John 3:1-36 - Who Is Jesus?

Who is Nicodemus? (v.1)

John 3:1 starts with, “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘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.’”

Nicodemus was both a Pharisee and a ruler. The Roman government did not allow the Jews to have governmental leaders, but they did allow them to have religious leaders, and Nicodemus was a leader who was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were a subset, or religious party, of Jews who emphasized personal piety and followed the strictest guidelines of the law and its interpretation according to the oral tradition surrounding it. The Greek word for “ruler” is αρχων, and is used 37 times in the New Testament, including the account of Luke where he describes a rich young “ruler” who asked Jesus what he could do to earn eternal life (Luke 18:18).

Nicodemus starts by assuming that Jesus is a “teacher come from God”, because “no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (v.2). Yet instead of saying, “Thank you, you’re absolutely right about that,” Jesus goes in a completely different direction. He introduces something that Nicodemus doesn’t know.

This is a common tactic for Jesus. He often confounded conversations by saying things out of the blue that were to the heart of the unsaid questions instead of just going with the flow. Instead, Jesus changes the subject and answers, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v.3).

Nicodemus responds with a “Whaaaat?!”

He wanted to be a part of the kingdom—it’s why he was visiting Jesus—but he couldn’t comprehend how such a thing could be possible. And Jesus had also shown something about man. There was the part about there only being one way to enter the Kingdom of God: being born again.

Nicodemus’ jaw dropped. “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” (v.4). But Jesus persevered and replied, ““Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus is about to interrupt in astonishment but Jesus plows ahead.

“That which is born of the 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” (vv.6-8, ESV).

Nicodemus was still befuddled. “How can these things be?” (v.9).

Now I’m sure by this time Nicodemus had heard of the miracles Jesus was beginning to do since he mentions the “signs” Jesus was doing, so he’s trying hard to figure out what miracle would have to take place for this to happen.

This is where Jesus takes Nicodemus to school.

“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. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 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” (vv.10-14).

Jesus is gentling correcting Nicodemus’ misunderstanding of Who He really is. Nicodemus thought He was just a teacher who had God’s backing, but Jesus rebukes Nicodemus and tells him plainly who He is: “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man” (vv.13-14).

The term “Son of Man” was used in the Old Testament as humans, but also more importantly to designate the Messiah (see Psalms 80:17, Daniel 7:3, 13-14). In the New Testament “Son of Man” is used almost exclusively as a title for Jesus in His office of Messiah. In addition, as used here by Jesus, the term carries with it an inference to His deity. “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man” (v.14) states baldly that Jesus has both ascended to and descended from heaven, and since no one living can see the face of God the Father and not die, from Exodus 33:20 Nicodemus had to know that Jesus was making a claim to be on face-to-face terms with God the Father Himself. He was claiming to have been sent directly from the presence of the Father to reveal to mankind the Father’s will.

But Jesus continues,

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (v.17, ESV).

About this time Nicodemus had to be reaching for the duct tape to keep his head from exploding. Jesus wasn’t just saying that He was on face-to-face relations with God the Father, but that he was the very Son of God, through whom the world was to be saved. I can only imagine what was going through his head in that this revelation came from his trying to be nice to Jesus and compliment Him for being a good teacher.

But wait there's more—Jesus continues,

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (vv.18-21, ESV).

Jesus starts by repeating that there is only one way into the kingdom. Either believe and be born again or be condemned. More than that, not only was Jesus claiming He was more than just a “good” teacher, He was claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God through whom all the world would need to be saved from wickedness and that those escaping the darkness would show the clearly the truth of what He was saying (v.18, 21).

The account in John 3 doesn’t say how Nicodemus responded to all this, but later in John chapter 7 he tried to get a fair hearing for Jesus when the Pharisees were calling those who followed Jesus “accursed” (John 7:40-52). Nicodemus was also among those who went to Jesus’ tomb to care for His body (John 19:39).

At this point in the narrative the Apostle John goes back to the central character mentioned after "The Light" in his account: John the Baptist.

Jesus and his disciples go into the Judean countryside, and the disciples were baptizing other followers (John 4:2). John the Baptist wasn’t too far away, and his disciples were complaining that his following was getting smaller because they were leaving to follow Jesus.

This was John the Baptist’s gentle response:

“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease” (vv.27-30, ESV).

John the Baptist found joy in witnessing his own lower status because he was only there to point to Jesus. If only we could all have that attitude. Jesus is the groom of the Church, the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27), and we can only rejoice in His glorification.

The Apostle John finishes this portion of his narrative with this summation:

"He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (vv31-35, ESV).

Here John gives insight into the very Trinity: Jesus is “He who comes from above, and is above all.” He comes from the presence of God the Father and Jesus bears witness of Him by saying exactly what He was told to say by God the Father. The Father has given the Holy Spirit without measure to witness to His truths, and He loves the Son and gives all things into His hand. Jesus is God of very God, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit, and God the Father has given all things into His hand.

Glory, Hallelujah! That is one impressive resume and it’s God’s very truth!!

But all this comes with a promise and a warning:

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (v.36, ESV).

Believing the Word of the Father through Jesus brings eternal life—life with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that will last for all eternity.

Not believing the Word of the Father through Jesus brings death—the wrath of very God abides/remains/continues for eternity.

This echoes what Jesus said in Matthew 16 and Mark 8 when after asking the disciples who others said He was, He asked them who they thought He was. Peter responded, “You are the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16, ESV).

This is the only answer that will produce salvation and eternal life.

Who do you say that Jesus is?

LINKS

BLOGS