YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN

These are five of the most astounding words in all of Scripture, spoken quietly at night by the Saviour to one of the most religious persons who ever enquired of Him. Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin and called by Jesus, the ‘teacher of Israel’, had come to the Master, with a sincere and searching heart. This man knew the first five books of the Old Testament. He knew the sacrificial system but did not know the Lamb of God. He would have read the promise of Abraham to Isaac on Moriah but had not received the fulfilment of that promise into his own life. He would have studied the story of Israel’s sin in the wilderness and God’s miraculous promise of healing and life through a brass serpent lifted up on a pole, but knew not of whom it really spoke. He knew nothing of eternal life for his soul!

Still, he came to Jesus. He knew Jesus had ‘come from God’, but he did not yet know Him as God. Jesus looked at this dear and honest man and said to him, ‘Ye must be born again’. His initial confusion as to what this meant was clarified by the Saviour. He spoke of heaven to this man, and that he would never see this land unless he was born again. The power behind these words came from the Son of Man, who had come down from heaven. Jesus used this Old Testament title, signifying that through a man, the Messiah, eternal blessing had been promised to the believing of Israel.

Then, He brought Nicodemus to that scene in the wilderness and, no doubt, stunned him by saying, ‘even so must the Son of man be lifted up’. The Messiah must die. As for Nicodemus, he must be born from above, re-born spiritually, to ever have hope for heaven. Into this context, the Lord then uttered these remarkable words to this man: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’.

The light dawned upon Nicodemus. Dear reader, have you ever been born again? There will be no heaven for you, unless you accept this same Saviour and His finished work upon the cross. Today, this same God is still offering, by His sovereign grace, to rescue you from perishing.