The Greatest Gift - Himalayan Heights – July 10 Readings: John 3:16 – God So Loved the World

John 3: Born Again

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  John 3:16

It is one of the strangest and most powerful confrontations in Jesus' life. A Pharisee named Nicodemus comes to him by night to discuss his teachings and Jesus blows his mind by telling him he must be born again. There is som much power and theological importance in these verses. We will spend the entire week looking at this encounter. Each day, read the entire 21 verses and then come back to meditate on the highlighted section.

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

10 “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. 11 “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven —the Son of Man.

14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Through the Bible Readings: Ezra 1-2, Acts 10:34–48, Psalm 80:9–19, Proverbs17:4–6

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional:  The Greatest Gift   

This may be a new verse for you - if you grew up on Mars, or in a country where Christianity is largely unknown. If you have any exposure to the Christian faith, then you know John 3:16. You learned it in Sunday School, you've seen it on signs at ball games. It is everywhere! And that is good, because there are few verses that carry the weight and power that John 3:16 does.

When the Bible says, "God so loved the world," it is not primarily talking of how much God loved us, though that amount is beyond measure. It speaks of HOW God loved us. Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrated his love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The love of God is shown by the actions God took to change our sinful condition.

God has one Son, his "one and only Son." The word in the original means unique. God's Son is unlike any other. I have three sons and they couldn't be more different from one another in temperament and in personality, but I love each other them with all my heart (as I do my daughter). God only has one Son and loves him in a way that I cannot even imagine. The relationship of the Father and the Son goes beyond my relationship with my children - they have perfect unity, perfect intimacy. God loves his Son more than we can imagine.

Yet as much as God loves his Son, he was willing to give him as a sacrifice for your sins and mine. He willingly gave Jesus to pay for the sins of the world. It was not that the life of Jesus meant little, but that his love for us was so great.

Some of you who read these devotionals are my friends, my loved ones. But if it came down to your life or the life of one of my children, or grandchildren, let's hope your insurance is paid up. I can think of people I love enough to give MY life for, but I cannot think of anyone I'd give my child's life for, or my grandchildren's. I love them more than that.

God loved us so much that he was willing to make that sacrifice. I don't know why - certainly we are not worthy of such love, but he gives it anyway! There is only one appropriate response to love like this. It comes from a great hymn.

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!

Father, I thank you today that you gave the life of your Son so that I could know eternal life. I will never know why you did that, but I thank you that you did.  

Think and Pray:

Meditate on the Love of God for you - love that motivated him to give his Son to die for you.
Thank him for that love.
Have you trusted Christ?
Is the life you are living a fitting response to love such as that?