John 3:9-12

This year we are covering the four Gospel Accounts together in chronological order.

In the previous post, we covered John 3:1-8. Here was the conclusion:

A Pharisee named Nicodemus confessed to Jesus in private that the religious leaders knew Jesus was sent by God. Jesus told Nicodemus that those born anew would be able to see the Kingdom of God. Jesus explained that those who are born anew are led by the Holy Spirit.


John 3
"9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?"

(Nicodemus asked Jesus how could a person be born anew and led by the Holy Spirit.)

"10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?"

(Jesus answered Nicodemus' question with a question...basically, are you a teacher of God's Word and do not understand these things? Don't forget, Jesus had also compared being led of the Holy Spirit to a natural experience: the wind.)

"11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness."

(Jesus then stated two facts: People speak what they know. People bear witness to what they've seen. Notice, what people know would be related to Understanding and involve the Spiritual realm. However, what people have seen would be related to Experience and involve the Physical realm. Then Jesus stated a separate fact: The religious leaders had not agreed with Jesus' and His Disciples' witness. The implied conclusion to these three facts was that the religious leaders didn't know the Word of God nor Understand the words Jesus spoke about the Spiritual realm. However, that conclusion came from Jesus' referencing the Physical realm and Experience.)

"12 If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

(Jesus asked a question that began with an "if": IF Jesus spoke about earthly things (the wind)...things they had Experienced in the Physical realm...and they didn't believe, how would they believe IF Jesus spoke of the Spiritual realm? There were two implications from this verse. First, Understanding the Spiritual realm was more difficult than Experiencing the Physical realm. Second, the Physical realm was a physical representation of the Spiritual realm. We ought to be looking for the Spiritual principles represented by the Physical phenomena that we Experience.)


CONCLUSION
Nicodemus asked Jesus to explain how a person could be born anew and led by the Holy Spirit. Jesus answered that if a person doesn't believe the Physical things they are told how could they believe the Spiritual things they are told.

Jesus continued His explanation and it resulted in the most quoted verses of the New Testament...

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