You Must Be Born Again: A Message From Jesus to Nicodemus That We All Need to Heed

John’s gospel is constructed around a series of signs – seven in particular – that he masterfully employs to prove that Jesus is the Eternal Word who was from the beginning with God and was God, who was now made flesh and dwelt among us. The entire flow of John’s gospel is focused on a series of narratives exhorting the reader to come to a firm conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This exhortation to believe is, subsequently, accompanied by a promise: all who come to believe in earnest that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, by believing, receive eternal life in His name. Accordingly, it would help to remember as well these words from chapter 1 where we are introduced to the major themes that John unfolds over the next 20 chapters. In 1:11-13 we read:

He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

From these words we could distill this core idea: all who believed in His name were born of God, that is, they received eternal life in His name “as a result of” their faith. But there is another idea here that is equally fundamental to John’s purpose, to Christian theology, and to our practical understanding even today. All who believed in His name were born of God, but that is a passive reality: “they were born.” The Author of our spiritual birth is not us but Christ – the One who gives us the right to become a child of God. This much then is elementary to our Christian understanding: there is but one way to eternal life: faith in Christ the Son of God. 

But our understanding of eternal life must include the fact that such life is granted by the Son of God. It is not something we achieve; it is something we receive. It is not something we work for; it is something already accomplished for us. Jesus alone is the one who gives eternal life. As He said in John 5:21: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.”

So, John begins his revealing the way to eternal life: to all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God…to be born of God. He concludes in similar fashion: by believing that Christ is the Son of God we have life – eternal life – in His name. Today we are going to find that this ever so familiar dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus reiterates this same exact reality: “you must be born again” is not a command to go out and do some religious thing to try and earn spiritual life, it’s not to count up our own inventory of good works or community standing, but to look instead to the only One who can grant the new birth that inaugurates eternal life. Back to our text.

So Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast and performed a sign: He cleared out the temple and prophesied His own resurrection; that He Himself had the power to raise Himself from the dead. John 2:23 says that “many believed in His name when they saw the signs that Jesus was doing.” 

Well, isn’t that good? Isn’t that exactly what God hopes for? Isn’t that exactly the point of John’s gospel?: the signs point to Jesus, are meant to bring us to believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by placing our faith in Him we have eternal life in His name? Isn’t that the point of the entire book? Yes it is. 

The problem, as we shall see, is that man’s outward appearance of “belief” is not always commensurate with a true inward conviction. There are, as this verse and others tell us, those who look like a Christian, talk like a Christian, and may even act like a Christian, but deep down in their heart where it counts, they really do not believe in Christ alone as their Lord and Savior. 

However, no matter how hard we mere mortals try to figure out who is a sheep and who is a goat, who’s a true believer and who’s a faker, we run into the stark reality that we simply cannot see clearly into the heart of man. Unlike God, we do not have the power to divide between spirit and soul and to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 

That is not, of course, to suggest that we give up making necessary distinctions based upon evidence that is available to us. God wants us to discern – John himself tells us: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits.” We are to be discerning, and God has given us resources towards that end. We are to examine ourselves and even one another to know the truth of our spiritual condition. But in the end, we are still left shy of omniscience. We simply cannot know with infallibility what is in the hearts of men. We are sometimes even deceived about ourselves.  

The same, however, is not true for Jesus. Jesus, as the Eternal Word of God who was made flesh and dwelt among us, does not suffer the same inability to see into our hearts. He knows as God knows. He, unlike us, has perfect understanding of who actually believes and who is just playing games. He knows today who in this room actually believes in Him and who is just killing time or looking for a little religion. Keep this in mind: you may fool others; but you’re not fooling God. John included this parenthetical remark about Jesus’ omniscience in 6:64: “For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.” He is not fooled by our outward appearances of religiosity or allegiance; He looks at the very heart and knows the unvarnished truth of who we are. Many believed in His name when they saw the signs that Jesus was doing:

BUT Jesus on His part did not entrust himself to them [that is, He did not “believe their believing”]. 

Why? Because he got a tip from an insider? Someone snitched? 

It says: He did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people, and needed no one to bear witness about man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

This is one of the harshest commentaries on sinful human nature found in all the Bible. These people saw Jesus, they heard Jesus, they witnessed signs, perhaps more than just the cleansing of the temple. Perhaps some tasted that water He turned into wine at the wedding, or maybe they witnessed some unrecorded miracle. At any rate, they saw miracles with their own eyes, and at least appeared to believe in Him. They might have even believed, as Nicodemus put it, that He was a teacher come from God. Perhaps they believed that He was going to be the political deliverer type of Messiah who would rescue them from the domination of the Roman empire. Whatever the case, whatever the nature of their faith – it apparently wasn’t completely genuine. Jesus did not believe their believing because He knows the ugly truth: that men are corrupt and disingenuous. Notice exactly what it is that Jesus knows:

1. He knows all people. As the Scripture says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Jesus knows that. He knows all people, that all are sinners, and that all of us are corrupted by sin so as to be untrustworthy in the eyes God apart from His redeeming grace. 

2. He knows this without relying on the testimony of others. He had no need of anyone to bear witness. He knows because He is the Divine Knower. 2 Chronicles 6:30 says of God, “You, You only, know the hearts of the children of mankind.” Others verses attest to the same truth, most of all, Jeremiah 17:9-10: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘I, the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.’” We are deceived by our own hearts that WE don’t even know the depth of our depravity; but God knows. And Jesus knows, because He is God. 

3. He knows all about people. John writes that Jesus refused to “believe their believing,” and then goes on to say, “for Jesus Himself knew what was in man.” What is it that He knows is in man? The corruption of sin that pervades our whole being. Jesus looked around at those who claimed to believe in Him and knew better than to commit Himself. He knew intuitively what the Holy Spirit would later reveal to the Apostle Paul: “Before God made you alive in Christ you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, living in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were BY NATURE children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Eph 2:1-3)

Jesus and Nicodemus: What it Means to be “Born Again”

So Jesus knows all about man. He knows all people, knows what is in them, and is not duped by disingenuous or false belief. That is the divinely-inspired anthropology that serves as the introduction to this dialogue with Nicodemus, which we now pick up in 3:1

Now there was a man…

Nicodemus is of the very stock of those men we just learned about. He, like the rest of us, fits into that universal group of “all men.” “All have sinned.” All men are by nature and choice corrupted by sin, and that corruption of sin leads to death: “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  So Nicodemus – the sinner man –  comes to Jesus. 

Now there was a man…. [But not just any man] “a man of the Pharisees.”

Nicodemus was a Pharisee – he was a man of that sect who most closely aligned with Jesus theologically, but were most antagonistic towards him personally. It was the Pharisees that Jesus scolded: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40) It was the self-righteous Pharisees who fell under the condemnation of the Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Romans: “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” (Rom. 10:2-3) More than any others in the gospels, it was the Pharisees who opposed Jesus’ message of salvation by faith in Him alone, the Messiah of Israel. Nicodemus was one of them, though one who did not share the mostly antagonistic spirit and was in fact, quite curious about Jesus and what He had to offer. We read on:

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus (which means, “conqueror of the people”), a ruler of the Jews.

Moreover, Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the council of seventy that governed matters not under the jurisdiction of Imperial Rome. When you put it all together, Nicodemus was not just any ordinary man. He was one of the most important men in the entire nation. Jesus later would acknowledge him as “the teacher of Israel.” This was no ordinary sinner coming to Jesus. This was one of the top rank, most respected men of Israel coming to this carpenter’s son, curious as to whether there was more to Him than just a Teacher who’s teaching happened to be accompanied by signs and wonders. 

Now, much is made of Nicodemus coming to Jesus “by night” as we read in verse 2. Certainly, it could be that Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cloak of darkness out of fear and cowardice, much as King Saul went to see the medium at En-dor “by night” in order to avoid detection. It could be that Nicodemus knew that Jesus, surrounded by crowds during the day, could engage him in a more substantive conversation at night. And, of course, John’s gospel is full of day/night, light/darkness dualism that could be brought to bear on this text. Whatever the case, at least he came. That much stands in direct contrast to his colleagues, of whom Jesus said: “you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.” For whatever reason, and motivated by whatever vice, Nicodemus did come.

What about you? Is there something in you that prevents you from coming to Jesus today? Sin? Pride? Legalism? Hurt? 

Is any of it worth missing Jesus over? 

So Nicodemus comes to Jesus with this observation recorded in verse 2: 

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 

Throughout Scripture, God uses signs and wonders to confirm the truth of a messenger that He had sent. He did that with Moses. He did that with Elijah. He did that with the apostles. And He did that with Jesus. Acts 2:22 says that Jesus was “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know.” God does not do miracles to merely impress or provide cheap entertainment. God does miracles – signs – to draw attention to a greater reality, none more than in the case of Jesus. So Nicodemus gets this much right. And he even addresses Jesus with a show of respect, calling this simple itinerant preacher, the son of a carpenter, by the title of “Rabbi,” which one of his stature would have ordinarily reserved for his Pharisaical colleagues and fellow members of the Sanhedrin. The problem, however, is that he is coming to Jesus seemingly looking for a teacher who can confirm his old religion. But what he urgently needs is a Savior who alone can replace his dead works with a new spiritual life. 

When we read Jesus’ initial response to Nicodemus, we might be tempted to wonder, “did Jesus even hear what he said?” Yes, he did. Remember, Jesus knows all people. He knows what is in us. That is bad news in many ways. But it is also good news in that Jesus knows exactly what our true needs are. First and foremost, we all need spiritual birth. We are not born into the world with spiritual life. We are born into the world with physical life, but as to the spirit “dead in our trespasses and sins.” Jesus heard Nicodemus’ affirmation of the truthfulness of Jesus the teacher. But Jesus is going to teach him something about Jesus the Savior and Author of eternal life. 

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

In John’s gospel especially, Jesus often introduced critical truths with these words, “Truly, truly.” Or “Verily, verily.” When you hear that, listen up! What follows is of the utmost importance. 

Interestingly, Nicodemus correctly observes that “no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” But Nicodemus sees the signs, and that’s all he sees. He doesn’t see what the signs point to, which of course, is the reason we call them ‘signs.’ Signs are not for their own sake, but point to a greater reality. Nicodemus sees the signs, but Jesus says he can’t see what they point to: the kingdom of God. 

Do you want to see the kingdom of God? Do you want to have spiritual life with spiritual eyes? Then you must be “born from above.” 

That’s really what those words, translated here as “born again,” probably mean, “You must be born from above.” The Greek is intentionally ambiguous. Nicodemus apparently takes the words to mean “born again,” which is one possible rendering. But I think Jesus means not so much “you must be born again,” (although that is true) but more importantly, that your second birth must be “from above.” This same word is used by John when Jesus stands before Pilate and says, “You would have no authority over Me at all unless it had been given you from above.” (19:11) And again when the soldiers vie for Jesus’ garments: “But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.” That is the way spiritual life must come: from above; from top to bottom.

Recall that Nicodemus came to Jesus with apparently impeccable credentials, a personal righteousness which reminds us of what the Apostle Paul would write years later about himself: 

“If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”

But Paul realized it was all worthless, and that is what Nicodemus is in the process of learning. It’s something we all need to learn, urgently: 

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” He goes on to say that He wanted to “be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (Phil. 3:4-9) 

Spiritual life does not come through self-effort. It comes when we receive Christ as our Savior and are born of God, who is above. It comes “from above,” “from top to bottom.” So Jesus sets up the requirement: “you must be born from above.” But it critical that we understand that He is not giving Nicodemus a command to go and follow, as though Nicodemus could cause his own spiritual birth any more than he caused his own physical birth. This is not a command; this is a condition: if you want to see the kingdom of God, you must first be born from above. But how, you ask? Nicodemus beat you to it: verse 4 – 

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?

Seems like a legitimate question to ask, especially if you think that Jesus means “born again” not “born from above,” and you can only think of birth in terms of a physical reality. Nicodemus may, however, also be asking something like this: “How can I start over again? How can an old man get a new start – be born all over again?” His mind is still on how he could possibly be good enough to earn a trip to heaven. But even if he were to get a second chance –as in starting all over from birth – could he really do any better than he did the first time around? 

You may be counting on something similar: “If only I had a second chance: I’d do it right this time.” But you wouldn’t. You’d blow it just like you have the first time. How can we say that? Because you, like everyone else, are a sinner, and your heart is corrupted by sin. And no amount of self-energized right living or man-made religion is ever going to change that. You need new birth, not old religion. You need a spiritual birth, not a second physical birth. You need a Savior, not a do-over. Besides, if Nicodemus didn’t qualify on his own merit for heaven, if the Apostle Paul didn’t qualify on his own merit, then neither are you going to qualify based on your merit. If the greatest of all the self-righteous the world has ever known fall short of the glory of God, then so do you. Therefore, all who are to see the kingdom of God must be born from above. Look at verses 5-8: 

Jesus answered [Nicodemus], “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

First of all, what does it mean, “born of water and the Spirit”? Here are some of the most common interpretations:

Consider this: the word translated “spirit” throughout this passage is the same exact word in the Greek that is translated “wind” or “breath.” The word pneuma, from which we get our word pneumatics, is a versatile word that can mean all three: wind, breath, and spirit. Consequentially, there is a very clever play on words in this passage that points to a reality that Nicodemus, as “the teacher of Israel,” should have recognized but didn’t. When it comes down to it, Jesus, more than anything else, is trying to teach Nicodemus about the heavenly origin of the Son of God who he calls “Teacher.” Everywhere you turn in John, you find a narrative or an event that reveals to the reader that Jesus is God incarnate, appearing now as promised to His own people, to deliver them from their sins. That is what John’s gospel is all about, and in keeping with that theme, that is what this encounter with Nicodemus is all about. 

Verse 5 can be translated like this: “unless one is born of water and wind, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” First of all, as we already saw, the word for “spirit” is the same word for “wind.” If you look at verse 8, where Jesus is quite obviously talking about literal wind, the same word is used as is translated in verse 5 as “spirit.” But moreover, in verse 5 there is no definite article in front of the word, so most likely it cannot literally mean “born of water and the Spirit,” but perhaps, “water and spirit.” But I think there are some compelling reasons for taking this phrase to mean instead “water and wind.” These reasons that have to do with the embedded Old Testament imagery which helps explain what Jesus means by being born of “water and wind” and being “born from above.” So what in the world does it mean to be born “of water and wind”?

If you turn back with me to the Old Testament book of Ezekiel 36 you will hopefully begin to see where we are going with this. Ezekiel 36:25-27:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

These verses have to do with the spiritual restoration that God promises to the nation of Israel. There are other promises here that have to do with their national restoration. But before Israel can experience their full restoration as a nation, they must first experience a spiritual rebirth. Here that spiritual rebirth is described by the imagery of the sprinkling of clean water. So note well: the pouring out of the Spirit on the nation of Israel is described using the metaphor of clean water. This is not an isolated case of the Spirit being compared with water. Jesus used a similar metaphor when he said in John 7:38-39: 

“Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.”

But in addition to water, the Spirit is also frequently compared to wind or breath. Remember when Adam was created? It says in Genesis 2:7: “the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Even more vividly, in Ezekiel 37 we read in these terms of the work of the Spirit as it relates to the eventual restoration of the nation of Israel: 

Verses 4-5: “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, “O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

Verse 9: Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”

This is a promise related to the “last days,” and with particular reference to the nation of Israel. But the imagery itself is not restricted to Israel or eschatology. The imagery of the Spirit of God as “wind” or “breath” is one we see throughout Scripture, not just in these verses. But in any case, these are verses that Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, would know by heart and should have understood better. After all, as John the Baptist confessed, he was baptizing “that He might be revealed to Israel.” “He came to His own people.” God revealed Himself in Christ in perfect accordance with His revelation in the Scriptures they already knew by heart. Thus, Nicodemus should have known that God was going to sprinkle clean water on and breathe the wind of new life into Israel, and he should have understood that this was going to take place through the Messiah who was to come – the One with whom he was presently conversing. 

Jesus said you must be born of “water and wind.” That is: you need to be sprinkled by the cleansing water of the Holy Spirit. That is, apart from Christ you are dry and lifeless bones and you need life breathed in by the Holy Spirit. But where do you get that life? From your own effort? From something or someone down here on earth? Or must you receive this new life “from above”? That is the point of the story. You must be born from above by the One who pours out this regenerating water and wind. But who is the One who dispenses this new life? Who gives the right to born of God, for all who believe in His name to become children of God? It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is about to teach something to Nicodemus that we even today must not miss: 

Look again at verse 8:

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Now, in our sophisticated day of storm chasers and 24 hour weather channels, we might be tempted to think that Jesus is making a scientific mistake here. Unlike the first century world, we know now, generally speaking, that winds are caused by the rotation of the earth acting along with air pressure differentials at both the earth’s surface and in the upper levels of the atmosphere. We talk about “northerly” and “southerly” winds as if we certainly do know from where the wind comes and to where the wind goes. 

But let’s be candid about this: consider the wind that will hit you in the face as you step outside today. You can say, “Ah, it’s a warm wind that came from the south. That wind originated in the Gulf of Mexico.” But did it? Is there some kind of wind machine there just west of the Yucatan where wind is produced and sent north? Didn’t the wind that passed over the Gulf itself originate from somewhere else? Perhaps the southern Pacific? And what about that wind? And so on and so on. Where could we possible stop with that, except for with the moment of creation itself? Do we really know where the wind comes from and where it goes? I don’t think so, except in the most general of terms. Ultimately, it is a marvel of nature, perhaps an unsolvable mystery. Could my sister in Dallas call me up ten hours after a 25 mph wind from the SE just blew a leaf off my tree and say, “Hey, the same exact breath of wind that just knocked the leaf off your tree just now kicked up some dust in my driveway. Really. The same exact parcel of air.” 

Ultimately, we don’t really know where the wind comes from or where it goes. Just the same, the spiritual birth of a person will always remain somewhat of a mystery. Though we understand generalities, we’ll never exhaustively explain all the theological details. Two people see the same miracle; one believes and the other hardens his heart. What caused both? Is it just a difference in the individuals? Romans 8:29-30 reveals how God has predestined us to glory, and as Luke writes in Acts 13:48 – “those who were appointed to eternal life believed.” But yet, they still had to believe. Did they believe simply because they were so predestined? Did God cause their belief such that they had no choice to not believe? That would be a blatant contradiction – forced freedom. Ultimately, we must resign ourselves to say that the Sovereign God operates on our will in such a way that we do indeed freely and voluntarily believe in Christ, though neither do we exercise that faith independent of His empowering grace. Now if you think the whereabouts and origins of the wind is a mystery, how much more the operation of the Holy Spirit – the “wind” of God – on the will of man so that “all who believe in His name are born of God?” 

I think Nicodemus speaks for us all when in 3:9 he responds to all this with a hint of exasperation, “How can these things be?”

Jesus, however, is unrelenting in response: verse 10:

Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

Interestingly, the “you” in the text switches here from singular to plural, and likewise in verse 12. Jesus is no longer speaking just to Nicodemus, but to all of us. Also of note is Jesus’ clever use of the word, “We.” You’ll recall that Nicodemus first came to Jesus saying, “Rabbi, WE know that you are a teacher come from God.” That is, he came as a representative of his friends on the Sanhedrin. Jesus, however, does not receive His authority from men. His authority is His own divine nature, and His witnesses are the Father, the Spirit, and the Word. The divine “We.”

Verse 12: If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

We are closing in on the bottom line here. But first, what earthly things is Jesus referring to? Clearly,  it is the analogy about the wind. If Nicodemus doesn’t get that, how is he supposed to see the greater reality that it points to? If you can’t even understand what the sign says, how are you supposed to understand the reality the sign points to? Here Jesus echoes what He said, also to the Pharisees, in the midst of the more adversarial dialogue of chapter 5. There, Jesus chided the leaders of Israel: “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (5:46-47)

Same idea in 3:12, except without the adversarial tone because, unlike the many other Pharisees who refused to come to Jesus, Nicodemus did in fact come. Nonetheless, if you can’t believe what is right in front of you, whether an example from the natural world or the words of Scripture that you hold up as an authority, then how are you going to believe the greater reality that those things testify to? 

But here we come to the bottom line: when Jesus says, “how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things,” this is a clue that He is about to tell us a heavenly thing. 

Here’s verse 13 and it’s heavenly truth, an allusion back to Proverbs 30:4:

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

It is the truth taught by this verse that should have made the light go on in Nicodemus’ head. In fact, it probably did eventually, for we see later in chapter seven that Nicodemus goes against the flow to defend Jesus, and then in chapter 19, along with Joseph of Arimathea, cares for and buries Jesus after His death on the cross. 

What should Nicodemus have understood by this heavenly truth? And what do we need to learn today?

Proverbs 30:4 asks this, probably rhetorical, question:

 Who has ascended to heaven and come down?

First of all, Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, “I am the one who ascended to heaven and has come down. It’s me, the one that stands before you.” But there’s more:

Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!

Now, at last, we can understand the references to the water and the wind. It goes without question that the answer to this litany of questions is none other than God himself. Who gathers the wind in His fists? It’s God. Who wraps up the waters in a garment? It’s God. Who has established the ends of the earth? It’s God, the Holy One of Israel. That is His name. But what is His Son’s name?!!!!

Nicodemus stood before the Son of God, the Word made flesh, and wasn’t seeing it. He stood before and spoke with the One who commands the water and the wind and establishes all the ends of the earth, the One who previously said to him, “Your earthly credentials are no good, as good as they might appear to men who don’t know better. You must be born from above. You must be born of water and wind.” The reason he has to be born from above is further explained by the words of John the Baptist: “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” You cannot receive the spiritual birth you need unless you receive it from above – specifically, from the One who is the Author of spiritual life, who is above, the Son of Man who has descended. 

But if we grant that “water and wind” are metaphors here for the regenerating Spirit of God, who is it that gives the Spirit? 

John 3:34 – “For He whom God has sent utters the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure.”

John 16:7 – “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.”

Jesus gives the Spirit. And He wants Nicodemus to make no mistake about this truth that pervades this entire gospel: Jesus is here making a very clear claim to be the One who gathers the wind in His fists – that is, God. He wants Nicodemus – and us – to know that He alone is the One who wraps up the waters in a garment – that is, He is God Himself. But of even more practical importance to Nicodemus and to us today, He wants us to know that He is the One who is the Author of spiritual life. It is Jesus who holds the key to spiritual life – who has the sovereign right to sprinkle with clean water and breathe the breath of life into all who believe in His name. That is what it means to be “born from above” and “born of water and wind.” It means to come to Jesus and recognize that “He alone gives the right for us to become children of God who are born of God.” And we are born of God by the regeneration of the life-giving Holy Spirit, pictured here as the water and wind poured upon and breathed into us at the command of Jesus Christ our Savior. 

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But, a ghastly, unthinkable event must first take place for that new life to even be possible. Recall from earlier what we learned about the horrific sinful condition of man, that corruption within every one of us that Jesus knows all about. Before we can be born from above, there has to be a severe penalty paid because of the justice of God, the wrath that our sin deserves. That is the point of verse 14-15:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

This, of course, is a reference back to Numbers 21. While Israel wandered in the wilderness after their deliverance from Egypt, they became infamous for their persistent, grumbling disbelief. A summary of their inglorious forty years is recorded in Psalm 78:22 – “they did not believe in God and did not trust His saving power.” At one point, in the passage in Numbers 21, God sent fiery serpents to torment and judge them for their rebellion, much as He still allows consequences to attend our own sinful choices and stubborn disbelief. We too are a snake-bitten people, with the venom of sin circulating through our veins, bringing death and dying as a result. God sent fiery serpents to judge the grumbling Israelites, and He allows us to reap what we sow because He is not mocked. But He also made a way to be healed: He commanded Moses to erect a bronze serpent so that all who looked in faith upon the serpent would be healed of the wounds caused by the judgment. 

Jesus was raised on a cross much like that serpent was put on a pole. We are snake-bitten because of our own sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus took our sin upon Himself when He went to the cross. A penalty had to be paid to satisfy the infinite justice of a Holy God. Jesus Himself was that satisfaction.

If you try to bypass Jesus, or outright reject Him – there’s no practical difference – you will die in your sins. If you are to see the kingdom of God, you must be born from above because you came into this world spiritually dead. You must look in faith unto the One who alone grants spiritual regeneration. He not only grants that life, but has paid the price for your sins with His own sacrificial death. 

There is one condition to receiving those heavenly benefits: faith: “To all who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, born of God.” 

Not born of your own effort – Nicodemus proves that. Not born of your own authority or position or religion or goodness. Nicodemus proves that. Born of God, by faith in the Son of God, the One who pours out the Spirit of God, the cleansing water and life-giving wind, on all who believe in the Name of the Son of God. 

Amen.