1 Kings 14-15 | Luke 22:31-46

“There was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus….He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.’” John 3:1-2

There was a man in the New Testament who was zealous for the law of God and genuine in the life he lived. He was a Pharisee and utterly committed to living according to the Word of God. But not just any Pharisee, this man was a member of the Jewish ruling council. One day, he started to notice this Man by the name of Jesus going around teaching, performing miracles and challenging other Pharisees. Curious to know more about Jesus, this man snuck out at night to meet Him. This man’s name was Nicodemus.

Nicodemus went to Jesus and said: “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2). Although Nicodemus was not saying that Jesus was divine, he was saying that there is no explanation for the signs that Jesus was performing other than the fact that God was with Him. Jesus responded, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:4). We could reinterpret Jesus’s response as: “You are absolutely right, Nicodemus. In your present state, with all your legalism, you are bankrupt because you are dead. Trying to live the life you don’t have is extremely difficult. Yet, you too can receive this life. You too can see the kingdom of God by being born again.”

Like Nicodemus, some of us may be up to our neck in Christianity, trying to behave the way we should, but when we are alone, there is an emptiness deep in our soul, there is no appetite for God. We cannot try and live a life that we do not have.

To know whether we have the new life, the Apostle Paul tells us, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” 
(2 Corinthians 13:5). Paul’s call to examine ourselves is not to examine our doctrine or to test our Bible knowledge. Rather, we are to look deep inside ourselves and ask is there evidence of new appetites and a new mind? When we are indwelled by the life of God, He creates in us a desire for things that are pleasing to Him. While we do not know what happened to Nicodemus after his meeting with Jesus that night, we do know that he was one of the few people present at Jesus’s burial.

May we take some time today to examine whether we are born again.

PRAYER

Gracious Lord Jesus, there is nothing that I can do to earn my salvation. As I examine myself, may You show me evidence that I am born again. Thank You, Lord.