John 3:13 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 3:13

Comments

John now records Christ’s own appeal to souls. Salvation, the Lord tells Nicodemus, always has been to individuals by faith. ‘No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.’ These words were familiar to Nicodemus. They come from Deuteronomy 30, where Moses is giving his final passionate appeals to the people: ‘For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?’Now that is meant in two ways – No one need ascend into heaven to bring us the truth and tell us what we should do, says Moses, for I am telling you what you should do: God is speaking to you through me. It has a second sense too. Man does not have to earn his passage to heaven, and to climb the great holy mountain, and to present himself to God in perfection and in righteousness. He cannot do that. He is a sinner. He cannot keep the law of God. No, it is God who will give himself freely, in pardoning love, if we believe in him. Moses, Paul tells us in Romans 10, is preaching the gospel to them and telling them that they do not have to go to heaven to please God. Christ will come down from heaven, he will secure our passage to heaven by his atoning death. He is beginning to unfold to Nicodemus that salvation is not only free, undeserved, unearned by grace, but it is purchased by the Son of man. He will not understand it all at once. Perhaps he will not understand this message fully until Christ goes to Calvary, and he realises completely what he meant. The disciples did not understand the atonement until Calvary happened. It was a mystery to them right until that moment. They trusted Christ as Messiah, but they never grasped his word that he taught them, that he would be crucified and slain, and what he would do for them on Calvary’s cross, not until it happened. Maybe the same with Nicodemus, but this message was like a fuse, it had a delayed action.

Application

Have you been born again? Have you been radically changed? Have you had a real change, real conversion, and received Christian faculties by repentance and faith in Christ.

May the churches in whatever history is left before the Lord comes never drift from the new birth and salvation in Christ. It is so easily done. It happens to thousands of churches. There are so many Baptist churches, so-called, where even the ministers, let alone the people, would be as astonished to hear of this teaching of the need for a new birth as Nicodemus was.

Questions

What does this mean? ‘Even the Son of many which is in heaven.’ But the Son of man was on earth and speaking to Nicodemus at this very time. This is the record of their encounter. As the old preachers used to say, he is on earth and he is heaven at the same time. In his human nature he is on earth, but his divine nature extends to the heavens also; he is in heaven too. He is in a heavenly state. His interests are in heaven. He is following the heavenly plan in so many deep and profound senses. The Saviour was in heaven even while he was on earth. And that is something for Nicodemus to ponder.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

John 3:13 Commentary and Bible Study