Salvation is a gift we accept by faith. God saves us by raising us with Christ through death to life. A comparison is then drawn with the crucifixion, which for the author was an act of exaltation. Just as the serpent Moses exalted in the desert was a symbol of healing, so is the Son of Man, exalted upon the cross, a sign of healing for all who look upon him. New birth is possible only when Jesus makes the transit to his Father through death, resurrection, and glorification.
Death becomes a symbol of new life.
Here again is the paradox of human nature, in which death to selfishness and sin is the way to new life. And in the Christian view, it is precisely through the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ that we attain new birth. Belief is also a necessary factor. Passage from death to life depends not just on Jesus' objective achievement but on our subjective reaction, our response, our appropriation through personal faith. May the eucharistic liturgy we celebrate in memory of the death and resurrection of our Savior lead us also through death to eternal life.