Devotions

You Must Be Born Again

by  • 

Jesus has stepped fully into his ministry. Nicodemus, a ruler in the temple, comes asking questions and Jesus replies, “you must be born again”. But Nicodemus didn’t have any frame of reference for this statement except the natural birth of a man so he asks, “He is not able to enter into his mother’s womb for the second time and be born, can he?”. No, is the answer, then Jesus quotes Moses lifting the serpent, this Nicodemus knows. Now, Jesus tells him of the sacrifice, the Son of Man on a tree and John 3:16 that we so often quote, “everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life”, they will be born again to live in God’s eternal kingdom.

Those Who Were Selling

John 2:13–25
Jesus had been to Jerusalem before. He had been in Jerusalem for the Passover before. Certainly in Luke 2:49 with his family but then, “when but a youth, with no authority, He was simply “a SON IN His own house”; now He was “a SON OVER His own house” (Heb 3:6), the proper Representative, and in flesh “the Heir,” of his Father’s rights.1

The important note here is that people in Israel regularly operated using the shekel as their currency, but the drachma was the Roman currency which was also used for business and travel. When coming to the temple, people converted their money to pay the temple tax, to buy their offering. See more about money changer at: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/money-changers.

But it wasn’t just the money changers, “Ancient historian Josephus calls Annas the high priest “a great hoarder up of money.” The sons of Annas had bazaars (known in the Talmud as the hanuyot bney hanan) set up in the Court of the Gentiles for the purpose of money changing and the purchase of sacrificial animals. It was the combination of their greed, the fact that they brought in foreign coins, and that they carried out these activities in a sacred area that aroused the zeal of Jesus”.2

For example, every Jew paid the temple tax and in Matthew 17:24 we find Peter being questioned about whether Jesus would pay also the voluntary civil tax. “And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money—the double drachma; a sum equal to two Attic drachmas, and corresponding to the Jewish “half-shekel,” payable, towards the maintenance of the temple and its services, by every male Jew of twenty years old and upward. For the origin of this annual tax, see Ex 30:13, 14; Ex 30:13, 14, 2 Ch 24:6, 9. Thus, it will be observed, it was not a civil, but an ecclesiastical tax. The tax mentioned in Mt 17:25 was a civil one”.3 

You Must Be Born Again

John 3:1–15
The account of Nicodemus is well known. He was, in John 3:1 “a ruler of the Jews”. And he came to Jesus with honor, and I think, in sincerity seeking answers because in John 3:2 he says “Rabbi, we know …
(because) no one is able to perform these signs that you are performing unless God were with him”. Jesus gently instructs him in John 3:5 “unless someone is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God”. There is precedence for this statement, as the “element of water and operation of the Spirit are brought together in a glorious evangelical prediction of Ezekiel (Ez 36:25–27)”.4

Some would use this to require water baptism for salvation, which is not a doctrine I hold. Yes, water baptism is an important step in the life of every believer as it symbolizes the transition from death to new life in Christ. But it isn’t the water baptism that saves us. And now that I have entered this area of potential controversy, I will go one step more and say, no man is born into the earth until the water is broken. There is a purity of natural birth and this next step that Jesus is teaching Nicodemus, this spiritual birth is what prepares us to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, whether you accept this paragraph or not, Jesus ends his conversation with Nicodemus with the sacrifice of his (Jesus’) life on the cross. The way to eternal life is in

John 3:14–15 (LEB) And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, thus it is necessary that the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.”

 

God Loved the World

John 3:16–21
Here is the scripture many quote to describe God’s love and the way of salvation. It is through the son, Jesus Christ, that we are saved.

John 3:16 (LEB) For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.

Now this is where most people get hung up because we, most of us, understand that God is Holy and righteous and we aren’t. Again yesterday, I listened as a man said, I am broken and I wanted to get myself right before I came to Church. But, it isn’t going to Church that saves us. Please, read this next verse because God said in

John 3:17 (LEB) For God did not send his Son into the world in order that he should judge the world, but in order that the world should be saved through him.

It is the accuser, the enemy, the devil that recounts all of your faults and gives you all of the reasons you can’t come to God. It isn’t God that is looking to judge and condemn you. It is God that is saying “Come”. Jesus said it this way in

Matthew 11:28–30 (LEB) Come to me, all of you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to carry and my burden is light.”

We come to Him, Jesus Christ first, then we live our lives in fellowship with others that also Love Him. 

The One Who Comes From Above Is Over All

John 3:22–36
John, here in John 3:22-23 we are talking about John the Baptist, who had a great ministry. People were following him, coming out of the cities to be baptized. He had disciples that were helping, and seeking God’s will for their own lives. This man knew God and though his disciples felt threatened by the ministry of Jesus, John said:

  • In John 3:27 “A man can receive not one thing unless it is granted to him from heaven!”
  • In John 3:28 “I am not the Christ”
  • In John 3:29 “the friend of the bridegroom … rejoices greatly” We might say it this way, the Best Mann at a wedding is not the center of attention. But the Best Man rejoices in the marriage of his good friend.
  • In John 3:30 “it is necessary for that one (Jesus Christ) to increase”.
  • In John 3:31 “the one who comes from heaven (Jesus Christ) is over all”.
  • In John 3:32 “What he (Jesus Christ) has seen and heard, this he testifies”. Jesus isn’t making up a story, he isn’t sharing what he has gleaned from history books, he isn’t repeating what he learned from his mentor. Jesus is speaking what he hears from the Father.

John the Baptist understood that in

John 3:36 (LEB) The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life—but the wrath of God remains on him.

If You Had Known The Gift of God

John 4:1–12
John 4:10 (LEB) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me water* to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

The Water Which I Will Give

John 4:13–26
John 4:14 (LEB) But whoever drinks of this water which I will give to him will never be thirsty for eternity, but the water which I will give to him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

Do the Will of the One Who Sent Me

John 4:27–38
John 4:35 (LEB) Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months and the harvest comes’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.

This One Is Truly the Savior of the World!

John 4:39–42
John 4:41 (LEB) And many more believed because of his word,

Study Verses

Today’s Reading

  • John 2:13-25
  • John 3:1–36
  • John 4:1-42

The Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ – The Gospels

We began the year reading the gospel of Mark and this is often often the way we read the Bible, one book at a time. As we begin going through the gospels again, this time we will follow the order of readings from the Tyndale One Year Chronological Bible. This means we will move back and forth throught Matthew, Mark Luke and John but with little emphasis on Mark. Covering these events chronologically as they happened, gives a much different context and helps us understand the move of God as He is introducing the Saviour, the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. This series begins with Return To Me And I Will Return To You which ends in Malachi and introduces the “Witnesses” writing the Gospels.

Operation Exodus

is helping Jewish people return to their homeland. You might fund one that desires to go home. http://operationexodususa.org/Overview

References

  • 1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 130). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 2. Leen Ritmeyer, “Temple Mount and the Money Changers”, n.p. [cited 2 May 2018]. Online: https://www.bibleodyssey.org:443/en/passages/related-articles/the-temple-mount-and-the-money-changers
  • 3. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 49). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
  • 4. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 131). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.