Escaping the Night
Concetta Antico is a rarity. She has a fourth type of cone
in her eye which enables her to see some 99 million colors, where most of us
see about a million,[1]
An eagle can see a rabbit from about 2 miles away. Then again their vision is eight-times
that of ours. Polar bears can track seals by smell for 20+ kilometers[2].
My dog, Missy, heard my dad’s truck turn onto our street which was about .2 of
a mile. It gave her time to jump out of my dad’s chair, stretch, and leisurely
greet him at the door. That’s because dogs hear higher frequencies than we do.
Right now, few, if any of us give a thought about the sheer
numbers of things that are touching us and we have no control over it. Various
electromagnet waves from TV, radio, Wi-Fi, light, sound, and all the rest of a
reality we can’t understand because it is hard to learn all that needs to be
understood. And when you start thinking about quantum mechanics things get even
more complicated in my case.
Spiritual Reality
I am going to make a guess that most of us believe in the
reality of a spiritual realm. Worship is the means God uses to tell us about
His Kingdom and our responsibilities. There are those who ‘dabble’ in the
spiritual realm. They don’t really believe but they spend time looking into
crystals, unfocused meditation, and even witchcraft at one extreme.
I contend that the only way to experience a meaningful
connection with the real ‘Spiritual’ realm is through the work of Jesus, God’s
Son. And His work only makes sense after his glorification.
Grave Situations
The prophet is in a grave situation in chapter 6 because he
finds himself smack dab, center stage, before the throne of God, Almighty.
Seraphim hide their eyes as the Lord resides on His throne. Isaiah knew what
happened to those who ‘saw’ God—they ceased to exist. Moses escaped this because God Himself
shielded him as God moved by him. Here, God is seen, and Isaiah knows his life
is forfeit. He is a sinner, and everyone he knows, all of Israel are sinners as
well. There is no escape.
Then one of the seraphim brings a hot coal to Isaiah
touching Isaiah’s lips says, “your guilt is taken away and your sin
atoned for”. This act of God’s grace transforms this prophet from
condemnation to being accepted in God’s presence. As Isaiah remains God’s voice
that thunders and He asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” to
which he says, “Send me.”
Nicodemus is also in a grave situation but, unlike Isaiah,
he doesn’t realize it. There are no heavenly beings crying out “Holy, holy,
holy” or smoke-filled temple. There is only nighttime in Israel with this
big-name Pharisee Nicodemus comes to speak with this Jesus. Nicodemus just
can’t figure out this Jesus.
The Gospel of John is a very ‘relational gospel’. Jesus has
conversations with individuals in order to teach. Here it is “the teacher of
Israel” and in chapter 4 a disgraced Samaritan woman. Keep this in mind as
you read through the gospel.
It takes about three minutes or so to read these verses. Do
you think they only chatted for three minutes? No. I imagine it lasted a few
hours and this snippet is what the Holy Spirit lays on John to record.
Jesus begins by sidetracking Nicodemus and simply telling
him what it takes to have eternal life. But Nicodemus seems to totally miss
Jesus’ point. He isn’t the first or last to misunderstand what Jesus was
saying.
The NPR show, Whad’ya Know began the same way, each
week. Michael Feldman would ask the audience, “Whad’ya know?” and the audience
would respond, “Not much, you?” I can imagine Nicodemus not knowing much as
Jesus says ““Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot
see the kingdom of God.” And then afterward (v 7) “Do not marvel that I
said to you, ‘You must be born again’ and follows up with “So it is with
everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus finds himself unable to deal with the strangeness
of Jesus’ comments. Finally, he is forced to ask, “What does all this mean?”
Empty Tombs
Isaiah is brought through his grave situation by the touch
of the coal that cleanses him. Nicodemus seems to be left stranded, but Jesus
demonstrates to him the reason why eternal life resides only in Jesus. He does
this by making it clear that this rabbi knows a lot more than “the teacher
of Israel”.
Verse 11 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of
what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen,
but you do not receive our testimony.” This is the second Amen, amen
statement of Jesus. The best explanation of the phrase “truly, truly” is “what
I am going to say to you now is certainly true”[3]
What Jesus knows is perfect and total. Nicodemus might recognize Jesus has a
connection with God because of what Jesus has done, but he isn’t able to
testify to Jesus’ Sonship.
Jesus’ experiential knowledge of His identity and He can
express this truth whenever it suits Him. His use of ‘we’ is not a reference to
his disciples but is the royal ‘we’ as my mom called it. As in “We are not
amused”.
Isaiah is undone in the presence of God. Nicodemus merely
wonders at this rabbi. Unlike Nicodemus, who just enters into a conversation,
Isaiah is horrified, his life is over as far as he is concerned, his sin is too
great. But God provides that which atones for his sin. There is no such awe or
recognition by Nicodemus.
Nicodemus had approached Jesus with a certain amount of respect (v. 2), but he had not even begun to appreciate who Jesus really was. At the bottom, Nicodemus’s failure was not a failure of intellect but a failure to believe Jesus’ witness.”[4]
Jesus refers to Numbers 21 in verse 14. The people
complained against God and Moses and God sent snakes into their midst. Many
died but God relented and had Moses create a shake and put it on a pole. When
Moses held aloft the pole with the attached serpent those who had been bitten
and looked at the pole lived.
The snake was a portent for the future when the plan of God
for the redemption of His creation would come to fulfillment in His Son, Jesus.
So too, the work of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is the only means whereby one can receive eternal life.
We hear of Nicodemus twice more. In 7:50 he asks an angry
group of Jewish leaders if it is right to judge someone without a hearing. He
is slapped down hard by his fellow Pharisees. In John 19:38 Nicodemus helps
another secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea prepare Jesus for burial. We do
not know what shaped Nicodemus or moved him from a nighttime visit to joining
with others to honor their crucified Lord. Let us pray.
Footnotes:
- Griffiths
- Le Gallou
- Newman and Nida
- Carson 199
Works Cited
Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. Leicester,
England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991. Print. The
Pillar New Testament Commentary.
Griffiths, Sarah. "Artist Sees 100 Times More
Coulours." Daily Mail 2014. Web. 28 May 2021.
Le Gallou, Sam. "How Far Away Can Dogs Smell And Hear? |
Faculty Of Sciences | University Of Adelaide." Sciences.adelaide.edu.au
2020. Web. 26 May 2021.
Newman, Barclay Moon, and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on
the Gospel of John. New York: United Bible Societies, 1993. Print. UBS Handbook
Series.
Works Consulted
Brown, Francis, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles
Augustus Briggs. Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon 1977 :
Print.
Burge, Gary M. John. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Publishing House, 2000. Print. The NIV Application Commentary.
Butterworth, I., 2015. The Gift. [online] Sermon
Central. Available at: <https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-gift-isaac-butterworth-sermon-on-new-birth-194245> [Accessed 22 May 2021].
Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. Leicester,
England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991. Print. The
Pillar New Testament Commentary.
Fredrikson, Roger L., and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. John. Vol.
27. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1985. Print. The Preacher’s Commentary
Series.
Galli, Mark. Jesus Mean And Wild. Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Baker Books, 2008. Print.
Garrity, Amanda. "How To Get Blood Out Of Clothes
Fast." Good Housekeeping. 2021. Web. 26 May 2021.
Griffiths, Sarah. "Artist Sees 100 Times More
Coulours." Daily Mail 2014. Web. 28 May 2021.
Hamilton, Stephen J. "Born Again": A
Portrait And Analysis Of The Doctrine Of Regeneration Within Evangelical
Protestantism. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2017. Print.
Heschmeyer, Joe. "Leonard Cohen, The
Christ-Haunted." First Things blog.
2016. Web. 26 May 2021.
Iceland Review. "Lost Woman Looks For Herself In
Iceland’s Highlands." Iceland Review 2012. Web. 26 May 2021.
Kanagaraj, Jey J. John. Ed. Michael F. Bird and Craig
Keener. Vol. 4. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013. Print. New Covenant Commentary
Series 51.
Le Gallou, Sam. "How Far Away Can Dogs Smell And
Hear? | Faculty Of Sciences | University Of Adelaide."
Sciences.adelaide.edu.au 2020. Web. 26 May 2021.
Newman, Barclay Moon, and Eugene Albert Nida. A
Handbook on the Gospel of John. New York: United Bible Societies, 1993. Print.
UBS Handbook Series.
Snyder, Benjamin J. “Clean and Unclean.” Ed. Douglas
Mangum et al. Lexham Theological Wordbook 2014 : n. pag. Print. Lexham Bible
Reference Series.
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