John 3:1-21
As we continue through the gospel of John, we see that by now Jesus had started His ministry. After calling His first disciples, He attended a wedding at Cana, where He performed His first sign – Turning water into wine. Then they go to Jerusalem during the Passover and when Jesus saw all of the people conducting business at the temple, He overturned their tables and drove them away.
Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader, comes at night to speak with Jesus. What exactly made Nicodemus seek out Jesus is not stated, but apparently, he believes that Jesus has been doing signs.
At Cana, although only His mother and the disciples directly witnessed this, the servants probably figured out what happened, when somehow the water they put into the stone jars ended up being fine wine. This would be seen as a miracle and gave hopes that maybe Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. So, the word could have spread quickly. And perhaps Nicodemus also had misgivings about people conducting business in the temple and thought that what Jesus did would be the same thing the Messiah would do if He saw what was going on.
For whatever reason moved Nicodemus to visit Jesus and have a conversation with Him, it gives us one of the most familiar and well-loved of NT scripture – John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
The meaning of this is so clear, it really requires no explanation. However, due to its fame and weight, it is easy to miss the other things Jesus said.
Jesus made it clear that in order to enter the kingdom of God, one has to be born again – born of water and born of Spirit. There have been many discussions about what this really means. Does it mean being baptized by water and baptized by the Spirit? Based on this understanding some churches have insisted that one would have to be baptized by water and then have some supernatural manifestation of the Spirit like speaking in tongues. This is not supported in the Bible.
Often, the simplest explanation is the most useful. Born of water probably means our physical birth, surrounded by amniotic fluid, while born of Spirit meaning our spiritual birth when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
In verse 13 Jesus makes it clear that He came from heaven and He will return there.
He reminds Nicodemus of what happened to Israel while they were wandering in the wilderness, written about in Numbers 21. The people spoke out against the LORD and poisonous snakes appeared and people died. They repented and asked Moses to get help from God, and God directed Moses to have a serpent made and set it on a pole. God told them that whoever is bitten and looks up at the bronze snake would live. Those who believed and looked up were saved, while those who did not perished.
Saying that He would be lifted up on a pole like the serpent seems to point to being hung on a cross. Those who realize that they are headed for eternal death just need to look to Jesus for eternal life. The rest will perish.
Many believed that when the Messiah came, He would perish His enemies. They did not grasp that this would mean that they would perish also, since they had not been able to keep all of God’s commandments. It is for this reason that Jesus was sent, not to condemn the world, but to be able to save the world through his work on the cross.
The light came into this dark world in the form of Jesus. Now it is up to us to reflect that light into the darkness so that those who have not seen the light will be drawn near and have the opportunity to be saved.
(the above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano during worship on May 25, 2025.)
Japanese Congregational Church 