The Ministry of Jesus - "Nicodemus & Born Again"

 22- Nicodemus^[1]

 

Nicodemus was a leader in Jerusalem, a Pharisee. He came to Jesus one night and said, “Teacher, we cannot deny that you have been sent by the hand of God to teach. The things you do, prove that God is with you.” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the kingdom of God cannot be seen by a person unless they have been born a second time.”

 

 “How does an old man become born a second time?” Nicodemus asked. “I don’t know how one could enter into his mother’s womb again.” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, a person must be born both by water and by the Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God. There are two births, one of the flesh and another of the Spirit. Do not be shocked that I tell you that you need to be born a second time. You know the wind goes wherever it pleases, you hear it but cannot tell where it came from and where it will end up. People born of the Spirit are the same.” Nicodemus, still not understanding, asked, “How does one become born of the Spirit.” Jesus replied, “I thought you were a teacher of the Writings, and this does not make sense to you? I tell you the truth, I know what I am saying and have seen the Spirit’s coming. Listen and accept what I am telling you. If I tell you about things you can see on earth and you do not believe, how will you understand if I tell you of the things of heaven? There is no one to tell you of heavenly things except the One who has come from heaven – the Son of Man, for heaven is His home. You remember how Moses lifted up the serpent before the people in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man will be lifted up. Anyone who turns to Him and believes will enjoy eternal life.”

 

 

Nicodemus has come to the conclusion that Jesus could not do what he is doing without the help of God. He concludes that Jesus must have come from the LORD. He is impressed with what Jesus is doing. Thinking that someone is from God and being impressed is not enough to enter into the kingdom of God. Everyone that I know of believes that Jesus lived and did wonderful things and even taught us how to live a good life. That does not make them eligible for the kingdom of God.

 

The next step according to Jesus is to be born a second time through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not something we can accomplish without the help of God. When we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, we received from Him the forgiveness of all our sins. Then we are born a second time. Then we put our trust in God and humbly seek to follow Him wherever He might lead us.

 

    Just like Nicodemus, our human rationale gets in the way of our believing the spiritual truth that we must be born a second time. We would prefer to receive a degree from an academic school stating that we have learned everything we need about divinity. But God asks us to humbly come to Him and let Him make us new, spiritually new, so that we can see a spiritual realm that exists as well as the physical things we can see.

 

    Nicodemus comes to Jesus in secret, and it will take him some amount of time before he will be ready to admit to his fellow Pharisees that he believes Jesus is the Messiah. When that day comes, he will begin a new life filled with service to God and to others in this world.

   

    Jesus refers to a time in the history of Israel when the people in the wilderness were plagued by snakes and many were dying. Moses said to them, “Mold a snake out of metal and twist it around a tall pole. Set it in the middle of the camp and whenever someone is bitten by a snake, they can look at the snake on the pole and be healed.” (Numbers 21:8) He then lets them know that one day in the future He will be lifted up and bring eternal life to all who look to Him.

 

Teachings

 

T13 - John 3:3; Unless one has physical birth and a spiritual birth (i.e. of water and Spirit; verse 5) he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

T14 - John 3:14; The Son of Man will be lifted up in reference to Numbers 21:7-9 where healing came when men looked at the object Moses had lifted up.

T15 - John 3:15; All who believe in Him will have eternal life.

T16 - John 3:13; If a person does not easily believe earthly things, they will have greater difficulty believing spiritual things.

 

Revelations

 

R15 - John 3:14; Jesus equates Himself with the Son of Man.

 

“God’s love for this world is so great that He sent His only child, a Son, and everyone who believes in Him will not see destruction but will have life eternal. God is not interested in having the Son judge the things people do, but desires all to find life and wholeness through Him. A person who chooses to believe in the Son will not be judged. Anyone choosing not to believe judges themselves as guilty by their unbelief. The only freedom from judgment comes in believing and trusting in the name of God’s Son. This is judgment, Light has come into this dark world in the Son. Those who love the darkness more than the Light, what they do is evil. People who do evil, hate the Light, and they avoid being in the Light because they do not wish to have their deeds known, exposed, and judged. Those who walk in the truth and the Light do not mind having their deeds exposed because their deeds are done with the help of God.” Jesus and the disciples left Nicodemus and went out away from town to where they were staying, and they were also baptizing people who came to them.

 

Jesus explains to Nicodemus how God initiated salvation for any person who would just believe in Him. It began with His great love for mankind and He demonstrated that love by His willingness to allow His Son to come to earth and carry the sins of the world onto the cross so that all might be forgiven.

 

It is not in God’s nature to be punitive towards people. He does everything out of love. Even though people often think that God is doing bad things to them because of their sin, He does not condemn people, nor does He judge us. Judgment comes our way when we choose not to believe in Jesus. When we believe in Him and the work that He has done for us, we freely confess our sins to God and experience forgiveness, not judgment. When we are afraid to come into the Light of God’s presence and accept the forgiveness He offers, we judge ourselves unworthy of His love and consequently, we don’t experience His love for us or the forgiveness He offers us.

 

Teachings

T17 - John 3:16; God loves the world so much that He gave His Son to the world as a sacrifice for our sins.

T18 - John 3:16; All who believe in Him will have eternal life, without cost, a free gift.

T19 - John 3:17; God sent the Son into the world to save the world, not to judge it. The motivation of God is for our good not for our condemnation.

T20 - John 3:18; Those who believe are not judged, those who do not believe judge themselves unworthy of God’s love.

T21 - John 3:19; Men love the darkness better than the light because their deeds are evil (dark). They are unwilling to allow Jesus to shed His Light and Love upon them and forgive them. If they will not come to Him they cannot receive the forgiveness He has offered to them.

T22 - John 3:20; People who do evil are afraid to have their deeds exposed, so they continue to hide from the Light of Jesus.

T23 - John 3:21; Those who do truth (do good) come into the light, so that they can be forgiven. Without being willing to expose our sin, confess it, be honest about it, we cannot receive the forgiveness that Jesus offers.

 

^[1] (John 3:1-22)