the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
John 3:1-21
Fearful, yet driven by the needs of his soul, Nicodemus goes to meet the One who is the life and the light (John 1:4-5). This ruler of the Jews, this eminent teacher in Israel, learns from the divine Teacher a truth which is as foreign as it is humiliating to him. Neither his qualifications, nor his knowledge, nor any of his human capabilities give him any right to the kingdom of God. For just as we enter the world of men by natural birth, another birth is necessary to enter this spiritual realm.
We find two "musts" in the Lord’s reply. One applies to man: "Ye must be born again". The other, the terrible counterpart of this, concerns our wonderful Saviour Himself: "even so must the Son of man be lifted up". Jesus Christ being lifted up on the cross, seen by me with the eye of faith, saves me from eternal doom (vv. 14, 15; cf. Numbers 21:8-9). In contemplating Him, I learn to know the love of God for the world (and so for me personally) and the supreme proof which He has given to us of His love. The world will not be judged without first having been loved. The whole of the gospel is contained in that marvellous v. 16 – the means of salvation for countless sinners, a verse which should never cease to amaze us.
