jesus was crucified on a tree, in the same way, so that everyone who looks to the cross will be saved from sin. Lifted up means that Jesus was taken from the earth to hang on a cross, not into heaven. That Jesus alludes to the bronze serpent makes this evidently clear. No sense interpreting scripture except by scripture!

The Rebuttal to "What Did Jesus Really Say?"
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