John 3:1-8 says,...

Today's devotional thoughts are from John chapter 3 and verses 1 through 8 which read,...

v.1, 2 - Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."

Today we will see Jesus having another conversation with an individual.  Nicodemus is one of the religious elites.  He is a ruler on the Sanhedrin council of 70.  You see that this encounter happens at night and that was probably planned.  Nicodemus was very curious about something that he didn't bring up during the day when all these crowds were around Jesus or maybe this was his only time Nicodemus had available amongst all of his duties in Jerusalem during the Passover celebration.  Nicodemus has a question for Jesus that tells many things about where he is at and what he is thinking at the time.

Nicodemus calls Jesus "Rabbi" which is an official title for a teacher who has disciples or students following him.  Nicodemus calls Jesus a teacher again with his explanation of why he called Him "Rabbi."  His thought and apparently the thought of others was that Jesus was a teacher who was connected in some way to God because these miracles could be done in no other way.  The things that were happening were probably reminding them of the feats of the plagues that God put upon the Egyptians during the Exodus as they were just celebrating this deliverance.

Nicodemus' assessment of Jesus was that He was a teacher connected to God and that God was with Him.  Nicodemus is not at the point of calling Jesus as "Lord" or that Jesus is not just "with" God but "is" God.

v.3 - Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Jesus responses to Nicodemus' spiritual state.  "Truly" means a true statement is coming and Jesus doubles the impact by saying that word twice.  What Nicodemus needs to know is that something needs to happen for him to understand what is going on and who Jesus really is.  To see Jesus as Lord and Savior, a person needs to be born again.  Another birth after his or her physical birth needs to happen.  The physical birth started with taking a breathe of the physical world and an eventual opening up of the eyes to the light of this world.  A spiritual birth is now needed where we take a breathe of the spiritual world and have our eyes open to the Light of the world, Jesus.  

Jesus also frames this statement with some qualifiers.  Jesus, with all of His authority as God says, "I say to you."  He also uses the word "unless" meaning this is the only way.  It reminds you of His words later when Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."  Jesus then throws in the word "cannot" meaning He is putting up a gate you must go through to get into the kingdom of God.

How will Nicodemus respond to this very inclusive statement from Jesus which obviously includes him, a very important, ruling official of the Sanhedrin?

v.4 - Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"

Nicodemus comes back to Jesus with a couple more questions to Jesus' statement.  Nicodemus' focus is completely on the physical.  All he can think about is a grown man trying to go back into the womb of his mother.  His eyes are not opened yet by God to understand what Jesus is talking about.  It sounds like gibberish to him.  This is not possible in a physical sense but then he throws in that last phrase that maybe Jesus has an answer to this with his finish of "can he?".  It is like Nicodemus is saying, "This doesn't sound possible but You, Jesus, have been doing some pretty phenomenal things."  Jesus responds,...

v.5-8 - Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Jesus comes back with some more "truly" statements to Nicodemus.  The water is being used exclusively during this time by Himself and John the Baptist as a sign of repentance.  Baptism was a sign of spiritual cleansing.  If one is to enter the kingdom of God a repentance is necessary and also a spiritual birth that is not coming from your birth mother but rather from the Spirit.  These two events are necessary.  One is you admitting your sin and submitting to the Savior of sins and the other is God giving birth to your eternal spirit life with Him.  

This is different than your physical birth.  Flesh does give birth to flesh and we understand that so let us also understand that our spiritual life doesn't come from anything physical but from something or someone spiritual.  If this is going to happen to us, it must come from outside of ourselves like our physical birth that we had nothing to do with.  We were "dead" to that process but brought to life by someones other than ourselves, our parents.  We are dead in our trespasses and sins and Someone brings us to life spiritually, Jesus.

Who is in control of this?  It is not us.  It is the One who controls the wind.  We see the effects of the wind but we are not creating it or controlling it.  The wind lets us know that there is a God who has created all.  Just as the wind goes by God's command where He wishes it to go, so also those who are a part of the kingdom of God are under the command of God.  It is His wish and command who will be born again.  We are not in charge of this activity but are witnesses of it in our own lives and the lives of others.  

So the conversation goes on but that is enough for this morning.  Remember that these are the words of Jesus who is giving Nicodemus a picture of what is going on when we talk about spiritual birth and how it happens.  Let us pray.

 

"Heavenly Father, thank You so much for this passage that gives us the very words of Jesus as He explains the spiritual to Nicodemus and to us.  These are hard concepts to grasp at times but help us to see again how much You love us.  Amen."

Pastor Adam