Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
One of the first conversations I reveal to you at length was the conversation Jesus had with the Pharisee Nicodemus, who later openly committed to being a follower of Jesus, by joining with Joseph of Arimathea in taking Jesus down from the cross in reverent awe of complete commitment to the cause of Christ. His heart was attracted to Jesus from the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, but Nicodemus at first did not stand up to the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah by his fellow Pharisees, so he came to have a conversation with Jesus under the cover of night.
No matter how you come to Jesus once you have opened conversation in sincere seeking of the truth, in that conversation I can shine the light of revelation into your heart and show you My Salvation (Yeshuah, the name of Jesus in Hebrew literally means “Salvation.”).
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6.
And when you believe in the gospel of your salvation, I seal you in Him by the anointing of the Holy Spirit as a pledge of your inheritance and mark you as Mine forever so that you possess eternal life and the promise of the redemption of your mortal bodies to glorified immortal bodies to clothe your spirit and soul is yours forever.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14.
But let us begin the life changing and life-giving conversation of Jesus and Nicodemus and therein you will find the answers that you too, like Nicodemus, have been looking. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus you will also find one of the most familiar passages of the Bible, John 3:16.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:1-3.
Nicodemus opened the conversation respectfully, acknowledging Jesus as “Rabbi,” which means “My teacher,” in the sense of a master who has accumulated a great degree of knowledge regarding My written Word. He referred to Jesus as someone he desired to learn from. This was humble on his part, for he was a Pharisee and a ruler of the people. Pharisees were teachers and leaders of Israel, known to be experts in the Law of Moses. He was not only a Pharisee but had risen to being a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the supreme court of Israel at that time, It was made up of 70 men and the high priest based on the commandment I gave to Moses when he needed help judging and governing the numerous people of Israel as they crossed the wilderness to the land I had promised Abraham by covenant oath.
The LORD therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.” Numbers 11:16-17.
Nicodemus, however, stated as his belief what the majority of the members of the Sanhedrin did not, that he recognized Jesus as a teacher come from Me. And he based his confidence on the signs Jesus was performing, which were primarily the healing of impossible cases such as the blind, the deaf, and crippled. All of which were foretold as signs of the Messiah by My prophet Isaiah. Nicodemus knew these prophecies well.
Jesus did not stop to inquire from Nicodemus his reason for coming, He knew that Nicodemus had come looking for the way to know Me. And when YOU come to Jesus, He knows just what is in your heart as well and will answer all your needs according to My riches in glory.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.
Nicodemus saw the works Jesus did and believed those could only be done by someone who knew Me and with whom I was present. Nicodemus wanted to know how he could also be a teacher like Jesus and do the works He did. And, as you know from Jesus’ conversation with His disciples at the Last Supper, that is what Jesus wants you to do as well, the works He did and even greater works, as His body, the Church, on earth.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 14:11-17.
So Jesus told Nicodemus, ““Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.” That totally confused Nicodemus. It was not the answer he expected. It sounded wonderful to start over but impossible to do.
Nicodemus said 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?” John 3:4.
Nicodemus had a mind, at that point, set on the flesh and was speaking of physical birth. And it is true, you cannot go back and be born again physically once you have been born. You only have one life to live. You are unique and remain the YOU that YOU are forever. There is no one else like you.
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. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again from above.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:5-8.
Jesus introduced the foundation of salvation first to Nicodemus of all the people in the Bible. This speaks highly of the understanding and the openness of the heart of Nicodemus.
You may want to note that before His death and resurrection, besides His disciples, the two people with whom Jesus shared concepts of the work of the Spirit in a believer were Nicodemus and the Samaritan women at the well. Two very different people with very different education and backgrounds, but both with thirsty open hearts looking for more than the level where they were. Both were looking for the Messiah, who would tell them everything.
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming; when that One comes, He will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” John 4:25-26.
And they both found the Messiah they were seeking in Jesus.
With Nicodemus, Jesus is talking about a concept that is still not totally understood. When I created man and woman in My image and according to My likeness I was the source from which they came into being. They drew their life, breath, and being out of Me. Adam (the word “adam” in Hebrew means mankind, red blooded mankind, including both the male and the female) was born by My Word spoken in truth and became the masterpiece, the crown so to speak, of My creation. I clothed him in My own splendor, majesty, and glory. He was born from above.
But when he rejected My Word, which was His birthright, and submitted his life to a lie, which is perishable and corrupt, he was born again by the seed of a lie and was adopted legally into a different lineage than Mine. He became a child of the devil and the devil became the master he served. He abdicated his throne of dominion of the earth to Satan and served a lie. His spirit was dead to Me and alive to sin. He did not repent.
The devil tried this same lie with Jesus, offering Him all the kingdoms of the world without going through the Cross if Jesus would simply reject Me and worship Satan. Jesus refused answering with the truth of My Word. Adam failed submitting to the lie. And thus dath came into the world.
And since all are born according to the citizenship and nationality of their parent, so all of you were born of Adam’s corrupted perishable seed, with all its defects and death, and thus began the transformation of man from incorruptible seed of truth to the corruptible seed of lies. The wages of sin, which is the lawlessness of lies, is death. Lies perish, they are never eternal. Never base your life on a lie. You will perish with it.
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” John 8:43-45.
My people perish for lack of knowledge of My Word and that is why the devil tries to grab it out of every heart or choke it off with worries and lusts before it produces a harvest. If you answer his lies with the truth of My Word you tread him down and he must flee from you.
But Adam’s sin was not the end of mankind’s relationship with Me. I did not make you in My image as My family to lose you to the devil who I created a perfect cherub to serve man who had given himself over to unrighteousness, had given into jealousy of man and violence against serving him and had left My service to set up his own realm in the outer darkness of the continuum of life. Ezekiel 28:11-19; Isaiah 14:12-21.
Adam had murdered the eternal life I had put in him and My standard of justice is a life for a life, but no descendant of Adam born from below had an eternal life to give, for the seed of Adam was perishable.
And He saw that there was no man and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head. Isaiah 59:16-17.
Hence came My plan of another man born from above of the imperishable seed of My Word would come into the world to redeem you from the curse of the law of sin and death. He would have an eternal life in the flesh to give for the one Adam destroyed. And just as I had pulled the bride out of the bridegroom in Adam to form Eve, the female out of the male, I pulled the male out of the female so that Adam’s seed was not involved. My Word made flesh to dwell among you as one like you in all things but sin.
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:14-15.
The Word took flesh, born free of Adam’s sin. No one since Adam had been so.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. . . Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:5-10.
In Jesus, I have answered David’s prayer in Psalm 51. I have cleansed you of all sins and created a clean heart, a new spirit in you in Jesus. How did I do that? He, being free of any sin, became the sinless sacrifice and offered His eternal life in the flesh for the one Adam had destroyed for all of you, thus redeeming you from the curse of the law of sin and death. He released you from sin by His blood, for the life of the flesh is in the blood and it makes atonement upon the altar.
And with your sins gone, you can be born again from above by the imperishable seed of My Word spoken in truth when you believe in your heart I raised Jesus from the dead, from the pit of hell, with all your sins gone, divine justice satisfied on your behalf, and born again from above by the water of the Word and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:3-7.
You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the Word which was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:23-25.
And that is what happens when by faith in Jesus, who is My Word made flesh, you become My child by being born again from above. You can go through the birth canal of the Word at any age, from the youngest to the oldest, from the least to the greatest. Jesus died once for ALL. No one who comes will He ever reject.
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:11-14.
When you take Jesus as your Lord and are born again from above by receiving the implanted Word of truth, you now have eternal life because the seed in you by which you are birthed anew is truth and is incorruptible. Your spirit is now alive to Me and dead to sin. You are a new creation in Christ. In your spirit you are living and are no longer dead to Me. It is like sin had never been in your life. Jesus came to undo the works of the devil. And your resurrected spirit is seated with Christ at My right hand although you are still in your body upon the earth. But now you have access to Me and My Kingdom in your spirit. And that is why Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again from above to enter or ever see the Kingdom. I am Spirit and those who worship Me must worship in spirit and in truth. Just as Jesus shared in His conversation with the woman at the well.
This is the good news of your salvation. And once you have it, like the Samaritan woman, you want to share it.
But Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was telling him. It would become clearer after Jesus was pierced through for your sins, died upon the Cross, and was raised up on the third day to fulfill the Scriptures. And when Pentecost was fulfilled there came a revelation that would just keep growing among the believers until a massive movement began sweeping across Israel out to the ends of the earth as I showed the world My salvation, My Yeshuah.
The LORD has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation (Yeshuah) of our God. Isaiah 52:10.
Jesus is the arm by which I reach down to you. To whom has My arm been revealed? Isaiah 53:1.
Nicodemus wanted to know more but right then it was beyond what his heart could grasp, and yet he was teaching My Word to My people. Jesus challenged him to go deeper, to lift up his eyes and see. He like the Sadducees and scribes did not understand Scripture or My power.
But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Matthew 22:29.
So Jesus brought Nicodemus to the Old Testament types and shadows of which He Himself was the substance.
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. John 3:9-15.
Jesus is referring to Scriptures and the Torah that Nicodemus would know. First Proverbs:
Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name or His Son’s Name? Surely you know! Proverbs 30:4.
And if you recall, after the Israelites I redeemed out of the slavery of Egypt refused to enter the land I had promised them by covenant oath to Abraham and were out again in the wilderness, they complained and grumbled against the Manna and called it miserable and wretched food. That let their hedge of protection down and the enemy rushed in. Do not go after the bread of life, it is a gift beyond all you can ask or imagine, and the Manna was a type and shadow of the real Heavenly Bread that is Jesus. The people repented and I told Moses the solution, which is the type and shadow of the accounting of all your sins to Jesus and Him taking the punishment for them on the Cross, so that all who behold and believe are saved. I directed Moses that he make a bronze serpent (bronze is the metal of judgment and the serpent signifies the devil, that ancient serpent who began the descent of man into sin with his own sin) and mount it on a pole (signifying the Cross) that when the people gazed upon the serpent on the cross all the poison of the snake bites was pulled out of them and they were healed. Numbers 21:6-9.
And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:9.
Jesus then told Nicodemus the truth of who He is clearly and plainly. And this Scripture has gone around the world and become a banner to many. But what many do not realize is that it was spoken by Jesus in a conversation with a Pharisee and a ruler telling him how to know Me and become a true teacher of the Word to the people. He was answering the questions of a man who knew the Word but did not really know it at all because he had missed that I am love, that I win the world by love. He did not know Me that way.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:16-21.
Nicodemus had just heard some of the most beautiful words to a weary soul that could ever be heard. And here I will pull in a couple of other conversations of Jesus that we will discuss in another Life Lesson. Nicodemus now knew the answer to the question later asked by another member of the Sanhedrin, the rich young ruler, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Mark 10:17. Believe in My Son.
And another question asked by the Jewish people who experienced the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish.
Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:28-29.
Many a prophet and many a priest and king had longed to hear these words of the simplicity of salvation unto eternal life that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus but did not. And now there was before Nicodemus the Savior of the world. He had the answer he was seeking when he came to question Jesus if He had come from Me. Jesus was the Messiah sent by Me, the One true God, to save not only the Jewish people but the whole world. But even more, He was My Son. For Nicodemus, he now had the answer to the question posed in Proverbs 30:4, he now knew My Son’s Name. Yeshuah, Salvation.
The Pharisees were judges regarding the keeping My Laws but they strained out the gnat and swallowed the camel.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Matthew 23:23-24.
They forgot that I AM “ compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” Psalm 103:8. That it is mercy I desire. But Jesus was reminding him that I so loved the world that I had a remedy for sin and the assurance of eternal life and it was all wrapped up in My Son in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Yes, Nicodemus had come to Jesus to find some things out and he left knowing the secret of Salvation. And Nicodemus did come to be a follower of My Son, but it took him until he saw Jesus upon the cross quoting Psalm 22. Search the Scriptures and you find eternal life and it is in My Son.
I love you. There is so much you can learn from the conversations of Jesus. And He is in you now, your hope of glory. He is knocking at the door of your heart, and if you hear His voice and open the door, He will come in to fellowship with you and you with Him. Just like the Road to Emmaus.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20.