“you” = Jesus is knowingly talking with His murderers (Acts 2:23) and yet does so with gentleness and love.

Acts 2:23  This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

“lifted up” = has a possible double meaning of which John is very fond. It refers to the means of His death by being physically lifted up onto the cross, but it also means “to be exalted”. “Jesus was ‘lifted up’ on the cross, and He was also exalted in a deeper sense, for His greatest glory consists in His accepting the shame and the humiliation of the cross in order that hereby He might bring salvation to sinful man.” (Morris 452) The irony was that the Jews would lift Him up “as they thought, to the Cross, but really on the way to His Glory.” (Edersheim II, 171) Or, as Hunter puts it, “Here it is a grim suggestion that the Jews will help him on his upward way — by killing him.”

Bultmann reminds us that these words also have relevance for us today: “all who identify themselves with the Jews by their unbelief have brought Jesus to the cross. The cross was the Jews’ last and definitive answer to Jesus’ revelation, and the world always, when it lets its unbelief be its last answer, ‘lifts up’ the Revealer, and at the same time makes him its Judge.”

This prophecy was fulfilled to some in (Acts 2:36-39), some in (Mat 27:50-54), in (John 16:7-8), and in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. which showed the truth of His predictions (Ezek 33:33).

Acts 2:36-39  “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  Peter replied, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Mat 27:50-54  And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

John 16:7-8  But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:

Ezek 33:33  “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”