CHAPTER 3

(A.D. 30)

NICODEMUS

¹There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus (said to have been one of the three richest men in Jerusalem), a Ruler of the Jews (a member of the Sanhedrin, the Ruling body of Israel):

²The same came to Jesus by night (it is not known exactly as to why he came by night), and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a Teacher come from God (the pronoun we could indicate that Nicodemus represented several members of the Sanhedrin; Nicodemus addresses Christ here as a man, and not as God; the Cross would change Him): for no man can do these miracles that You do, except God be with Him (in this, he is correct!).

³Jesus answered and said unto him (presents an answer totally different from that which he expected), Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again (the term, born again, means that man has already had a natural birth, but now must have a Spiritual Birth, which comes by Faith in Christ, and what He has done for us at the Cross, and is available to all), he cannot see the Kingdom of God (actually means that without the New Birth, one cannot understand or comprehend the Kingdom of God).

⁴Nicodemus said unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? (This proclaims this spiritual leader of Israel as having no knowledge at all of what Jesus is saying. Had he truly been born-again, he would have understood these terms.) can he enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born? (It seems he did not know the language of the Prophets concerning circumcision of the heart [Deut. 30:6; Jer. 4:4], and concerning a hard heart and right spirit [Ps. 51:10; Ezek. 36:26-27].)

⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit (the phrase, born of water, speaks of the natural birth, which Jesus says in the next Verse, and pertains to a baby being born; being Born of the Spirit speaks of a Spiritual Birth, which is brought about by God Alone; and neither does it speak of Water Baptism), he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh (has to do with the natural birth, and is illustrated, as stated, by the phrase, born of water); and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (has to do with that which is solely of God; the one [flesh] has no relationship to the other [Spirit] and cannot be joined).

⁷Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again (evidently addresses itself to the surprise, which must have been registered on the countenance of Nicodemus).

⁸The wind blows where it listeth, and you hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell from where it comes, and whither it goes (presents the way in which Jesus explains the born-again experience; He likens it to the wind which comes and goes, but is impossible to tell exactly how): so is every one who is born of the Spirit (it is a Spiritual Birth, so it cannot be explained intellectually).

⁹Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be? (Not being born-again at this particular time, and despite his vast intelligence in other areas, he has no understanding of this great Truth; he is religious but lost!)

¹⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Are you a Master of Israel (was held in very high regard as one of the spiritual leaders of Israel), and knowest not these things? (As a spiritual leader, he should have known the way of Salvation, but the sad fact was he didnt.)

¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto you, We speak that we do know (Jesus was speaking of the Triune Godhead, and as well of all the Apostles and Prophets; in essence, He is speaking of the Word of God, and is directing Nicodemus to that Source instead of tradition), and testify that we have seen (means that one can actually see the fruit or benefits of this Testimony, i.e., The Word of God); and you receive not our witness (has to do with the Jewish Sanhedrin).

¹²If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not (refers to the earthly type and events in the Bible, such as the Sacrifices and Feast Days, etc., which Nicodemus no doubt read many times, but was so blind that he did not see nor believe their lessons), how shall you believe, if I tell you of Heavenly things? (In effect, this tells us that if we are to know Jesus as God [Heavenly things], we must first know Jesus and the Incarnation [earthly things]. Nicodemus had addressed Jesus as merely a Teacher. So until he understands God becoming flesh and dwelling among men, he will not understand Heavenly things.)

¹³And no man has ascended up to Heaven, but He who came down from Heaven (He came down from Heaven and became Man, and approximately three and a half years later will ascend up to Heaven, when His Mission is complete), even the Son of Man which is in Heaven (better translated, which is from Heaven).

¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (refers to Num. 21:5-9; the serpent represents Satan who is the originator of sin), even so must the Son of Man be lifted up (refers to Christ being lifted up on the Cross, which alone could defeat Satan and sin):

¹⁵That whosoever (destroys the erroneous hyper-Calvinistic explanation of predestination that some are predestined to be saved, while all others are predestined to be lost; the word whosoever means that none are excluded from being lost, and none are excluded from being saved)believes in Him (believes in Christ and what He did at the Cross; otherwise, one would perish) should not perish, but have Eternal Life (the Life of God, the Ever-Living One, Who has life in Himself, and Alone has immortality).

¹⁶For God so loved the world (presents the God kind of love), that He gave His Only Begotten Son (gave Him up to the Cross, for thats what it took to redeem humanity), that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life.

¹⁷For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world (means that the object of Christs Mission was to save, but the issue to those who reject Him must and can only be condemnation); but that the world through Him might be saved (Jesus Christ is the only Salvation for the world; there is no other! as well, He is Salvation only through the Cross; consequently, the Cross must ever be the object of our Faith).

¹⁸He who believes on Him is not condemned (is not condemned to be eternally lost in the Lake of Fire forever and forever [Rev. 20:11-15]): but he who believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God (all of this refers to Christ and what He did at the Cross in order to redeem humanity; Salvation is never by works, but rather by Grace through Faith, with the Cross ever the Object of that Faith).

¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world (refers to Jesus as the Light; there is no other!), and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (proclaims the fact that the great penalty of sin is sinful desire; the love of darkness is the consequence of mans wicked ways; the rejection of Jesus Christ is not the occasion of mans lostness, but rather the result of it).

²⁰For every one who does evil hates the Light (presents a striking rebuke to Nicodemus with a keen thrust of the sharp sword, saying to him that evil-doers choose the darkness, so why did this Pharisee come by night?), neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved (to truly come to Jesus means the Revelation and condemnation of every evil way, which is totally unlike the religions of the world which reveal nothing; the Light automatically reveals what is hidden by the darkness).

²¹But he who does truth comes to the Light (the desire for truth must be placed in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit, by the means of the revealed Word of God; if the person sincerely wants to do truth, he must come to Christ, for Christ is the only Light), that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God (proclaims the great change that takes place in the Believing sinners life upon coming to Christ; the evil deeds are forever gone, with righteous deeds taking their place).

²²After these things came Jesus and His Disciples into this land of Judaea (means that Jesus and His Disciples left the metropolis of Jerusalem, where hostility was already beginning to mount, especially considering His cleansing of the Temple; they went to other parts of Judaea); and there He tarried with them, and baptized (He actually did not do any baptizing Himself; it was done by His Disciples, but, no doubt, under His Direction; the Scripture seems to indicate that this practice wasnt carried forth too very long; no doubt, it was done by Christ to further validate the Ministry of John the Baptist, whose great emphasis was Water Baptism).

JOHN THE BAPTIST

²³And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there (is believed to have been located about fifty miles north of Jerusalem in Samaria): and they came, and were baptized (means the crowds kept coming, but were actually diminishing by this time).

²⁴For John was not yet cast into prison (the Holy Spirit is telling us here that the Ministry of John the Baptist is about to conclude).

²⁵Then there arose a question between some of Johns disciples and the Jews about purifying (it was a very angry debate! the debate was over the many laws and rituals which had been fabricated by the Pharisees; in other words, a great ado about nothing!).

²⁶And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, He Who was with You beyond Jordan, to Whom you bear witness (Jesus), behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to Him (they were trying to instigate a rivalry between Christ and John, and more particularly to demean John).

²⁷John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from Heaven (Johns Ministry was from God and, therefore, from Heaven; and the Ministry of Christ was from God and, therefore, from Heaven; consequently, they complemented each other; there was no rivalry!).

²⁸You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ (means that he is subservient and submissive to the One Who is actually the Christ), but that I am sent before Him (proclaims the fact that John is under the authority of Christ, and not the authority of the Pharisees, or any part of the religious hierarchy of Israel).

²⁹He who has the Bride is the Bridegroom (he is saying that all the souls he has won in reality belong to Jesus, and not him, because Jesus is the Bridegroom; consequently, he takes no umbrage at the great crowds now going to Jesus, which had originally come to him): but the friend of the Bridegroom (that which John concludes himself to be), which stands and hears Him (refers to the Ministry of Christ, which exceeds all that John could ever have surmised), rejoices greatly because of the Bridegrooms voice (refers to the Ministry of Christ): this my joy therefore is fulfilled (John had not only fulfilled his mission, but he was fulfilled).

³⁰He must increase (He must ever increase, not men, denominations, religious offices, the Virgin Mary, Apostles, etc.), but I must decrease (the Ministers of the New Covenant must all take note of Divine Praise and self-depletion, as we prepare the way of the Lord to human hearts; we must hide ourselves behind the greater Glory of our Lord; we are successful, only as we succeed in doing this).

³¹He who comes from above is above all (refers to the fact that Christ was a man, but above all that He was more than man, in fact, God): he who is of the Earth is earthly, and speaks of the Earth (refers to all men, even the great Prophets, which are of necessity limited): He who comes from Heaven is above all (places Christ in a category above all men, even as He ever shall be!).

³²And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies (refers to that which Jesus received from the Father, which testified of Him and He of it); and no man receives His Testimony (means that no man contributed to His Testimony, but that it was all from God).

³³He who has received His Testimony (refers to all who have believed on His Name and accepted Him as Lord and Saviour) has set to His Seal that God is true (has to do with man receiving the witness of the Son as the Giver of Eternal Life; as the witness of Jesus is true in every respect, such portrays that God is true to His Word).

³⁴For He Whom God has sent speaks the Words of God (refers to Christ Who always spoke the Mind of God and, thereby, the Word of God): for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him(refers to the fact that all others, whomever they may have been and even the very greatest, while having the Holy Spirit, did so by measure, which was not so with Jesus; He had the Spirit in totality, hence, the constant healings and miracles).

³⁵The Father loves the Son (refers to the Incarnation, and what Christ would do to redeem humanity), and has given all things into His hand (refers to the great Plan of Redemption and it being carried out by the Lord Jesus Christ).

³⁶He who believes on the Son has Everlasting Life (proclaims to one and all the simple Plan of Salvation; the consequences are eternal): and he who believes not the Son shall not see life (this means that there is only one way to be Saved, and that is by trusting Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross); but the Wrath of God abides on him (the only way to be cleansed from sin is by the Precious Blood of Christ, and our Faith in that Finished Work; to not do that means that sin remains, and the Wrath of God must evermore be opposed to sin, and those who allow it to remain in their lives).