Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews, has come to see Jesus. VIP Nic has worked a backstage pass to grab some exclusive access to celebrity. To the One Who’s doing all these signs. That’s one thing that VIP’s do, don't they - they get exclusive access. And VIP Nic is so enamored with the signs (like everyone else). Signs you can see, with your physical eyes. All the neon lights. Focused on the external. Oh, these signs, Rabbi you are clearly from God, cuz you’re doing these signs. And Jesus is like, no, no, no. You’ve got it all wrong. You’re looking at it wrong, Nic. Message over miracles.
Today we come to Jesus’ first substantial section of teaching. He is going to lay out the Message in no uncertain terms. Truly, truly. 3x!!! Jesus drops a triple helping of doubly truly’s in the span of nine verses. Truly, truly. Let’s take a look…
[3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.”] Nic - you’re seeing these signs, and you think, surely the Kingdom of God is showing up in front of you. But this is not about the signs. The external. Nic, you’ve got the cart in front of the horse. Not that signs aren’t a part of God’s Kingdom, but that’s not what’s most important. Truly truly - I really mean what I’m about to say - IF you REALLY want to see and experience the Kingdom of God first hand, you MUST be born from above. You think you’re beginning to see the Kingdom in these signs - but the Kingdom of God actually begins with a SECOND birth.
Interestingly, the Greek word for ‘birth’ is “genesis”. It refers to lineage [Genealogy]. The Hebrew word for birth is ‘yalad’. Whereas the Hebrew word for the first book of the Bible is the first Hebrew word IN the Bible: bereshit, meaning “in the beginning”. The Greek word for beginning is arche. Archaelogy. But so in mentioning birth Jesus is referring to a beginning of LIFE, about lineage. Our ancestry. And He is saying that while people are born with a human/physical lineage, what we need if we want to see the kingdom of God, if we want to enter in to eternal life, is a spiritual lineage. We need this OTHER spiritual birth. A second beginning of life. Born from above.
[4 Nicodemus says to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”] And Nic says, wait. How is that possible? How is a second birth even possible for someone who is already living? And you can see, he is totally focused on the physical, on what he can see. The external. I’ve never seen one of these ‘births from above’. How is that even possible? A second birth is not physically possible. It’s not [“scientific”]… Nic makes this declarative truth statement, but in doing so he shows how narrow his thinking is [blinders][there is a whole other spiritual realm in play].
[5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.] Being born of water is the [earthly human birth] you’re familiar with. But Nic, you MUST be born from above if you want to see and experience the Kingdom of God. This second birth is not something physical - it’s spiritual. It originates in the spiritual heavenly realm. It is caused not by some human parents or some biological process, but by the Spirit of God [6]. This actually is NOT something external. This is about what God is doing in human hearts. A deep radical rebirth and transformation on the inside.
The problem, Nic, is people’s hearts - the spiritual part of them - are dead from birth. From the moment you were born physically - actually, the instant you were [conceived], that miraculous moment when the seed and the egg came together and your physical life began in your mother’s womb, your spirit was in a state of spiritual death, separation from God, due to the Fall. The disobedience of the First Parents: when they chose what they wanted over what God wanted, they died spiritually (even as their bodies began to die physically) - and all their offspring on down to you, Nic (and each one of us) are conceived and born with a spirit that is dead. Separated from God. Truly, truly. What needs to happen is a SPIRITUAL birth. A “second” birth. Jesus says, Nic, IF you truly want to see the kingdom of God, you need this second birth. You (and we all) need to be born again, born from above. By the Spirit.
[7-8 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”] I know this sounds amazing, hard to believe. But don’t be so focused on trying to fully explain everything in terms of what you can see [btw, wind=spirit in Greek, same word].
[9 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”] Nic is still stuck on the physical. How is any of this even possible? And he’s refusing to accept/trust something he can’t fully understand or explain.
[10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?] Is Jesus surprised here? Of course not. But Jesus says, this is Israel 101. Basic instruction for God’s people. To which, do we find teaching about a spiritual rebirth of the Spirit in the OT? Yes we do.
[Is. 44:3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants;][Ezek. 36:25-26 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.] [Jer. 31:33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.] These are God’s people. They need a change of heart on the inside, and this would be a work of His Spirit. But Israel was just so focused on the externals. On the do’s & don’ts of that First Covenant. Do this, don’t do that. And on circumcision. Get that little surgery & you’re good to go. But they & we need a different kind of surgery. Heavenly heart surgery. Israel is totally missing the truth that no one can ever make themselves clean enough to enter into God’s kingdom through the externals, through our own efforts. Their teachers, the Pharisees, are missing this big time. So focused on making the outside clean. Even Nicodemus. Jesus is saying, truly, truly - this is a work that only My Spirit can do, on the inside, in your heart. Only He can fire up this eternal life in your heart.
[11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and witness of what we have seen, and you all do not accept our witness.”] Jesus uses plural in just verse. Is Jesus including JTW? The word ‘witness’ was used 7 times in ch 1 for what JTW was doing. Witnessing, testifying. And the Pharisees came to him too, questioning him - are you the One? The One who is going to usher in God’s Kingdom? I.e. a [physical] political change of power? Totally focused on the the temporal. But what did John testify? Same thing - you all need a change of heart. It’s about what’s going on on the inside. And remember what John said: I’ve seen the One Who is going to make this happen [1.34].
And so here Jesus is saying, John and I both are speaking about what we’ve seen, we are both telling you what we know to be true, and you all are not receiving/trusting our Message. Message over miracles. And you are not believing. Altho, for those who insist on a sign, how about a resurrection…? [2.19][Mt 16.4] That's all the sign anyone should need in order to believe...
Matt. 16:4 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah."
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