IN the conversation the Lord Jesus had with Nicodemus, as related in this chapter, the latter is puzzled and astounded by the words of Jesus— “Ye must be born again,” and “except a man be born again (or from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus reasoned from a natural point of view; consequently, he regarded the thing as utterly impossible, and asks the question, “How can these things be?” The Lord’s reply to him was, “Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?” as if, in surprise, that occupying such a position, he should display so much ignorance on this vital subject. Because, as a Jew, and an intelligent Rabbi, Nicodemus ought to have understood what was referred to by the Lord; he should have known the Old Testament scriptures sufficiently well to be aware that before the Jews could inherit or dwell in the land promised. by God to their fathers, they must be sprinkled with water, and a new spirit and a new heart be put into them by the operation of God’s Spirit, as stated in Ezek. 36:25-2725Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. (Ezekiel 36:25‑27). This promised earthly portion to Israel is what the Lord referred to in verse 12, when He said, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?”
Whatever good qualities a person may possess, however amiable or lovely in themselves, it is human nature still, which has not the least pulsation towards God, nor one particle of love for Him, therefore cannot be acceptable to Him. Man’s own will has been in exercise (and this is sin), and has led him away from God, and to such a distance, that no effort of his own, however praiseworthy or humiliating (as penances and the like), can ever bring him one step back to God. Why? Because man, in his natural state, is utterly impotent and lost. Nothing can put away his sins, bring him nigh to God, or fit him for God’s presence but the blood of Jesus. Hence the importance of that little word “must.” If a man is to enter into heaven at all, and wishes to be saved, it is necessary—yea, he must have a nature altogether different from what he has; it must be according to God, and this is what is meant by being “born again,” or from above.
And until this transition takes place—this “new birth” —the sinner cannot have one holy, heavenly desire, or anything at all suitable to God.
Neither can the sinner accomplish this mighty and important change in himself by any work or effort of his own, for the words “must be born again” do not mean in a legal sense; and though it is a thing insisted on, yet it is brought about by the quickening power and operation of God’s Spirit, and that alone.
And here comes in the application of these words, “that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit,” in contrast to the statement, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh.”
The new life thus imparted to the sinner is of a divine order, and consequently is a holy nature, a new creation, therefore suitable to God, having also aspirations and desires after Him, and is able to enjoy the things of God.
But it may be important to remark here, in connection with the truth of being “born again,” that the old Adam nature—that which is “born of the flesh” —still remains “flesh.”
It has not undergone any change for the better, but continues unaltered, being past all remedy, and at the cross of Christ was judged and made an end of. Man in the flesh there ceased to be recognized by God, being “crucified with Christ,” and “buried with Him.”
Then in the 14th verse another most solemn fact is mentioned by the Lord to Nicodemus.
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” By this emphatic statement, we learn that the cross of Christ was a positive absolute necessity. Nothing but that could meet the claims of God’s holiness, or the need of lost, wretched man. There was no other way of salvation, and no other person than the holy Son of God, as Son of man, could take the sinner’s place upon that cross, bear his sins, and the judgment due to those sins; and nothing else but the blood of Jesus could cleanse them away, so that they are gone forever; there is no virtue or efficacy in any other sacrifice.
For we get it mentioned clearly in Heb. 9 “without shedding of blood there is no remission,” so also in chap. 10 it says, “for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins;” but, another scripture tells us, “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
Therefore, we find, that if lost hell-deserving sinners were to be saved at all, it became necessary that Jesus the Son of God, as the willing victim, should die. This was God’s plan and way of salvation for us sinners.
It was not possible for an angel from heaven, nor for the best man that was ever born, to become the propitiation for sin, and the substitute of those who believe. Why? Because God’s righteous and holy claims could only be met and satisfied by a perfect work, to be carried out and finished, sin atoned for, and the penalty, or wages of sin paid, by a holy, sinless, spotless, perfect man. Where was such an one to be found? Not in poor death-stricken, sinful world. So God, in love, sent His own Son, “in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:88And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:8)). No other person than Jesus could have accomplished this.
The effect, then, of the wondrous cross of Christ is, that while it delivers me from the wrath to come, it introduces me into everlasting glory; it brings me out of that moral darkness, in which we all are by nature, into “marvelous light.” It delivers me from Satan’s power, and brings me to God; it settles once and forever the question of my sins (while it sets forth what those sins deserve); it makes an end of me in the flesh before God, and, as a believer, it links me with Christ in glory, gives me eternal life, and makes me a son, a child of God. Such are the stupendous results of that cross on which “the Son of man” had to be “lifted up,” and where He glorified God about sin.
“Death and judgment are behind me,
Grace and glory are before;
All the billows rolled o’er Jesus,
There exhausted all their power.”