Last time we saw Jesus gather His first five disciples, change water into wine, and cleanse the temple of ungodly practices (See Jesus Gathers Disciples, Performs a Miracle, and Cleans House).
One night, while Jesus was still in Jerusalem, a nighttime meeting was arranged between Jesus and a leader of the Pharisees – by the name of Nicodemus. We can conjecture that Nicodemus wanted the meeting to be clandestine…
Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (member of the Sanhedrin) among the Jews, who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), we know [without any doubt] that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs [these wonders, these attesting miracles] that You do unless God is with him.” Jn. 3:1, 2. AMP
Nicodemus is approaching Jesus with a seed of faith! Note too that Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling rabbinical body, in the upper echelon. Somone highly regarded.
(The Pharisees were a Jewish sect that existed from (536 B.C. – 70 A.D. Afterwards, they regrouped as teachers of Rabbinic Judaism, whose teachings form the foundation of modern-day Jewish theology. The problem was that they believed the Mosaic laws required continual updating, supposedly through divine revelation. Thus, these modified laws were passed down and altered by the next modifier. God told us not to add or subtract to His word.[1])
Thus, Nicodemus would have been highly trained in Jewish law and theology.
Well, Jesus immediately throws Nicodemus a curve ball. I love to see how He gets people’s attention: (Also note: this is Christ’s first ministerial teaching.)
Jesus answered him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.” Jn. 3:3 AMP
Whoa! Nicodemus missed the point entirely. He asks Jesus how someone could crawl back into their mother’s womb to be born again.
Jesus chips away at his misunderstanding with a repeating emphasis:
“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I have told you, ‘You must be born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].’ Jn. 3:5 – 7. AMP
Christ’s reference to ‘water’ cannot be talking about water baptism, because that would hold no meaning for Nicodemus in this space of time. Jesus must be alluding to the cleansing of the Spirit.[2]
Because the Spirit is physically intangible, Jesus helps Nicodemus with an analogy:
The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Jn. 3:8 AMP
(Our spirit and flesh are separate from each other. The flesh houses no spirit, yet it is animated by it. It is our very own piece of God. When we are born of the Spirit, it changes us inwardly, from sinfulness to holiness, so that we can enter the presence of God.)
Jesus is telling Nicodemus that the only way to salvation is not by being in high standing in government, society, religions, or by race or riches or by doing good deeds.
Nicodemus is struggling:
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be possible?” Jn. 3:9 AMP
Jesus renders a poignant answer to this ‘Teacher’:
“You are the [great and well-known] teacher of Israel, and yet you do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]? I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things [that is, things that happen right here on earth] and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I tell you heavenly things? Jn. 3:9 – 12. AMP
Jesus acknowledges Nicodemus’ struggle. He offers His bona fides:
No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself—whose home is in heaven]. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], 15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life [after physical death, and will actually live forever]. Jn. 13 – 15. AMP
Christ is revealing to Nicodemus that He came from heaven, so that He is an authority about it. He refers to Moses lifting a bronze serpent for those who were bitten by serpents for their sin,[3] that when they looked at it, that one sin was forgiven as analogous to Jesus at His crucifixion, where salvation is offered to those who look upon and accept Him as Savior for all sins.
Jesus continues and paints the BIG picture for him:
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. Jn. 3:16, 17. AMP
Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation];” Jn. 3:18a. AMP
Accepting Christ as our savior liberates us from sin and condemnation, now and forever, if we try our best to align with His dictates and repent when we don’t.
However, things don’t bode well for those who reject Him:
“ …but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].” Jn. 3:18b AMP
This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned. Jn. 3:19, 20. AMP
Again, it doesn’t have to be this way:
But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally, ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].” Jn. 3:21 AMP
Christ always has an extended hand.
We are not told of any of Nicodemus’ responses to Jesus’ revelations…
Lastly, I want to segue for a moment. We learned about the cleansing water of the Spirit. But I’d like to touch upon ‘water baptism’ because that has become our public confession in the Christian faith, and we base it upon this Scripture:
“Therefore, the one who confesses and acknowledges Me before men [as Lord and Savior, affirming a state of oneness with Me], that one I will also confess and acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven.” Mt. 10:32 AMP
It is also a way that we can potentially help bring others to the kingdom – through our example of faith. Without faith, water baptism would be worthless. Water is only water. It is the connection of the word of God to the water, with faith, that fulfills our requirement.
What it is not, is the way to salvation. It is a declaration of the believer of his or her faith in their salvation, by the Holy Spirit sent by Christ.
Water baptism is a metaphorical demonstration of you being re-birthed as a newly cleansed child of God. Freed from the penalty you rightly deserved for your old worldly behavior, which is now removed by you receiving divine forgiveness.
During the baptism, you are confirming that your old worldly self has been buried (symbolized by the immersion process), and that you have been resurrected cleansed from sin (represented by rising out ot the water).
We must die to the life we lived and the meanings we brought to it, to be able to live a new life – one that is revealed in the word of God. Water baptism begins with the repentance of the actions of your flesh and ends with your declaration of your faith in the Godhead.
True Salvation comes (your having been made righteous from the cleansing blood of Christ), comes when you ask Jehovah for Spiritual rebirth by petitioning Him to fill you with the Holy Spirit.
Only then do you become related to God in the most intimate way, becoming His child for all eternity if you continue to do your best to live a godly life and repent when you don’t. Jesus will always be by your side.
Next time, we will learn about the living waters!
Goodnight and God Bless.
[1] Dt. 4:2
[2] Ezk. 36:25 – 27.
[3] Nm. 21:4- 9.
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