King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 18 notes
1There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.
You are right in your observation that I am sent from God.
This I tell you, most definitely no man can enter into the kingdom of God except he is born again.
4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.
6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
So is everyone born of the wind 🍃. This verse I believe talks of oneness with the wind / the Spirit.
I am not the one replacing wind with 🧚♂️ spirit or vice versa.
In the Greek, the word spirit is pneuma, and is the same word used for wind.
I can relate to this because in my language, Ga, the word for spirit is similar to the word for breath.
Jesus is saying that just as you can only hear the sound of the wind but cannot tell its path, so are the ways of the Spirit and the one born of the Spirit.
In essence, the one born of the Spirit is spirit — he acts, moves and exhibits the same traits as the Spirit.
Oh Jesus, the things he knew, the understanding he had and the revelations — these came in his personal dealing with God in prayer.
Only God knows what other things he had to say, but no one could bear them.
9Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
I understand Nicodemus. It is not easy to believe that a man can or must be born again... even if it is implied in some esoteric way.
These things pertain to man and the earth 🌎.
He did not believe, being a teacher of the law, because he did not understand it.
Though understanding is not a prerequisite to believing.
This could mean that the answer to Nicodemus's question as to how one could be born again pertains to heavenly things.
The how part of the question was more intriguing, for lack of a better word, than just merely stating the facts.
It was in response to the question of how that Jesus begins to talk of heavenly things and the movement of the Spirit-born being akin to that of the wind.
13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
What does Jesus mean by he is in heaven?
The Amplified explains it as the Son of Man who dwells, has his home in heaven.
John 3:13 AMPC
And yet no one has ever gone up to heaven, but there is One Who has come down from heaven–the Son of Man [Himself], Who is (dwells, has His home) in heaven.
Jesus was not just aware by some revelation that he came from heaven, in the sense of the way men of God or prophets are sent from God, so in a sense they are from God.
No, he, Jesus, lived there, had memories and was just continuing his eternal life temporarily in the earth 🌎 and eternally in the heavens.
Little wonder some people thought he was Elijah come down again.
14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
It's almost like Jesus had the complete script of his life.
He knew what was to happen to him from the very beginning.
It was all outlined in scripture, and he had read them and had understanding of them that none other had, because he was part of the inspiration behind the writings.
He was the word of God.
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Just like Adam, the son of God, had what we would now consider as superhuman in strength 💪, and mind, in that he named all animals without being taught.
So Jesus was God on earth 🌎 and knew so much but spoke little compared to what he knew.
He was full of grace, as John said.
Jesus was likely melchor, considering his straightforwardness at times, combined with his compassion.
19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
22After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
23And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
24For John was not yet cast into prison.
25Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.
26And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
27John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
28Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
29He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
John alludes to himself as being the friend of the bridegroom, yet when he was in trouble he was not helped by his friend, until eventually he was beheaded.
No wonder John became offended in him...
In reality John and Jesus were not friends in ministry.
They did not even complement each other's ministry — John's ministry was to be subject to that of Christ's.
Indeed in the beginning it looked like John's ministry was meant to last, but alas it was cut short after having finished his assignment of ushering in the ministry of Jesus.
We have to be careful and understand our roles in people's lives and ministries without pushing it too far.
30He must increase, but I must decrease.
Wow... Such a sense of self. Such self-awareness... He knew he must decrease.
Who wants to decrease and actually accepts his lot is to decrease?
Oh, such depth of understanding of his calling.
In essence Jesus was going to end John's ministry, and John was more than glad that was happening right before his eyes.
He must decrease and Jesus increase.
Now John was in prison, and Jesus, who was healing the sick, raising the dead, even men dead for days, watched on as John was beheaded and did nothing.
Maybe indeed John's ministry had come to an end and did not need any resurrection back to life.
I understand why John was offended in him. Maybe John himself was expecting Jesus to manifest his kingship at his first coming. I can imagine John's pain in prison as he heard of the Christ, and yet nothing was done to liberate Jesus's own forerunner.
Who knows these things. That also goes to show that no matter how accurate our relationship with God is, we only know in part always and never complete.
This is indeed a word of caution to the prophets who assume an omniscient posture but are only men, not God.
31He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
How did John get these words of John the Baptist? I believe John himself, being a disciple of John the Baptist, heard from those who remained with the Baptist.
32And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
This confirms what I was saying earlier.
Jesus lived in heaven, has memories and continued to see and hear the dealings of heaven concerning the earth 🌎, and he testifies of them.
So men know, believe and know what God's plan is for them.
33He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
34For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Jesus the Son of Man epitomized the model of and for the redeemed man.
So now that we are born again, we follow the same example.
Jesus did not need the Spirit to do any miracles... He himself is the creator, yet when he became man he needed the Holy Spirit like those of us to be redeemed later.
He did all this for us, and cleansed us with his one blood for the remission of sins.