Spirit Birth 2: This is the Way God Loved the World

Good morning!

We stopped yesterday morning with John 3:13, in which Jesus made a seemingly puzzling statement.

"No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man."

No man, through his own "perfection", human efforts, has ever earned the right to Heaven.  Jesus alone can claim perfection in the human sense.  He is using one of the titles for Himself here, in calling Himself "the Son of Man".  When He uses this title, He is affirming both His divinity and His humanity.  By making this cryptic statement, Jesus is asserting His authority to reveal matters of a heavenly, spiritual nature.  He is saying that He is in a category by Himself.  He has been in Heaven, having both ascended to Heaven and descended from Heaven.  But, He goes further, saying that He is in Heaven at the very moment He is speaking to Nicodemus.  That must have really blown Nicodemus's circuits!  Jesus was saying that while on earth, He was simultaneously in God's presence at every moment, in constant, unbroken communion with Him.  Heaven is indeed a locality, a place where the people of God will forever abide.  But, more importantly, it is defined by the presence of God the Father.

Jesus goes on then to explain the meaning of "born again", the spirit birth, further.

14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

John 3:14-19

Jesus begins by referencing an Old Testament story that pre-figured His crucifixion for our spiritual healing.  In Numbers 21:4-9, the people of God had gotten discouraged by all their troubles and had begun to murmur among themselves, to backbite against God and His plans for them.  As a result, God allowed many of them to be bitten by poisonous snakes, which led to many deaths.  Moses interceded for the people, who could not deliver themselves from these deadly snake bites.  God instructed Moses to have a craftsman make a bronze snake and hoist it up on a pole in the presence of the people.  Anyone who had the faith to look obediently upon the snake on a pole, lived.

This bizarre story from Numbers is in Scripture for a reason.  In a similar way, we are a spiritually "snake-bit" people; we are unable to enter the kingdom of Heaven on our own.  "No one has ascended into Heaven...."  We have been "snake-bit" by the sinful nature with which we were born into the human race (Adam/Eve/The Fall of Man).

But, the Son of Man, Jesus, was "lifted up" on the cross, for our spiritual healing.  If we look to Him, believe in Him, we will have eternal life.  This was God's plan to jerk us back from the edge of the cliff of eternal death, the plan designed before man was ever created.  Our gracious, yet holy, God....knew.  He knew.

"Who has announced this from of old?  Who has long since declared it?  Is it not I, the LORD?  And, there is no other God besides Me, a Righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me.

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other."

Isaiah 45:21-22

God did not send His Son to us to condemn us, as so many people view the situation. (John 3:17) God sent His only (unique, one-of-a-kind) Son to us, to us sin-poisoned people, so that we would not die spiritually, so that we could have eternal life.  Those who believe in Him will not be condemned to an eternity of separation from God, a miserable eternity in Hell, but will be "saved", rescued from that.

In light of this truth, the apostle Paul proclaims triumphantly,

"There is now therefore NO condemnation to those who belong to Christ Jesus, who walk, not after the flesh but after the Spirit."  

Romans 8:1

Jesus is The One and Only, the Way, the Truth, the Life!

Have you experienced this spiritual birth?  Have you been "born again"?  Have you been rescued?This question can only be answered by each person, after he or she searches his/her individual heart. It is THE most vitally important question of this earthly life, one which must be answered.  If you have to honestly answer, "no", I urge you to choose Christ, to choose eternal Life!

Believers, pray for your loved ones who are not walking with Christ Jesus faithfully.  Regardless of their verbal testimony, if their lives do not evidence holiness, they most likely have not been "born again".  Paul rightly points out that those who belong to Jesus Christ routinely walk in the Holy Spirit, because of their spiritual birth!

It is only after the Holy Spirit has come to live within you that you can walk after the Spirit, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit into a life of increasing holiness, seeking to become more and more like the Savior.  This is the very definition of the resplendent walk!

Holy Father, I deserve condemnation, because there is no possible way I could "ascend into Heaven" on my own.  My sin nature is so much a part of my humanity that I could not escape it through my own efforts.  Thank you for your unimaginable sacrifice of your Son, your One-and-Only Love of Your Heart, for me and for all people.  You did not send Jesus to only the Jews.  You sent Him for the whole world, so that anyone, anyone no matter how enslaved by sin, can be set free.  In Jesus' name, amen.