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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain John 3:10:
John 3:9-15
Excerpted from: John 3:16 in Context (Part Two)This second section confirms that the Old Testament indicated the spiritual process that Jesus was teaching to Nicodemus. Jesus was surprised that Nicodemus could not figure this out. "You know the Old Testament so well. Why do you not see this in there?" That there has to be a spiritual change and that the Kingdom of God is first spiritual and then, of course, it will be a kingdom of this earth when Jesus Christ returns.
However, the Jewish leadership could not understand this, they missed this or outright rejected it because of their, using a term we can take from Jesus, their earthiness. They were of the earth. They could not comprehend this spiritual truth. They could not believe it. And their theology had a fatal flaw in that it was focused entirely on physical Israel. They could not see beyond the bounds of physical Israel.
But Jesus is telling him that the truth of salvation is focused on turning to and believing the Son of God. It is not on Israel being a great nation and having sway over the nations of the earth. And He tells Nicodemus that he should have known this. Because he knew exactly when Jesus said Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. He had probably read that section in the Pentateuch a hundred times. But he never had the mind, never had the Spirit of God to understand what that meant. That it foreshadowed Jesus Christ being lifted up so that all men can be saved. That is what the serpent in the wilderness was supposed to do. People were supposed to turn to and look at the serpent and be healed. Their life would be saved after all the snake bites and everything that were happening there.
And so that physical sign moves easily into comprehension when you understand that serpents—what might a serpent be a symbol of and turning to, look at, gazing upon something lifted into the air on a pole? And of course, the culmination was that people's lives were saved. Just take that up one notch, one spiritual notch, and it fits wonderfully into the story of salvation, if you will.
John 3:10-13
Excerpted from: John 3:16 in ContextWhat He is doing here by saying this is that He is stating precisely and confidently that He has seen and heard what God told Him in heaven. He is bringing a message directly from the throne of God and that must have knocked Nicodemus' sandals right off his feet. He was telling him here, "I came directly from God." He says, "I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen in heaven and you do not believe our witness. You do not believe Me. You do not believe the Father. You're off the reservation, Nicodemus. You do not believe what has come directly from the Father's mouth to My ears to tell you." I wonder how he said that. Was Nicodemus by this point, shaking in a puddle of his own sweat? Did he say this with the power of Almighty God? Or was it spoken gently because Nicodemus could not understand? Because he had not been given that gift of the Holy Spirit yet to really understand.
But He is telling him, "Nicodemus, you're thinking like a regular Israelite. You're not thinking like a Christian, like a godly person. You're thinking totally physically and you will not even give Me the time of day to explain these things because you Jewish leaders have already made up your minds." So He says, "I came down from heaven. I'm the Son of Man." Now he gives him a bone.
ArticlesJoseph of Arimathea
SermonsA Son Is Given
Built as a Witness
Leadership and Covenants (Part Sixteen)
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