What Only Christ Can Do - Himalayan Heights – July 9 Readings: John 3:14-15 – Lifted Up

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  

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: 2 Chronicles 35-36, Acts 10:1–33, Psalm 80:1–8, Proverbs17:1–3

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

Devotional:  What Only Christ Can Do   

I remember watching a comedian mocking the crucifixion of Christ, laughing about Christ's suffering on the Cross. I was stunned as I listened to him make jokes about what I consider to be the holiest and most sacred moment of history.

The world doesn't understand the Cross. How can a man's death nearly 2000 years ago change my eternal destiny? Why does it matter to me that Jesus lived and died and rose again? Why do I care about more than the good things Jesus taught?

Our faith is founded in two historical acts. When Paul defined the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, he mentioned two events that took place and were well-attested historically. First, we believe that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. He lived a perfect life, having no sins of his own - not in his thoughts, not in his words, and not in his actions - not a single one. Death is the consequence of sin, Jesus did not have to die. So, he offered himself in our place, to die for our sins. He took the wrath of God that I would have suffered, died the death that I face, suffered my hell on the Cross. He paid the price. Then, after 3 days, he rose again. The tomb opened and many people saw him alive again. Jesus lives today, seated at the right hand of the Father, attested by his resurrection as Lord of all and offering eternal life to all who believe in him. Jesus died. Jesus rose. That is why we have life.

Jesus, in speaking to Nicodemus, gave a prediction of his forthcoming death, even at this early point in his ministry. Of course, Nicodemus likely didn't understand this any more than he did anything else Jesus said, but he made the gospel abundantly clear, using an illustration from the Old Testament.

Snakes came to bite the sinful Israelites, and they died. Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, and those who looked to the serpent would live. In the same way, Jesus said, the Son of Man (Jesus himself) would be lifted up for the sins of the world. Sin is the poisonous adder biting every human being and draining our life. Jesus would be lifted up, bitten himself by that adder, and those who looked to him would live.

This is one of the earliest and clearest expressions of "salvation by grace through faith." Those who believe in him may have eternal life." It isn't about following volumes of arcane rabbinic laws or giving the right sacrifices at the Temple. It is about believing in Jesus, the one lifted up.

Father, thank you for offering your Son as the payment for our sins. 

Think and Pray:

Have you looked to the one who was lifted up for your sins?
Are you trying, through human religion, to do what only faith in Jesus Christ can do?