Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light have come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
As always, a small area of Scripture has a goldmine of wisdom. Start with the first 2 verses. Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees on the Jewish council, which can also be read as "People who want Jesus gone." Today there are a lot of people like the Pharisees, people who do not want to even hear Jesus name, and who just want to follow the rules set up by modern culture. But there are those among this group who are curious. People like Nicodemus, people who risk a lot of what they hold dear to find out who Jesus is. Nicodemus could have lost everything he had worked for if the Pharisees knew he was asking Jesus about his teachings. Why else would he go out at night? There are people in our lives who risk what they have, small or big, to ask questions about God. We can not turn an opportunity like that down. Even if it means we end up late for something. What is a few minutes, or even a day, if it means being used by God to give someone an Eternity?
The next vein of mine of wisdom is in verses 3-15. Again Jesus does not talk straight to Nicodemus so that He can show Nicodemus true faith and wisdom, that He is the Son of Man and of God, and most of all, to Glorify God through His words. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again by the Spirit. When Nicodemus did not understand, Jesus used the wind as an example. Jesus says you can hear it, but you do not know where it came from or where it is going. When Nicodemus still did not understand, Jesus let loose with a lecture. Jesus said that if a teacher could not understand earthly examples, how could he understand heavenly ones? Jesus tells him, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." This can also mean, just like Moses lifted up the snake for all to see, Jesus offered His words and body to all so that all believers may have Eternal life. People must believe in the words of the Son of Man. We can hear God but we do not know where He came from or where He is going. Even if we do not know certain things about God, we can still hear Him and know He is there. If we choose to focus on what we do not know, we miss what we do know. And as a result, we create doubt and end up fooling ourselves into thinking that we know everything. This causes us to lose any faith that we once had. But if we focus what we do know, we learn more about it and find new things we didn't even think could be there. The wind is a perfect example of this. If we only focus on where the wind comes from and it is going, we miss feeling the wind and hearing it. We won't see how it blows through fields and trees, or how it carries things through the air. We will forget what the wind is and what made it so special to begin with. In the same way we must focus on what we do know of God and what we can hear. That Jesus is the Son of God and the way to Eternal life.
The last six verses that end Jesus conversation with Nicodemus are a perfect example of what could be missed by focusing on useless questions. The truth that God loved the world so much, that He sent His only Son to save it. Jesus is the wind. We know His words, His words that save us from condemnation, and that bring Eternal life. In order to accept that life we must come into the light and let our evil deeds be exposed. We must lay all of our sins before Jesus, and repent for our wrongs. And in the light, we must change out actions and live by the truth that is found within the light. By doing those actions in the light, it is revealed to God and to others that what we do is done through God. But we must not forget the people who choose to live in darkness. We must pray that they come into the light, and experience what Nicodemus, and all the rest of us, have experienced.
We must have faith in what we know of God, and do our best to obey Him and show that God is working through us. Always pray for those who do not know God or who focus on the wrong things. We must not waste any opportunities to tell someone about God. And we must not get wrapped up in needless questions that can make doubts. Let us focus instead on living by the Truth and loving God.
Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen
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