Getting Closer to Jesus: Nicodemus was a very bright man. He had given himself to much study and he had grown quite famous as a teacher in Israel, but he had little wisdom as to how to be in right standing with God. He knew a lot about God, but he didn’t know God.
Nicodemus was rich. Tradition tells us that he was one of the three richest men in Jerusalem. But how much a person has does not change who they are! You can have plenty of money, a lot of fame, and an enviable place in life, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are still a sinner in need of a Savior!
Not only was he rich, but Nicodemus was also respected. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the prestigious ruling spiritual body of Israel. He was a rabbi. Jesus refers to him in verse 10 as “Israel’s teacher,” which suggests that he had attained celebrity as a master communicator. However, what you have achieved doesn’t change who you are before God. The truth is, hell will be populated with many admired people, because admiration, though not necessarily a bad thing, does not equal salvation!
Nicodemus was rich, respectable, and he was religious. He was a Pharisee! He kept the Mosaic Law down to its minutiae. He was morally pure to a degree that you and I can’t imagine! But religion doesn’t redeem the heart; religious ritual is not the same as right relationship with God. Titus 3:5 reminds us, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.”
Nicodemus was a person who did all the right spiritual things, spoke the right spiritual language, and gained everyone’s spiritual admiration, but he was still empty on the inside because he was still spiritually lost! That’s why Jesus said, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” He is simply saying that human beings must have two birthdays to get to heaven. We must have a physical birthday, and we must have a spiritual birthday.
Jesus uses the picture of physical birth to point out the need for spiritual birth because of the obvious comparisons. To begin with, physical birth provides life. All babies have life because they are born! Likewise, spiritual life cannot begin until spiritual birth occurs. Not only that, but physical birth also means a brand-new start. No baby is born with a past! They only have a future! So it is with the spiritual birth. When you get saved, you get a brand new start. Your past is wiped away and the future begins! That’s why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Most profoundly, physical birth takes place because of the suffering of another. A mother literally, through the pain of childbirth, comes close to death to bring life into this world. Jesus didn’t come close to death—he experienced death so that you and I might be born again. Spiritual birth rests squarely on not only the pain and suffering of another but also on the passion and love of another!
So, what does this mean? It means that salvation requires a new beginning. Not just a reformation of your flesh, but a rebirth from death to life. It means that someone else had to die so that you could be reborn. That is why you can’t do it on your own. It only comes through depending on the complete and adequate supply of God’s saving love through Christ’s passionate suffering for your eternal salvation. It means because of Christ’s adequacy, you can have a brand new beginning and an unending future with God.
As Jesus said to Nicodemus, he would say to you: “You must be born again!” Have you?
Take the Next Step: Although spiritual rebirth still might seem mysterious and inexplicable to you, it is clear from Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus that all human beings must be “born again” if they are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That includes you. The question of all questions is, “Have you?” If you haven’t, consider offering this heartfelt prayer of surrender: “Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. Please forgive me. I repent of my sins and turn to you. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the tomb to give me eternal life. Come into my life and be my Savior and Lord. And with your help, from this day forward, I will live for you.”
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