Divine Spiritual Truths

“And no one has ascended up to Heaven except He who came down from Heaven, the Son of Man who is in Heaven.” (John 3:13)

Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, who came to Him at night so no one would see him. Nicodemus was truly seeking answers. Jesus knew this and shared the Gospel with him. “Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) Jesus was speaking in spiritual terms which Nicodemus didn’t understand. This is something we should be very careful of when speaking to those who are brand new in the faith and those who are seeking. We understand what we are saying, but they do not. “Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?” (John 3:4)

Jesus was speaking spiritually. He was speaking a spiritual Truth. This is true for those since the beginning of time. You may ask, “How can those who died before Jesus be born again.” We don’t understand because we don’t understand how the spiritual functions. It’s not like in this world. When Jesus died on the cross, He took the sin of all the people in the world, those from the beginning of time, those present at that time, and those who were to come. The question is, how can those who are dead be born again. Before Jesus redeemed men, those who died didn’t go to heaven if they lived righteously, following the law, doing good with the knowledge they had at that time of the One True God, Elohim. Jesus told us so much when He told us about Lazarus the beggar and the rich man. (Luke 16:19-31) So when do they go to heaven? Peter explains this. “For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, indeed being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, to disobeying ones, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared (in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water);” (1Peter 3:18-20) It’s a basic Christian doctrine that Jesus descended into hell (which is not to say the righteous Old Testament saints before Jesus redeemed us went to hell, but they went to that place which was not heaven and which is called Paradise.) He had a mission there to preach the Gospel to those who hadn’t heard it so they could believe on Him and be born again. No one can go to heaven unless they are born again. They must believe on Him, that Jesus is Lord. At the moment redemption was concluded, those saints went to heaven. We have the words of Jesus to the thief at the cross. “And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) The thief went to Paradise because redemption hadn’t been fulfilled yet when he died. He went to Paradise where Jesus went once He fulfilled the redemption of man to lead the captives to heaven.

In our Scripture of study, Jesus is inferring to Nicodemus that He is God. He is the only One Who ascends to heaven because He is God. He is the Son of Man Who was in heaven. In some Scriptures the word that is inferred “was” was just translated “is” and actually means “is come.” So actually Jesus was saying, “... the Son of Man who is come in (meaning after, through or by) Heaven. The Scriptures do not tell us that Nicodemus thought this was sacrilege. There was no protest from Nicodemus. He already knew that Jesus came from God. “He came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles which you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2) Nicodemus believed on Jesus. We see him burying Jesus with Joseph of Arimathea. “And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews) begged of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave permission. Then he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus also came, who at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus and wound it with linens with the spices, as is the custom of the Jews to bury.” (John 19:38-40)

I was speaking with a lady who belonged to the religion of Jehovah Witness. They do not believe Jesus is God, like God the Father is God. Neither do they believe the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father. They believe He was only present at creation. And yet they do believe the Holy Spirit is the power of God, which is a contradiction they ignore. When I explained that Jesus was given all power and authority, she answered that that it proves that He is not equal to the Father because He was “given” power and authority. They put great emphasis on that ignoring several Scriptures, especially that Jesus gave up all to come to earth. “Truly He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) At His baptism, Jesus received the Holy Spirit without measure. “For He whom God has sent speaks the Words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.” (John 3:34) Jesus received the Spirit without limit. And He received all power and authority. “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18) Scripture by Scripture we talked, but she couldn’t be persuaded. I learned a lesson. Don’t speak with them. They are truly deceived and have an argument ready to deny Who Jesus is. They are well drilled on that point. And that is why the religion of Jehovah Witness is not considered a Christian religion.

Jesus is God, like the Father is God and like the Holy Spirit is God. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not understood here on earth. There are not three Gods, but one God, three distinct persons in one God. I liken it to the family. One family made of different people, but it’s still only one family. The difference is that God is One, in complete unity and in agreement. Jesus stated, “I and the Father are one!” (John 10:30) Here on earth we don’t understand that because here on earth there can never be complete unity and agreement, except in the spirit in those who have the Holy Spirit. This is a spiritually divine and Christian doctrine and Truth. We may not fully understand it, but we accept it as Truth because Jesus proclaimed it. There are some heavenly Truths that we just cannot understand because they belong to the kingdom of God and to the spiritual realm that we, as people living in this concrete and visual world, cannot understand. Like Nicodemus who didn’t understand being born again, there are some heavenly Truths that we may not understand. But what the Lord has revealed to us is sufficient for committing ourselves and surrendering to the Lord Jesus. He is God, exalted King and Savior, God incarnate Who took our punishment and death, so that we could eternally be with Him.

In summation, God will reveal His mysterious Truths as necessary. There are many things in the Word of God to learn and obey without delving into those things which are like sweet dessert treats for our faith, beautiful and yet not understood, but Truths nonetheless which we will know when we are in heaven. But what is necessary to know without any doubt is that Jesus is God, One with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was in heaven and was made man to be the sacrificial Lamb of God for mankind so that we could spend an eternity with Him Who lives and returned to heaven where He is glorified forever.

Let us pray:

Father God, how beautiful is Your Word of Life to me. It’s a Word of love and hope. It’s my treasure of great price which reveals Your everlasting love and mercy for me. It’s my textbook for living teaching me Your divine Truths through the Holy Spirit Who gives me understanding. And while there are things I don’t understand, I know that You will reveal to me and give me understanding of those things that are most important to me as I live out this life here on earth. Help me not only to understand what You are saying to me through Your Word, but to obey and to live my life with accordance to Your standard for me. I know that I fail in many areas. I also know that I am learning and that it’s only through the work of the Holy Spirit in me that I will learn as long as I am here on this earth, continuing to be made more and more in the image of Christ. I glorify You my Lord and my God. The divine Truths of Your love and mercy are more wonderful that I can imagine. And I am grateful. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.