The Greek verb epairo (ἐπαίρω) means to lift up, to raise, or to exalt. It appears 19 times in the New Testament. The word describes the lifting of eyes in prayer (Luke 18:13), the raising of hands in worship (1 Timothy 2:8), the lifting of anchors in Acts (Acts 27:40), and crucially, the lifting up of the Son of Man on the cross.
John 3:14 draws the connection between Moses lifting the serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21:9) and the Son of Man being lifted up (hypsoo in John 3:14, but epairo appears in related passages): "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). The crucifixion is not merely execution but exaltation — the moment of supreme glory. Every epairo in Scripture points toward this ultimate lifting up.