Nicodemus said to Him,
"How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him,
"Are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things? If I told you
earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you
heavenly things?" (John 3:9,10)
Nicodemus was clueless, and being a teacher, he was
without excuse. His understanding of God was superficial and religious; so
when Jesus came on the scene, he and his fellow leaders were baffled
and troubled. They were no more prepared for the coming of
the King than the ancient world was for the Great Flood. They had
detached themselves from the Word of God, and those without the Word in their
hearts will never recognize the Word in flesh.
We will surely remain immature if
we insist God do things the way we expect. The lost sheep of
Israel remained lost even though the Good Shepherd had come, because He didn't
fit their mold of the Messiah. We, too, are confused and clueless
about the ways of God until we humble ourselves to receive His revelation on His terms. Jesus was
bringing Nicodemus into a new realm of understanding, just as He is doing for
us -- the Kingdom is at hand!
Therefore, we must be born
again in our thinking and perspective. It's one thing to be baptized
in water, and another to be baptized into a full appreciation of our new
life by the Spirit of God (and I’m certainly not minimizing water
baptism). We must receive the attitude that allows us to see the issues of
life from the Lord’s point of view - and that is a spiritual perspective.
It's God's pleasure to give us
the keys to the Kingdom, and our good pleasure to receive them. Once
we settle ourselves in a childlike position of trust and obedience, the
mysteries of faith become clearer all the time. Nicodemus was asking the
right questions, but the answers were not what he expected. Jesus' words were
Spirit, and Nicodemus did not yet have ears to hear.
Are we simple enough, humble
enough, quiet enough to hear and understand spiritual things? Can we
handle the truth?
Love and peace,
Pastor
