0910. The Master's Answer–Born by One Who Came Down From Heaven

The Master's Answer–Born by One Who Came Down From Heaven

"And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven" (Joh_3:13, f. c.).

After Christ had answered the first query of Nicodemus by His message on "the water and the Spirit," Nicodemus (see Joh_3:9), made his second query. He said unto Christ: "How can these things be?" Then it was that Christ more fully developed the matter of the new birth, and gave five additional statements.

The first thing Christ said was: "No man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven." Christ is leading up to the mystery of His Cross (see Joh_3:14), but He knows the necessity of first emphasizing the Deity of the One Who went to the Cross. Therefore, He at once tells Nicodemus that the Son of Man Whom he had addressed and Who was then speaking with him, was very God of very God. Nicodemus had come to Christ saying, "Good Master, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God." Thus Nicodemus had acknowledged that Jesus stood above man, or, at least, that He was a God-filled man; for Nicodemus said: "No man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him."

Jesus knew that Nicodemus did not hold the right conception of Him; he must go into a deeper truth; he must acknowledge Him, as not merely from God, but as God.

Jesus was the One Who had come forth from the Father, and had come into the world. He was "God, manifested in flesh."

There are many to-day who talk of Christ as "the Nazarene," or as "the Man of Galilee." They acknowledge Him as a peer among men, God owned and God endowed; but, they insist on His being very man, they insist that Joseph was His father. Such men stand outside the pale of the new birth. To be born again one must believe that Christ came down from Heaven.

This is a foundation truth. All other men are from beneath; He is from above. All other men are of the earth, earthy; He is the Lord from Heaven.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR