John 3:9-15

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/Nicodemus_Visits_Jesus_at_Night.htm

Confusion is one of Satan’s favorite tools.  We live in a physical world, have physical bodies and feel our physical needs in a very acute way.  It is easy for us to relate to that which is physical.  However, we are also spiritual beings.  There is a spiritual world with which we also interact, by which we are influenced and in which we relate with God.  The spiritual world is every bit as real as the physical world but it doesn’t feel that way to us.  We are confused by that which is spiritual.  We have a hard time understanding and explaining the spiritual because we cannot touch it or see it.  The spiritual world requires faith but we are much more comfortable with what we call fact.  As Jesus continues His conversation with Nicodemus we can see how Jesus deals with his confusion and begins to reveal the essential truths that we must all understand in order to enter into a right relationship with God. 

JESUS REBUKES NICODEMUS’S IGNORANCE: Nicodemus is confused by the teachings of Jesus about the second birth a spiritual birth because he thinks that as a Jewish religious leader he already has everything that he needs.  As a Jew he simply assumes that he is just fine in his relationship with God and must have thought that Jesus would give him reassurance.  Instead Jesus is telling him that he is spiritually dead.  The basic problem with the Jewish leaders and the people in general was that they thought that they were ready to reign right now.  They had been promised a physical kingdom.  They wanted a physical kingdom.  They expected Messiah to usher in a physical kingdom.  However, the Old Testament was very clear that Messiah would be a Savior from sin through his suffering.  The entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament was designed to teach the people about the penalty of sin being death and the need for atonement by blood.  Jesus rebukes Nicodemus because as a religious leader of the Jews he seems to be completely ignorant of these basic truths from the Scriptures.  Jesus had come to reveal God to man and reconcile man to God.  Unfortunately, Nicodemus and the majority of the rest of the people thought that they already knew God and had no need of reconciliation.  Jesus makes it clear that He is an eyewitness of these spiritual truths and has all authority to reveal them to others.  However, Nicodemus was not able to understand even the basics of these truths because he was so attuned to the physical that he was ignorant of and confused by the spiritual.  This confusion and ignorance is a danger that every person on earth faces.

JESUS REVEALS HIS OWN IDENTITY: Jesus now seeks to help Nicodemus understand just exactly who He is and what He had come to do.  Jesus claimed to be an eye witness of spiritual things and then he states that no one had ever ascended into heaven accept Himself who had come down to earth from heaven.  Jesus wants to make it perfectly clear to Nicodemus and to us that He is the Son of Man.  Nicodemus would understand that this was a clear claim that He was the Messiah.  There are two basic truths that any man must believe in order to be reconciled to God.  The first is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who became a man.  Nobody who believes that Jesus was just a great man and great teacher who had an impact on the world through His teachings can be saved.  Having clearly established His claim to be Messiah, Jesus now strives to make Nicodemus understand the second truth that is vital to salvation.  Jesus goes back to the story of the children of Israel being healed from snake bites by looking up at a model of the snakes that Moses put up on a pole.  He then reveals that in order for salvation to take place; He, the Messiah, would need to be lifted up just like that snake.  He was referring to His own crucifixion and wants to make sure that there is no mistake about the fact that Messiah had come to save them from sin not reign as king.  Simply put, the second truth that is vital to salvation is that Jesus died to pay the price for our sin.  Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that His death of the cross is the only means we have for forgiveness of sin will be given eternal life.  This physical world and or physical bodies are passing away.  The spiritual world about which Jesus is teaching us is eternal.  We must not allow our confusion over that which is spiritual trick us into valuing that which is passing away over that which is eternal.

APPLICATION: Recognize our limitations in understanding that which is spiritual but don’t allow our lack of understanding to cause us to focus on that which is physical.  Our sin must be dealt with in order for us to be in a right relationship with God and the only way for that to happen is by faith in who Jesus is (God) and what Jesus has done (died in our place).  Don’t allow the physical to be more important than the eternal.