Devotion on Jesus and Nicodemus

John 3:1-21


"Now 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 him, "Truly, truly, 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 again when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" [5] Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, 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 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.


[9] Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" [10] Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel that you do not understand these things? [11] Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. [12] If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? [13] No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven. [14] And as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, [15] that whoever beleves in him may have eternal life.


[16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned , but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. [19] And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. [20] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

Before you go on reading, I would like you to read this passage again, and this time, read it carefully, if you haven't already. This passage is a kind-of famous passage, but a lot of times, people don't really think of what this means. The first two verses are probably more significant than you think. In those days, pharisees were usually too arrogant to admit that Jesus was of God. Even though Nicodemus did come to see Jesus, he came during the night, which shows that he was afraid to confront Jesus in front of other people. In our lives, too, I think a lot of us get too afraid of what people might think of us when we do something, instead of doing what we know is right. Verses 3-8 is where I would say Jesus loses Nicodemus. What Jesus is talking about is spiritual rebirth. See, when Adam sinned, sin entered the world, and with sin comes spiritual death. Spiritual death is just fancy talk for separation from God. As Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." . Therefore, no one could have a relationship with God in heaven, and someone perfect had to die for the sins of the world, which was Jesus. Whoever accepts him into their life will be given Jesus' holiness and therefore be able to have a relationship with God in heaven. Those who don't will spend an eternity in hell seperated from God. When we accept Jesus as our savior, we are "reborn" into God's family. In verses 9-12 Jesus is putting Nicodemus in his place. In those days, believe it or not, the pharisees were the leaders of the chuch. They were supposed to know the most of the church, but Nicodemus didn't even know about spiritual rebirth. In verses 14-15, Jesus is using the example of Moses putting a bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness so that the Israelites who looked up at the snake would not die from their snakebites. Just like them, we can be saved from eternal seperation from God by receiving Jesus into our lives. A good thing to do after this is pray about this devotion, and how you can apply this to your life.