22 - John 3:11-12

’Verily, verily I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?’ -John 3:11-12.

Nicodemus came, it would appear, to hear about heavenly things; to be entertained by a description of the unseen world. One sent of God as Christ was, and able to do such wonderful things, would doubtless be able to give such accounts of the angel-peopled heavens as would greatly interest and startle those who had the privilege of hearing them. The rabbis had told Nicodemus many marvellous tales about those worlds of light; his own imagination had pictured to him many beautiful and captivating scenes; but here was one come from God, and accompanied by divine credentials: what a precious opportunity of learning all about the details and characteristics of the worlds where God is seen in his glory. Instead of being thus entertained, the master in Israel is not a little astonished at the somewhat dry, very practical, and yet very doctrinal discourse addressed to him. He did not come to hear about the new birth, or about the doctrine of the Spirit; but the wisdom of God in Christ saw that this was what he needed. And there are many no doubt who would fancy the Bible a good deal more, if it were not so doctrinal and so practical; if it entertained them more with the wonders of other worlds; with accounts of life in Jupiter and Saturn; with description of the angelic hierarchies and the occupations and delights of heaven. But the message that comes to this world from that relates to the way in which we are to live in this world, and to the change to be wrought in us; the wonder-faculty, like the rest of our nature, must be wrought upon by the Holy Spirit before we can be capable of walking in God’s path at all.

"That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The Spirit himself, like the wind, is unseen; but, like the wind, or air, is sufficiently manifest in his operations. (There is only one word in the Greek for the Spirit and for the wind, or air, or atmosphere, in which subordinately, we live, move, and have our being: a fact more remarkable than many fictions.) "How can these things be?" said Nicodemus. ’How can an unseen Spirit thus mightily influence our spirit?’ The question shows him to be without faith; shows him to be unspiritual. Christ’s reply is addressed to the state of mind thus divulged.

Let us observe the transition from the singular to the plural. "Verily, verily I say unto thee, We speak that we do know," Christ, as it were, abdicates for the moment his own peculiar and pre-eminent position as the Sent of God, to class himself with his apostles. He wishes to point out the claims of the truth, when declared by competent witnesses, upon the credence and obedience of men.

We speak what we know; we do not speak to you of what the Spirit is and does in heaven, but of what he is and does upon the earth; of his work in the hearts of men; of the transformations of character wrought by him in the midst of us. The offspring of the Spirit, men who have passed from death unto life, are among us. These disciples of men will tell you that they were once unregenerate, but have become the children of God by the operation of his Spirit. But even the prophets bear testimony to the Spirit and to his power to renew the heart of man. "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" I am, you say, a teacher come from God; yet you stumble at the first things I tell you. My instruction, to be welcomed of you, must correspond with the ideas and sentiments you already have in your mind, and must build itself up on this as on a foundation. What is this but to affirm that you are yourself taught of God, and thus in a position to challenge my teaching? I must learn of you, and then teach you. Hast thou ascended into heaven? Been there and returned? No man hath done this "but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven." The Son of man who is in heaven: new doctrines, new mysteries. The question of Nicodemus, "How can these things be?" and the reply of Jesus, "Ye believe not," show that the question was a sceptical one. It proceeded from a spirit of unbelief. And there is many a question put in these days that is simply indicative of unbelief. The questioned truth would, if received, enable the mind to solve many formidable difficulties; but the mind chooses to keep it outside and regard it as a difficulty because it does not harmonise with a great deal of the rubbish outside. Every man who declines to receive the testimony of Christ and of the Bible, saying, "How can these things be, these uncommon things never seen in our times?" shows that on the whole he concedes greater authority to his own notions of things than to Christ. He believes in himself rather than in Christ; and thus doing he plainly condemns himself.

Afterwards, speaking of the Spirit, Christ said to his disciples: "Him the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not." It is as though a blind man should say, I will not suffer the physician to approach me to operate upon my eyes, unless I may first see him. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit; and only spirit can recognise the creative Spirit. Blessed is he that believeth. There is the testimony of Christ’s disciples, of the Scriptures, of Christ himself. It is a solemn thing for a man to reject this testimony. Christ’s words shall be echoed from the judgment, and shall sound loud enough in that day to shake awfully the soul that refused to make way for them by surrender of its own vain fancies.