There is a natural repugnance in man's mind to divine testimony. The judgment depends on the affections, and the affections of man are estranged from God. Privileges do not alter this, nor the responsibility which flows from the relation in which one may stand to God. He must be born again. A divine nature cleaves to God; the life which comes from Him as its source goes up to Him in desire, if not always (till redemption is known) in confidence of heart.
Yet the Lord had not in this solemn declaration gone beyond the universal necessity of man for the kingdom of God: and therefore it was inexcusable in the Jewish teacher so to have overlooked it as to feel such amazement at the Lord's assertion of it. He ought to have known from the ancient scriptures, from the psalms and prophets especially, that Israel must he renewed in order to enter and enjoy their promised portion on the earth. “Truly God is good to Israel,” as the Messiah's Kingdom will manifest; but the assurance is restricted. It is “to such as are of a clean heart.” (Psa. 73) So far will the mass of the Jews be from fitness for that kingdom, that the Spirit of Christ in the pious remnant does not hesitate to ask God's judgment and pleading of their cause against an ungodly or unmerciful nation. (Psa. 43) They were no better, but guiltier, than Gentiles. There were enemies within as well as without. “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Destroy, Ο Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go about it upon the walls “thereof mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets. For it was not an enemy that reproached, me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” (Psa. 55:6-146And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. 7Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. 8I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. 9Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city. 10Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. 11Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets. 12For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 13But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. 14We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. (Psalm 55:6‑14).) Thus to the saint's mind the city (the holy city in title, in fact most unholy) is worse than the wilderness, dreary as it may be. Not Gentiles only but Jews need to be born afresh: otherwise the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through them, as it is written.
But it is striking to notice that the chapter of Ezekiel (chap. 36.), already cited in part, which is naturally brought to illustrate these words of the apostle Paul, declares in the plainest and most unconditional terms that God will sanctify His great name which was blasphemed among the heathen, “Which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then 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. A 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. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord Jehovah, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land, shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I Jehovah build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I Jehovah have spoken it, and I will do it.” (Ezek. 36:23-3623And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. 24For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25Then 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. 28And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. 31Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. 32Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. 33Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. 34And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. 35And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. 36Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. (Ezekiel 36:23‑36).)
Further, these words of the prophet illustrate “the earthly things” in our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus. “If I told you the earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you the heavenly things?” (Ver. 12.) In speaking as He had of the necessity to be born afresh—born of water and of Spirit—the Lord had not gone beyond “the earthly things.” The kingdom of God could not be entered or seen without that new birth. Of course it is indispensable for heaven; but the Lord goes farther and insists on it as essential even for the lower province of God's kingdom. Even the Jew must be born again, and, for millennial blessings too as well as for eternity. So true is it that they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither, because they are the seed or Abraham, are they all children.
We shall see too, when our Lord proceeds in His discourse to touch on His cross and the love of God in giving His Son, that to be born anew does not adequately describe what is given to the believer, but eternal life.
Substantially no doubt it is the same new nature which every saint has and must have; but, now that the glory and work of Christ are revealed, its full character shines out. There is yet more, as we know and the next chapter shows, the Spirit given, and the relationship of children of God enjoyed, and the results of the death and resurrection and ascension of Christ our portion even now. But I enlarge no more on this as yet. Only we here learn that the kingdom of God has its “heavenly things,” no less than “the earthly things” of which the prophets spoke. Jesus the Son could have opened the heavenly things, but the condition of such as Nicodemus did not admit of it for the present. The Spirit revealed all these and other depths of God amply after the shed blood vindicated God and purged their consciences. Then were the disciples free to learn all in the power of Christ's resurrection and in the light of heaven. Such is Christian knowledge.
But even while Christ was here, He intimated distinctly the Father's kingdom as a heavenly sphere where the risen saints are to shine as the sun, contradistinguished from the Son of man's kingdom, which is clearly the world, out of which at His coming the angels shall be sent to clear away all offenses and those that practice lawlessness. (Matt. 13:41-4341The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:41‑43).) Nay, in the prayer given to the disciples we may recognize a similar distinction though not so sharply drawn out, for He bid them pray for their Father's kingdom to come, Where they and all the risen saints would be glorified; and then that His will be done as in heaven so on earth, which will only be secured at the completion of the age, when the Son of man comes in His kingdom. (Matt. 6:1010Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10).) These together constitute the kingdom of God, which comprises therefore, as the Lord there assumes, “the heavenly things” and “the earthly things.” The reader will find abundant confirmation in Heb. 12:22-2422But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22‑24), Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10), Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20).