April
13th John
3
Nicodemus - Unbelief
1:
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews: 2: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi,
we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do
these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3: Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4: Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter
the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5: Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6:
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. 7: Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be
born again. 8: The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither
it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9: Nicodemus
answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10: Jesus
answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest
not these things? 11: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that
we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our
witness. 12: If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not,
how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13: And no
man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14: And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted
up: 15: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life. 16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. 17: For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18:
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not
is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. 19: And this is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil. 20: For every one that doeth
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. 21: But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Next
John records a night time visit of one of the highest theologians of
Israel. He is described as the (not a) Ruler of the Jews. He was a
head of a Rabbinical school. He came acknowledging that Christ’s
mission is divine based on his Messianic signs. However its later and
so Christ goes directly to the point of his message of the Kingdom.
He says entrance into the kingdom for Nicodemus will be based on a
spiritual new birth. The Jews thought that entrance into the Kingdom
would be on the basis of nationality or at least on basis of
righteousness according to the Mosaic Law. However Christ’s
application to Nicodemus is simple and devastating entrance into the
kingdom is not based on the old covenant but on the spiritual
transformation of the New Covenant. Jer 33. Nicodemus is mystified
and he is thinking purely in the physical when he says must l have a
second birth like my first birth? Christ clears up the
misunderstanding of Nicodemus by saying that to enter the kingdom one
must have two births. The first is in water and it is of the flesh
but the new birth is of the Spirit of God. The wind blows wherever it
wants to and we hear the sound of it but we cannot tell where the
wind has come from or where it is going, it is like this when one is
born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said, how can these things
be? But this was not a question of enquiry but a statement of doubt
in the truth of Christ’s words. Christ answered him sharply Why do
you not know about this, you are a Master of Israel! Then he said I
am definitely, definitely telling you the truth, yet you do not
believe me. Then he went on to talk about the Serpent that was lifted
up in the days of Moses and those who looked on it lived, in the same
way the Son of Man will be lifted up and those who look on him will
not perish. Then we have that wonderful 25 words with Christ in the
centre. 12 words describe what God does for men and 12 words describe
how men are to respond. The promise of salvation is clear – eternal
life comes to those who believe and they will never perish. Then
Christ goes on to mention a few further points. First, Christ’s
mission was not a mission of judgment but of salvation and secondly
that those who do not believe (like Nicodemus) are under condemnation
already. So what is the basis of the condemnation of Men before God?
Christ the light of the world has come but men prefer darkness to the
light of Christ.
- What sort of person was Nicodemus?
- What main thing did Christ have to say to Nicodemus?
- What do you see in the rest of the passage that interests you?
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