John 1:1-18
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 3:1-21
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 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.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Acts 17:28
In God We Live
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.
Matthew 24:35
My Words Will Never Pass Away
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
When we read the Bible we read that God has been around since the beginning...God has always existed...So since God is our Creator, one might think that being our Creator man's faith would exist quite naturally and be here for everyone…Since He created us, He wants to be near us...And since He created us, He LOVES us...And being the Only One and True God, that He would exist in every nation and be in every part of the world...So that wherever there is faith, there is God, and the people all over the world would have this faith, because there is this One who created all things...But God remains a mystery to us and because of this Great Mystery, He often is not found in our faith and our personal belief system...He is among us, but He is not always with us in what we think and in what we feel...He seems to be and remain hidden to many...I think that part of this reason is that God is beyond our knowledge...He is beyond our ability to reason and think in His terms...He is beyond our understanding, and therefore we often with our limited comprehensiveness cannot see Him or find Him or even seek Him....Our understanding is lacking...We just do not understand or recognize Him with the knowledge that He has...He certainly could remain hidden from us if He wanted to, because of His infinite knowledge...
But let us suppose God would send one to us and for us, so we might understand Him better...Would we quickly and convincingly recognize the One He sent?...And if God would send such a Man, one might expect the Man to be quite unique...He might even speak a little different...His focus on heaven might confuse us a little, if not a lot...His focus completely on God, might cause us to pause, and even shock us...If God would send such a Man to dwell among us, we might expect certain things as a matter of course...After all this Man would be from heaven, where He is from...This Special Man would know things of heaven and of God...And He might even call the One who sent Him Father...After all, we might expect Him to call Him this, if He has, in fact, been with God from the beginning...
And God did just this thing...He sent us a Man...Who was much like Him, and spoke for Him...And the One who God would send to us would also be to us somewhat of a Great Mystery…And we would expect this Man who was sent to make bold and controversial claims and speak a little different...After all He is speaking for God and about God...He would speak about heaven and the soul...We have not been with God from the beginning, so this Man's Words would be probably somewhat shocking to us, and maybe even offend us, and certainly surprise us...After all we have never been to heaven...If a Holy Man truly came down from heaven, would we understand Him?...I do not think we would understand Him very much, when He would talk about the things we have not heard of, and I think the conversation would go something like this...
Suppose a fellow Jew and a teacher of Israel would get to question this Man from heaven (who was also a Jew and a Teacher of Israel), wouldn't a man, an Israeli teacher understand another Holy Man...And there was a teacher, a bright Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council...He wanted to get to know the Man from heaven more...And he came to Him at nighttime 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.”...And Nicodemus had questions of heaven and the kingdom of God...The Man who God sent replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”...“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked...“Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”...The Holy Man answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit...Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit...You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.’...The wind blows wherever it pleases...You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going...So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”...“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked...“You are Israel’s teacher,” said the Holy Man, “and do you not understand these things?...Very truly I tell you, We speak of what We know, and We testify to what We have seen, but still you people do not accept Our testimony...I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?...No one has ever gone into heaven except the One who came from heaven—the Son of Man...Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.”...
Nicodemus had good questions about heaven, the soul and our salvation...But the Holy One spoke of the Kingdom of God and those things of heaven...What this Man said and His Words would never pass...They have remained with us, since He has spoken...We would expect such a Man from heaven and from God to speak the Words that would never pass...We would expect such a Man to be the Messiah, and thus Divine...