Nick At Night Part II

"Nicodemus answered and said to Him, 'How can these things be?' 10 Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen; and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who 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 whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.'"
John 3:9-17

After telling Nicodemus that he must be born again, Nicodemus asks Jesus how a man can be born a second time, and asks Him how a man can enter his mother's womb a second time and be born. Jesus tells Nicodemus that this "second birth" is not of flesh but of the Spirit. It is our spirit that is reborn. The term "born again" is precisely this: a person is born once, physically when they are born out of their mother's womb. We are "born again" when our spirit is reborn through the Holy Spirit, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God. Nicodemus was still thinking in terms of the physical, and did not seem to comprehend it (but eventually he does...gives ME hope...), as you can tell by the questions he asks. But I still commend him for asking the questions. Jesus replies to Nicodemus, and I will put this in my vernacular, "Man, you are a teacher of religion at the University of Israel, and you don't understand these things?" And then in today's passage, when Nick asks Jesus "How can these things be?" in other words, "How is this possible?" Jesus says, "Man I am standing right in front of you and telling you the truth...but if I tell you things about the physical world and you don't believe, how are you going to believe if I tell you things of heaven, spiritual things?" And Jesus tells Nicodemus of His crucifixion, His death, and His resurrection. That is what that reference to Moses lifting up the serpent is.

In the book of Numbers, in chapter 21, we find the story of the people of Israel on their way to the Promised Land. They are being led by Moses. And they are going around the land of Edom, since the king would not let them pass through. But on that long journey, they begin to murmur and complain against God, and against Moses. This could be interpreted, that they began to complain about Moses, and in so doing, were complaining against God. "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt? To let us die? There is no food nor bread, and we can't stand this worthless bread." They were speaking of the manna that the Lord miraculously supplied to them from heaven every day. So God caused serpents to come among them and bite them and they would die. But God told Moses to make a serpent and put it on a pole, and whoever looks upon it will live. It is a picture of the crucifixion of Christ. Nicodemus understood the picture. He was a religious teacher of the land.

Beloved, as we go through this day, let us look upon the One who was raised up so that we may look upon Him and live! Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross for your sins and for my sins; for the sins of the world. Don't let the minor things that bite and snap at our heals discourage us and get us down. Jesus says that whoever...doesn't matter who you are or what you have done, or where you have been, if you look upon Him, and believes in Him, you will not perish eternally, but will have eternal life. Because God didn't send Jesus here to condemn the world. But that the world through Him would be saved. Jesus came to save us. We cannot save ourselves. Oprah cannot save us. Only Jesus can save us. Jesus is the way to heaven. Nicodemus came to Jesus to find out for himself how he could inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus told him to believe in Him, to believe in the work that He would be doing on the cross: healing those bitten by sin and this world. Shalom.