(“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” ~John 3:7-12).
As Jesus and Nicodemus talked, Nicodemus must have had a look of shock on his face because Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” Also I can picture this conversation happening outside where there was a nice cooling breeze, and then Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” I found it interesting in studying this passage that the word wind in both Greek and Hebrew could be translated Spirit. I enjoy words especially the word of God, the meaning of words and their root bring such incredible clarity to scripture and impart in such an incredible way, the message God has for us, so as a side note when studying God’s word, study the words and their meanings in their original form.
Jesus was telling Nicodemus using the analogy of the wind to impart to him that the Spirit of God moves where It wishes. You don’t know where It comes from or where It goes but you can definitely see and feel the effects of It in a changed life. This whole subject of birth is quite interesting, take first physical birth, the birth of a human body. You most have two parents a male and a female to give birth to a human life. The same is true with being born again spiritually; you most have two parents, the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God to give birth to a believer. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” ~Mark 16:15. And we who are the redeemed in Jesus Christ need to be obedient in just that in preaching the gospel to every creature. Not changing the gospel to make it acceptable amongst unbelievers, but preaching the gospel in truth. The gospel of God is hard for a man to take and without the Holy Spirit coming to a man it is impossible. Tell someone who is spiritually dead that they have sinned against God and the punishment for sin is death, and that Jesus paid the price for their sins on the cross, shedding His precious blood, and all they have to do is believe by faith that Jesus paid the price for their sins; they will do one of three things, find some reason to depart, laugh at you, or curse you telling you that you are full of hate. But show the gospel to someone that the Holy Spirit is working on, and you will see a complete change, a new birth. For someone to be saved they must be born again and the way God has chosen to do this is by the preaching of His Word and the convicting of the Holy Spirit and it is a wonderful mystery when it happens. You cannot tell from the outside whom God plans to save by His spirit, so you must give the gospel to everyone.
Nicodemus shocked by this news says to Jesus, “How can these things be?” Nicodemus must have felt crushed, here he was a descendent of Abraham by birth and he had been a Pharisee all his life, trying with all his might to follow the letter of the law, and Jesus tells him that it is not good enough you must be born again. I imagine that Nicodemus was crushed and bewildered. Then Jesus crushes him even further by saying to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?” Talk about cutting someone to the quick, basically saying; how can you be teaching the people of Israel when you can neither see, nor know how to get into the Kingdom of God yourself? In the next sentence Jesus says; “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.” You may think that Jesus was referring to Himself and His disciples but I don’t think so, and here is why. The translation I am using is the NKJV, and you may have noticed that in this sentence, which is verse 11, every time Jesus says We or Our it is capitalized. Obviously because the translators of the NKJV believe that He was talking about the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the God head and after praying and studying this I believe that they are right in doing this. You will find throughout this gospel that Jesus often does this and speaks of Him and the Father being One, so with that understanding it brings greater clarity to Jesus’ words. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:11-12).
Now this is my own paraphrase of verse 11-12 and it is what the Spirit has shown me as I have meditated on this scripture all week: Nicodemus We (God, The Trinity) have told you the truth that you must be born again, We have observed you, and this is what We have observed, you do not believe Us. Now what We have told you is basic spiritual truth, it is the beginning of spiritual truth that you must be born again, if you do not believe this you cannot and will not believe deeper spiritual truths.
Next week John 3:13-18, the most well know verse in the bible John 3:16
God bless you,
Mike Peek
