In the Bible book of John chapter 3 Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader, visited Jesus Christ at
night to give Jesus the praise for the miracles Jesus had done.
Nicodemus said Jesus must be from God because no one could do the
mighty miracles that Jesus did without God working through the person.
Instead of taking the praise, Jesus immediately focuses the
conversation on how to enter the kingdom of God or how to be saved from
the second death (hell).
In the Bible book of John chater 3 Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader, visited Jesus Christ at night to give Jesus the praise for the miracles Jesus had done. Nicodemus said Jesus must be from God because no one could do the mighty miracles that Jesus did without God working through the person. Instead of taking the praise, Jesus immediately focuses the conversation on how to enter the kingdom of God or how to be saved from the second death (hell).
It all comes down to the person of Jesus Christ (John 3:36). Unless Jesus Christ gives you a new nature, all else in this earthly life will lead to the second death (Romans 6:23). Not even the mighty miracles that Jesus Christ did should be the focus of life; the focus of life is Jesus and becoming one with Him. For Jesus came to reconcile God and God’s chosen people (John 3:16-19).
Do not be sidetracked by anything in this life. If you do not have Jesus Christ living on the inside and are cooperating with the Holy Spirit in becoming progressively one with Him, you have missed the whole point of life.
When Jesus Christ walked the earth, He had a dual nature. He was both God and man. When a person is born of the Holy Spirit, the person receives a dual nature. Born again Christians are both human beings and also possess the King of King and Lord of Lords (God) living on the inside. John 3:5 (Amplified Bible) says, “Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and [even] the Spirit, he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God.” If you have the Holy Spirit living on the inside, you also have Jesus Christ and God the Father living on the inside for God is a multiple of one as in 1 X 1 X 1 = 1 (John 14:10 and John 15:26).
If God lives inside of you, God called you out of the world (kingdom of darkness). John 3:16 (Amplified Bible) says, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” God is not talking about every human being in this Scripture text, just those who are called out of the world will spend eternal life with Him. In John 17:6 (Amplified Bible) Jesus says to God the Father, “I have manifested Your Name [I have revealed Your very Self, Your real Self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have obeyed and kept your word.” Jesus further clarifies that all in the world will not be saved in John 17:9 (Amplified Bible) when He says to God the Father, “I am praying for them, I am not praying (requesting) for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they belong to You.”
If someone appears to open the eyes of the blind, causes the deaf to hear, raises the dead, but does not acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that person is engaging in a trick of Satan, the enemy of God and man. Miracles are mighty works that should not only meet a physical need, but should also provide a spiritual need. When Jesus healed the man who had been paralyzed for 38 years, Jesus not only restored the man’s physical body, He addressed his spiritual need for forgiveness of sin (wrong thoughts and wrong behavior). When Jesus forgave the man of his sins, Jesus was saying He is God, for only God can forgive sins. Jesus alludes to the reality that sins are worse than physical sicknesses because sin leads to the second death (hell) where people are in torment eternally (John 5:14). So Jesus was also saying this man had been given the free gift of eternal life with God.
No one is able to choose God. Left to our own ability, we seek after things in opposition to God (Romans 3:10-11 and Romans 6:23). God chooses us for eternal life with Him (John 17:2). Nicodemus may have thought that he was just checking Jesus out in the safety of darkness where few would know that a Jewish religious leader met with Jesus. But it was not Nicodemus going to God rather it was the Holy Spirit drawing Nicodemus to God. God wanted Nicodemus to encounter Jesus for it was Nicodemus’ time to be called out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and you are reading this article, the Holy Spirit is calling you out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God. Do not fight against the conviction. Admit to God that you have participated in wrong thoughts and wrong behaviors (sin). Accept the free gift of salvation offered when more than 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ went to a cross in Calvary, Israel, to offer His death as payment for the debt owed God the Father for all the sins of His chosen children. God the Father accepted the payment by raising Jesus Christ up from the dead three days later. Acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and God will come to live inside of you. Welcome to the kingdom of God. Ask God to find you a church full of the Holy Spirit anchored by the Bible.
|
