John 3
Rebecca Lightfoot
N chapter 3 of John, an intelligent and influential member of the community comes to Jesus under the cover of dark.Nicodemus has seen the miracles that Jesus performed,& what he witnessed has convinced him that Jesus is from God(John3:2).Nicodemus has become a “believer” that Jesus is from God,but he hasn’t settled what this should mean for his life!Jesus knows the question(s) that have compelled Nicodemus to seek Him out this night,so Jesus goes right to the heart of why Nicodemus has come!N verse 3 Jesus “declared,’I tell you the truth,no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’.”Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus is talking about,with the “born again” statement! This is the intersection of faith that Satan creates traffic snares and misdirections that take us away from the realities of our being body AND spirit,and the realities of our being created to be ETERNAL!In Jesus declaration,He is reminding Nicodemus of what he should be aware of since he is a leader in the Jewish/religious community!As a Jewish Leader, Nicodemus knew what had been written by Moses,David,& the Old Testament Prophets!And he knew the evidences of our being body AND spirit spoken of/witnessed to throughout the Scriptures!Nicodemus knew Proverbs21:16 that says,”A man that strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead.”And he knew Proverbs2:1-5that says,”If you accept my words(God’s Word revealed through The Bible&through the Birth/Life/Ministry/Suffering/Death/Resurrection/Ascension of Christ),& store up my commands w/in you,turning your ear to wisdom & applying your heart to understanding...,then u will understand the fear of(reverence)of the Lord & find knowledge of God(God’s Grace&Mercy).He would also have known the ending verses of this Proverb that have God telling of the contrasting lives between those that do not “turn their ear to wisdom”, nor “apply their hearts to understanding”...& those that do!Verse 18 says that those who do not “turn & apply” will follow a life path that leads to spiritual death!Whereas verse 20-21 says that those that “walk n the ways of good men(the faithful examples n the Bible)& keep to the paths of the righteous(made righteous by their FAITHFULNESS n The Lord)...these will “live in the land...&remain in it”(Spiritually Alive forever!).Nicodemus should also have known what The Old Testament says about resurrection of our bodies to be united with our spirit(Isaiah26:19 “But your dead will live;their bodies will rise.You who dwell in the dust,wake up and shout for joy.Your dew is like the dew of the morning;the earth will give birth to her dead.”)The fact is that Nicodemus should have known what Jesus was taking about,if he had sought to know true history,& God’s Word revealed through the lives of the faithful that had lived before him!He would’ve known that we are made spiritually dead by sin,and the only way to spiritual life is through our trust n God’s revealed Mercy&Grace...prophesied through the Scriptures & fulfilled/revealed through Christ!When Jesus says,”unless he is born of the water & the Spirit”,Jesus is saying that all who are born(birth mother’s water breaks as we are born),must turn to Christ with their hearts/minds/lives n order to be counted as those who r Spiritually Alive...ultimate being reunited as Body&Spirit when Jesus returns to set up The Kingdom of Heaven on the New Earth!Dear Lord,as n the life of Nicodemus,these TRUTHS do not effect/impact my heart/mind/life as they should! May Your Word & Spirit b “made alive” n my life...so I will have the Peace&Joy throughout all of life’s ups & downs...& remain one of “The Faithful”!