How to save a life – Terry Nightingale
What would you change about your life if you could do it in a moment?
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Nicodemus, the perfect gentleman, lavishes praise and honour on the one he seeks an audience with: You are a respected Rabbi, a teacher and clearly God is with you.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:1-3)
I love the shock tactics of Jesus. Nicodemus is taken aback. Who wouldn’t be?
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (John 3:4)
What an imagination Nicodemus has got! But can you blame him? What Jesus is suggesting would have sounded preposterous? But the Rabbi got his attention. And now explains further.
“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8)
Can you feel the wind?
When I was a young man in my older teens, I had many questions about life and the universe.
Still do.
But a lot of answers came through reading the Christian Bible (and asking lots of questions to Christian friends). On hindsight though, I think the Holy Spirit was very much involved in the process as well.
To me, Jesus seems to be saying that our human spirits need a re-boot. We need to be spiritually cleansed and re-born. I can enter the realm of the kingdom of God by an internal change – a gift of transformation by the Holy Spirit.
In the original Greek language spoken by Jesus in this conversation, the word used for “spirit” can also mean wind. Jesus plays on this word to say that the Spirit’s work in us is beyond what we see and can often be unpredictable, yet unmistakable in its effects.
Becoming a Christian and living as a Christian isn’t just cerebral−as important as study and Biblical meditation is. It is experiential too.
Embrace the mystery
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven —the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (John 3:9-15)
In the book of Numbers (21:4–9), Moses raised a bronze serpent on a pole so that Israelites bitten by snakes would live if they looked at it. Nicodemus would have been familiar with the story.
What he wouldn’t have understood at the time was Jesus’ prediction of his own future death on the cross. And he would have understood that the meaning of it (in terms of atonement of our sin) would answer his question.
Eventually.
For now, Nicodemus would have to accept the mystery of Jesus’ words until such time that they become clear.
It’s never too late to start again
But readers of John’s Gospel (including us) living after Jesus’ death and resurrection can enjoy John’s own explanation of things:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The most famous verse in the Bible.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God is in the business of saving lives. That’s why Jesus came to the world.
How did He save your life?
New birth changes everything.
The Father didn’t send Jesus to condemn us. But to offer a re-start – transformation by the Holy Spirit.
Discovering God in a Crazy World
4-min Devotions this year invites you to join us on a guided journey through the Gospel of John. You can also discover more of this ministry by visiting terrynightingale.com
All my books can be found on my website and on Amazon (https://geni.us/EFoaK).
This is my latest book: Sleeping in a Sinking Boat: finding peace in the middle of the storm (pub: Ark House Press), released this year.
