Jesus
didn't tell Nicodemus what he must do to be born again. Why? Because it
was not within Nicodemus' power to perform this miracle. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John
3:6) Flesh can only reproduce flesh. It takes the Spirit to regenerate
the human spirit. This miracle of regeneration cannot be achieved by
human effort, or by self performed surgery.
The
new birth is not the improvement of the old nature, but the creation of
an entirely new one. It is a birth, a new birth, and like the first one
we experienced, it did not occur because of our decision to be born.
Our will was not a factor in any way. We were born as a result of the
will of others - that of our parents, and of course, God's will to
create us using the means of human, physical intimacy.
In
contrast to our first birth, this new birth does not occur through
human means. God alone brings about this new creation in Christ Jesus.
As John, the Gospel writer had already pointed out in chapter 1:12, 13,
"But to all who did receive him, who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who
were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of
man, but of God." Jesus makes it clear that human flesh can only
reproduce flesh. It is the Holy Spirit alone who can recreate human
spirits. The Holy Spirit is the sole Agent working regeneration in the
human spirit.
In
explaining this phenomenon of the new birth, Jesus then speaks of
something very mysterious - the wind. Wind is mysterious, not because
it is not real, but because it is not something we've ever actually
seen. Though we know when it is around because of its effects, we've
never actually observed wind with our eyes. Oh, we've seen trees
swaying, leaves falling, papers flying through the air. Sometimes the
effects of the wind are so powerful that the only word we can use for
its effects would be devastation. The wind can cause havoc on a massive
scale, as the victims of hurricanes can testify. But wind is mysterious
because we can't see it, and we are never sure about where it came
from, or where it is going. It seems to have a mind of its own.
Concerning this, Jesus said, "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." (3:8)
The
word "pneuma" in Greek, like the word "ruach" in Hebrew means "breath,
wind or spirit." Jesus uses an obvious play on words here, describing
the activity of the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
Of
course, much more could and should be said about these opening verses
in John chapter 3. But just for a moment, can we stop to appreciate the
impact of verse 8? Here Jesus teaches us that when anyone is born of
the Spirit, like the blowing of the wind, the invisible Sovereign
Spirit of God has moved in mighty power. Yet in contrast to when a town
or city experiences storm damage on a large scale, the effects of this
"wind" are not in any way negative. Though powerful in the extreme, the
Spirit's work is amazingly precise.
When
someone is born again, it is evidence of the fact that God, the Holy
Spirit has performed extensive Divine surgery. He has taken out the
stony heart and put in a heart of flesh (using the biblical imagery of
Ezekiel, flesh is spoken of in contrast to stone, whereas Jesus, in
John 3 is using the word flesh in a different way, speaking only of
physical, human flesh). Ezekiel 36:26-27 declares, "And
I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to
walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." What an amazing miracle this is!
I
remember going to a Christian service at age 14, not wanting to be
there, hoping for the service to end (even though it had just begun). I
was only there because my father had asked me to go. I had no interest
in Christ, nor in what I was observing when the congregation sang, and
certainly, had no interest in what the preacher had to say. But
sometime during the message, my attitude changed. I became interested.
In fact, I became intrigued. I was fascinated, and struck by the
realities of heaven and hell, and the need for a Savior, and for the
first time in my life, was attracted by a Treasure I had never seen
before.
I didn't know it then, but I know now, that what happened in a little metal shed-like building in
If
you are born of the Spirit, God did the exact same thing for you. The
Reformation sola of Sola Gratia (Grace Alone) simply expresses in
doctrine what God has done for His people in experience. It is God and
God alone who has saved us. All the credit for it goes to Him, because
this birth had nothing to do with our intelligence (that we somehow
worked out who Jesus was for ourselves), or our humility (we having
conquered our own pride, were able to humble ourselves to be able to
respond in faith to the Gospel). No, a thousand times, no! We are
Christians because of the all conquering power of the mighty Spirit of
God, who graciously stormed our hearts and worked His Sovereign will.
He brought us forth by the word of truth, causing us to find sheer
delight in the presence of God both now and for all eternity.
When
Lazarus was raised from death, he did not immediately seek an attorney
in order to sue Jesus for violating his right to stay dead! Nor did all
the town's people sue Jesus for not at the very same time raising all
of their dead relatives from the graves. No, everyone marveled at the
all-powerful call of Jesus. By the power of just His word, He actually
brought a putrefying corpse back to life. Of course, no one was more
thrilled with this Divine mercy than Lazarus himself.
Why
do we speak so much about God's grace? Because with Lazarus we can say
that by the effectual call of God, grace has conquered our hearts and
brought us to life. When we were spiritually dead in our trespasses and
sins (the Greek word for dead in Ephesians 2:1, "necros" means "dead
like a corpse") God made us alive (Eph. 2:5).
C.
H. Spurgeon once said, "The great King, immortal, invisible, the Divine
person, called the Holy Spirit: it is He that stimulates the soul, or
else it would lie dead forever; it is He that makes it tender, or else
it would never feel; it is He that imparts power to the Word preached,
or else it could never reach further than the ear; it is He who breaks
the heart, it is He who makes it whole; He, from first to last, is the
great worker of Salvation in us, just as Jesus Christ was the author of
Salvation for us."
"And
you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world, following the prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience
- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying
out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy,
because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were
dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace
you have been saved..." Eph. 2:1-5
Prayer: "Heavenly Father, Sovereign King, hear our cry. As Your gospel is heralded around the world, may the Holy Spirit of God, like a mighty triumphant wind, conquer dead human hearts today! It is man's only hope! For Your great Name's sake and for Your glory alone. Amen."
