Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“For in this way God loved the world, so that he gave his one and only Son, in order that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world in order that he should judge the world, but in order that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not judged, but the one who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

Chapter two starts with a wedding. It was probably someone Jesus knew personally since His mother and brothers were also there (verse 12). There was a problem at the wedding. They had planned wrong and were running out of wine. This was going to be embarrassing for the couple. Not a great way to start life in the community. So Mary, always a kind heart, came to Jesus and told Him the situation. He responded to her not as a son, but as a man heading to do His Father’s business (Luke 2:49-51) – and implied this was not that business. But Mary had total trust in Him and refused to let go. She told the servants to do as Jesus told them. And Jesus responded to that trust. He had them fill basins that were for ritual cleansing with water and then take that water to the steward. When the steward tasted it, it was wine. This was the first sign Jesus performed that He was Messiah – and the disciples with Him believed in Him. [This miracle foreshadows that Jesus is our living water, that Jesus cleanses us, and that Jesus is our communion wine.]

When the next Passover festival came, Jesus went to Jerusalem as was His custom. The difference now is that He was out from under His parents’ authority (Luke 2:48-51) and operating directly under His Father’s authority (John 5:19; 12:49). The Temple did not just have worshippers. It was also full of money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals – and in looking through all the gospels we see that most of them were dishonest and cheating the people, preventing them from being able to follow the Law properly. Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them and their merchandise out of the Temple (Psalm 69:9). Later in His ministry, Jesus does this again – those who love money have difficulty letting it go. During Jesus’ time in Jerusalem He performed signs pointing to who He was and the people believed in His name, but they were doing to because of the SIGNS and not from true TRUST.

Chapter three starts at night, probably during this time in Jerusalem, when one of the Pharisees came to see Him. It was Nicodemus, who was a teacher of the Law in his own rabbinical school and a member of the Sanhedrin. He is also one of the only Pharisees of Jesus’ day who is mentioned in the Talmud (Ketubbot 65a; Gittin 56a; Ta’anit 19b-20a). He recognized that only by God could Jesus do these signs. Jesus told him that it wasn’t by signs or teaching that one became righteous or ‘born again’. It was only through the Spirit of God. This confused Nicodemus. By Jewish tradition, there were six ways to be ‘born again’ or created into a new position. The first was when a Jew became a responsible Jew (bar mitzvah). Second was by marriage, becoming a husband. Since members of the Sanhedrin were required to be married, he had done that too. The third way was being ordained as a rabbi – we know he was because Jesus referenced him as that. Fourth was to be established as the head of a rabbinical school, which he was. The last two ways he didn’t qualify for since the fifth was converting as a Gentile to being a Jew – Nicodemus was Jewish already – and the sixth was to be crowned as king. So Nicodemus had already done everything he could to be ‘born again’. Was he supposed to go back into his mother and start the process all over again? No, said Jesus. Jesus was talking of the transition from sinner to saved. From the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God. That could be accomplished and lived in only by Holy Spirit. That’s why Jesus came. Not to judge people. To save them. To give them the opportunity to transfer from one kingdom to the other (Colossians 1:13). To be transformed by accepting Jesus’ sacrifice, the one that REMOVED Sin instead of COVERING sins. It was through trust in Jesus that saved – the evidence of which is the fruit that is produced – not through human efforts.

After all this, Jesus went to Judea and remained there awhile, the disciples baptizing people in Jesus’ name. John the Baptizer was in the same basic area and he was also baptizing people (though not in Jesus’ name – Acts 19:3-5). John’s disciples got into a disagreement with some Jews about ceremonial washing and baptism and Jesus’ baptisms. They came to John, but John pointed to Jesus. John had never claimed to be Messiah, but had always pointed to Jesus. The repentance he preached was a step toward finding salvation through Messiah. John told them HOW to gain it: believing in the Son who had eternal life. If you did not believe, you were remaining in your sin and under the wrath of God that He has toward Sin. Only Jesus saved you by removing you out from under that wrath.

Summary

Key Players: God, Jesus, Disciples, John the Baptizer, Mary, Nicodemus, Jews

Key Verse(s): John 2:13-25; 3:1-23