3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 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.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 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.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.[a] 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but[b] have eternal life.
Sometimes we try to rush God. Sometimes we want to know everything about everything right this very minute when we are not nearly prepared for it. God knows what is good for each one of us. He knows when to reveal and when to hold back in order to benefit you. He knows where you specifically are in your walk with Him, and thus knows what will benefit you to know or not to know. Christ explained the baptism to Nicodemus; He had preached before about all kinds of things, but the Pharisees, Nicodemus included, did not understand. So Nicodemus probed more, and Christ told him how can you believe things that are beyond your capacity to understand if you can’t believe the simpler things? We must build ourselves a foundation upon Christ in order to build anywhere or believe anything. A great place to build this foundation is the current Light and Life series at St. Mark’s in D.C. You can find the series online by clicking here.
God bless!
Marina
PLEASE KEEP THE PERSECUTED AND THOSE SERVING THEM IN YOUR PRAYERS!
