Last week, in JESUS AND NICODEMUS, Part 2, we saw that there is more than one level to life. The physical, which we barely understand, and the spiritual, which we don’t understand at all. And we can’t understand it unless we are born again of the Spirit of God. We also saw that there are huge benefits to being born of the Spirit, for when we are born of the Spirit, we are open to the leading of God’s Spirit and thus, we are always WHERE we need to be, WHEN we need to be there! There is ALWAYS a purpose AT the moment, IN the moment!
Who could ask for anything better?
But how can we achieve such an ideal?
Jesus doesn’t leave Nicodemus in the dark. First He establishes that nobody can achieve this status without help, and the only one who can help is the Son of God: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:13-15 NKJV)
And that just about sums it up, friends! Just like nothing earthly could save Israel of old from the poisonous snakes of the wilderness, (see Numbers 21:4-7) nothing can save us from our dire, human, sinful state. And just like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness for the salvation of the Israelites who had been bitten by the poisonous serpents (See Numbers 21:7-9), Jesus would be “lifted up”, and any who believe in Him will not perish.
This, then, is the first step! Being born of the Spirit isn’t something we can just “choose” to do! The first step to being born of the Spirit is to accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, to believe in His power of Salvation, to give our hearts totally and completely to Him!
It is said that when God repeats Himself, He is really serious. And Jesus doesn’t leave it here. He goes on to repeat Himself three more times: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-19 NKJV)
But wait a minute. Isn’t that one of the most quoted verses in the Bible? John 3:16? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”?
We do right to quote this verse as often as we do. But perhaps it would have even more power if we quoted it in context! If we included verses 15, 17 and 18! If we realized how serious God is about this, serious enough to repeat Himself FOUR times in as many consecutive verses!
Friends, God is serious about Salvation! His love for us transcended any we’ve ever known or imagined! His love for us reaches out so that WE WILL NOT PERISH! WE ARE NOT CONDEMNED! THAT THE WORLD MIGHT BE SAVED!
Do you still doubt His love for you? If so, just keep rereading these four verses until they are part of your spirit! God loves YOU! God sent His own Son so that YOU are not condemned, so that YOU will not die the death you deserve, so that the WORLD might be saved!
But wait a minute. Weren’t we talking about rebirth here? Has Jesus just taken Nicodemus on a major “U-Turn”? Changed the topic? Distracted him from the subject at hand? Don’t we use this strategy often to divert the conversation from things we don’t have the answer to? Is Jesus simply enticing Nicodemus with pretty words and alluring promises?
No, friends, what Jesus is doing here is simply establishing the door for the spiritual rebirth process! The key for being born of the Spirit lies in the cross. Just like the serpent in the wilderness, Jesus was raised up on that cross. And just like any Israelite who raised their eyes up to that upraised serpent, anyone who believes in the cross, in the power of God to save us from our sin and to re-establish the communication lost at Eden, is NO LONGER CONDEMNED! And, that same cross opens the door for the spiritual rebirth, being born again of the Spirit of God!
Wait a minute. Refresh my memory: Why is this spiritual rebirth so enticing?
Because it re-establishes the spiritual level lost at Eden. It puts our spirit in touch with God’s Spirit, and if we allow His Spirit to guide ours, He will give us purpose in everything we do. We will ALWAYS be where we need to be, IN the moment, AT the moment. Every moment of every day will exude our “raison d’être”, our reason to be!
But just in case this isn’t reason enough to desire the spiritual rebirth, Jesus doesn’t end the discourse here. He goes on to remind Nicodemus of what will happen if we DON’T choose the door He opened for us . . . Please join us next week for JESUS AND NICODEMUS, Part 4: He who DOESN’T Believe . . .
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Mother of two teens, Speech-Language Pathologist, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.
(To access the entire “Jesus and Nicodemus: A Study on Rebirth” mini-series, please click here.)