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John 3:7-8 - Lesson #25 |
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| In the last few lessons we've looked at the initial discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus - a leader of the Jews, a teacher and devout follower of Jewish law. Jesus told Nicodemus that if he wanted to enter the kingdom of God he could not remain as he was - he must be "born again." Jesus continued by explaining this new birth, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). |
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| Peter writes about being born again as being born "not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Peter 1:23). Peter then quotes from Isaiah 40 in explaining why this incorruptible new birth in necessary: "because 'All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls away'" (1 Peter 1:24). All the wonderful thing we do can perhaps make the field look pretty for a season, but in the end it all withers and falls away. |
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| John 3:7-8 |
| "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." |
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| Nicodemus had a difficult time understanding that someone in his position - with all the "correct" things he had done - could not enter the kingdom of Heaven. Paul said, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). A Christian cannot be made with human hands nor legislated by human degrees. A Christian is only one who is born of the Spirit as a new creation. The failure to understand these few passages has been a plague on the Church for nearly two thousand years. |
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| At the beginning of the fourth century, the Emperor Diocletian sponsored some of the worst persecutions of Christians of all time. A few years later Constantine became Emperor and professed faith in Christ. In 324 he made Christianity a legal and favored religion. What began was the disastrous merger of church and state. By 380 the Emperor Theodosius made belief in Christ an imperial command - everyone must believe. |
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| Throughout Church history, whole nations have been "declared" Christian on the way to Heaven, while other nations declared non-Christian on the way to hell. Empires have gone to war in an effort to "make" Christians, "Become a Christian or die!" Then during the Reformation of the 1500's professing Christians put other professing Christians to death because of their definition of Christianity. Our history is very sad! |
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| Jesus said very simply, you must be born again - a Spiritual birth by the work of the Spirit. He then says we will never fully understand how this process works, and we can certainly never recreate the process with our own effort. We may see the effect of a Spiritual birth, but, just as we cannot tell where the wind comes from or where it goes, we will never be able to fully understand the Spiritual birth. We cannot control the wind nor the working of the Spirit; and yet, we CAN believe, receive, and be eternally thankful! |
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| Steve Troxel |
| God's Daily Word Ministries |
