Earthly Things versus Heavenly Things: Jesus talks with Nicodemus

"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." - John 3:1-3

Jesus' discussion with the Pharisee Nicodemus in John chapter 3 is a landmark passage in the New Testament, and one of the most familiar stories in the entire Bible. John 3:16 may be the most quoted scripture of all, with only Genesis 1:1 or parts of Psalm 23 giving it any real competition. As familiar as the story is, however, I've seen comparatively little attention given to what Jesus had to say in verses 5-8, after he declared "you must be born again":

"Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The statement Jesus makes here about the wind seems rather strange. What does that have to do with being 'born again'? The answer is given to us in two other portions of the same chapter, illustrating two pillars of biblical interpretation: 1) Understanding the full, immediate context of a scripture is essential, and 2) Always look for similar language used elsewhere in scripture, especially when employed by the same author, to get a complete picture of what is being said. Look first at verses 9-13 of John 3:

"Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man."

Now skip down to the second half of the chapter (obviously, you'll want to read the whole chapter, but my focus here is on understanding the comments in verses 5-8). In the second half of the chapter, the apostle John tells us about an incident that took place involving John the Baptist and his disciples. John is confronted about the growing ministry of Jesus, likely because his disciples were concerned about him being overshadowed by Jesus. John answers them that this overshadowing is exactly what they should expect and what needs to happen: "He must increase but I must decrease."

I want to direct your attention to the verses that follow this discussion: that is, verses 31-36. At times, it's difficult to know where direct quotations end in scripture and this is an example of such an instance. At first, it may seem as if verses 31-36 continue John the Baptist's response to his disciples, but I believe they are actually commentary by the apostle John. Either way, they help explain what Jesus meant in verses 5-8:

“He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” - John 3:31-36

Here are the key phrases from both passages I've quoted:

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 

"If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man." 

“He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony."

As with many of the teachings of Jesus, there are multiple layers to consider here. The words spirit and wind mean totally different things to us, but both are translated from the same Greek word: pnuema, which makes the comparison between "spirit" and "wind" all the more compelling in this discourse. In a way, you could say that one is a wind that proceeds from the Earth while the other is a 'wind' that proceeds from God out of heaven. Further, the words again (as in "born again") and above (as in "from above") are also the same Greek word: anothen. Used elsewhere, they would have entirely different applications (which would be determined by grammar and context), but here I believe the usage is comparative for the sake of illustration: to be "born again" is to be born "from above," for the Spirit, which makes the new birth possible, comes from above.

Bearing these things in mind, and connecting the phrases I quoted, here is one possible (admittedly loose) paraphrase of what Jesus meant by what he said to Nicodemus. I hope this will be of help to any of you who may have wondered about this:

"You hear the wind blow, but you cannot tell where it came from or where it's going because you cannot see it; it is hidden from you, and you cannot understand those who are born of the Spirit for the same reason. You are of the Earth; you think and speak of earthly things and in earthly ways because that is where you are from and what you know. But when I speak of the Spirit, I am not speaking of earthly things and earthly ways; I am speaking of heavenly things and heavenly ways, things which are as hidden from you as the wind you cannot see. Yet, I *have* spoken to you of earthly things, which you should have understood because you are of the Earth, and you did not believe me. Since you did not believe what I told you about your own realm, how will you believe what I tell you about heavenly things? You have never been there. No one has been there except me, for that is where I am from. 

"How can you be an esteemed teacher of God's people and not understand that there is a difference between earthly and heavenly things, and between earthly and heavenly ways? When I said, 'You must be born again,' you immediately thought I was speaking of earthly, physical birth, although that is absurd because you know that no one is born twice physically, so you should have known I was not speaking of a second, physical birth. You should have known it was a spiritual reference. You yourself admit that I am a teacher who has come from God. Does it make sense to you that God would send me from heaven to bring you an earthly message, and an absurd one at that?"

* Scripture citations are from the NASB.

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God and Time before Creation

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the Earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” – Job 38:4

A question that arises frequently in discussions about God has to do with his eternal existence. It usually goes something like this: “If God has always existed, what was he doing in all that time before he created the universe and the world?”

This is an intriguing question on many levels, and I wish that I could provide a detailed answer to it. Unfortunately, the Bible is virtually silent on the matter.

The only thing we know with any certainty is that the Father and the Son shared a fellowship in which both were glorified. Jesus speaks of this in John 17:5, where he asks the Father to glorify him with the glory “which I had with you before the world was.” The Greek word translated “world” in this passage is kosmos. At times, kosmos is used in scripture to refer to what we might call “the world of man,” meaning human society at large, such as when the apostle John cautions us against “loving the world” in 1 John 2:15, but it can also refer to the entire created order, as it does in 1 Peter 1:20, where we’re told that Christ was known of the Father “before the foundation of the world.” I believe that this latter meaning is what is intended in John 17:5; Jesus was speaking of the relationship he enjoyed with the Father before creation.

Beyond this relationship between the Father and the Son, scripture tells us very little about what might have occurred in what some have chosen to call “eternity past.” Certain passages do seem to indicate that angels existed prior to the creation, however.

In Job 38:7, God says that when he created the Earth “all the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy.” “The sons of God” is a term used elsewhere in scripture for angels (see Job 1:6; 2:1, and, likely, Genesis 6:2-4). Thus we know that angels definitely existed at least prior to the creation of the Earth. The apostle Paul, writing in Ephesians 3, provides a subtle hint that their creation took place even earlier, however:

“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord…” – Ephesians 3:8-11a

If God is demonstrating something to the angels in regard to his eternal purposes, which he is carrying out in Christ (through whom, John tells us, everything was made that has been made), then it would make sense to me that the angels were probably present from the very beginning of the universe, when Christ began to carry out the Father’s “purposes.” This would make them witnesses of the entire creation/redemption process.

Jesus’ reference to “glory” in John 17:5 also lends credence to this interpretation. The word “glory” is translated from the Greek word doxa, which in the New Testament always refers to something held in a position of honor. For the Son to be held up in a position of honor with the Father “before the kosmos was” implies that others were present from whom the Son was differentiated and before whom he was exalted. Therefore, these others must also have existed “before the kosmos was.” Angels are the only other created beings who fit the bill here.

Beyond the question of what may have occurred before the existence of the universe, however, we should be careful in our use of the word ‘time’ in reference to it.

 ‘Time’ is a measurement of duration, of how long it takes something to happen. You could say that it’s the ‘space between events,’ and these events are defined by processes in the material, physical world around us. Nature is full of ‘clocks’: most notably, the familiar cycle of day and night, the monthly phases of the Moon, and Earth’s ‘yearly’ orbit around the Sun. All of our artificial clocks are based on these and other natural systems. For instance, atomic clocks—the most precise clocks currently in use—keep time based on the motion of atoms.

There are other, more subtle ways of ‘telling time’ as well. We tend not to give them any special thought because they are so commonplace and necessary in our conceptual scheme (the way in which we view and relate to our world) that we take them for granted. For instance, if you see an adult with a child, you know that those two people cannot be the same age because of the characteristics of the human aging process. By the same token, if you find a rusted-out car, you know that it wasn’t made yesterday. This is because you’re familiar with the fact that the processes that reduce a vehicle to that condition ‘take time.’

As physical beings, we need ‘clocks,’ both natural and artificial. They’re essential to how we understand and relate to our environment and to one another. This is why dreams can be so disorienting: they give us an illusion of the passage of time, a sense of events taking place, but they happen outside of the clearly-defined boundaries of time that are such a fundamental part of our makeup. In a dream, you may find yourself a child again, you may find yourself shifted from one location to another without any sensation of having traveled, or you may ‘experience’ things that appear to take place over years, only to wake up and find that you’ve been asleep for a mere hour or so.

It’s important to understand these things because when we ask what God was doing in ‘all that time’ before he created the universe, we’re making a subtle but crucial error in our reasoning: we’re extending time, which is based on the composition of the universe, back to a point when the universe did not exist. Before the universe existed, there were no physical processes occurring, and because time is a system of measurement based on physical processes, if there are no physical processes occurring then there is nothing to measure and therefore no time in any meaningful sense.

For this reason, time—at least ‘time’ as we understand it—did not exist prior to the creation of the universe. There were no days, no weeks, no years, and no ages. Consequently, to ask what God was doing ‘in all that time’ before he created the universe is to ask a self-contradictory question, as it assumes time before time existed. It’s rather similar to asking what someone was doing before they were born. Even the statement “God has always existed” makes this mistake. “Always” is a time reference, and there was no time before creation.

When we examine these matters in detail, it’s easy to see how this mistake is made. Physical time is so fundamental to our reality that we unconsciously impose it on God, but we must remember that God’s nature is fundamentally different than ours.

We are material beings living in a material reality. We are bound by natural law, which includes the passage of time. By contrast, God is an immaterial being, meaning that he is not ‘made’ of anything; this places him outside the confines of nature and, therefore, outside of time. As mentioned previously, it is incorrect to say that God “has always existed.” It is more correct to say that he simply “is,” which, interestingly enough, is how God chose to make himself known to the ancient Hebrews. The Hebrew name for God, Yahweh, is taken from the root word hayah, meaning “to be.”

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I AM; and he said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” – Exodus 3:14

“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.’” – John 8:58

In Christian theology, we tend to think of “eternity” as something that is yet to come, such as the “eternal state” spoken of as following the Millennial Kingdom of Christ and the Last Judgment, but the reality is that we already exist in eternity; our material-based conceptual scheme prevents us from realizing it, however. We speak of “past,” “present,” and “future” as though they are actual, physical locations, when the truth of the matter is that they are merely concepts, and this results in unnecessary confusion.

For example, people often say that “We are in the present” in the same way they might say “I am in my house,” but we must realize that there is a great difference between these two ideas: my house is a limited, physical location that I can move in and out of at will, whereas I am continuously in the present. We can never move in the past or the future, as they do not exist beyond the conceptual realm. Five minutes “in the past” is really just what was present five minutes ago, whereas five minutes in the future is what will be present five minutes from now—or you could substitute “days,” “weeks,” “hours,” “years,” “eons,” etc., as you please. The only real difference here lies in how we measure events in relation to one another. “Past” and “future” are a necessary part of our conceptual scheme, but they are only concepts; they are not places that exist now and might be visited (with all due respect to Captain Kirk and others who have traveled there in fictional settings).

So, in a very real sense, while things change, time is arbitrary and only ‘now’ exists. This then is ‘eternity’: ‘now,’ a perpetual ‘present.’

Again, time is a system of measurement, and to measure something you need at least two points: a beginning and an end. The universe, the world, and each of us—all created things—at one point or another entered (or began to experience) ‘the now,’ if you will; we all have a beginning. The lone exception is God. As an immaterial, uncreated being (“who alone is immortal” – I Timothy 6:16), he had no beginning; thus, there is no way to measure his existence. He is ‘always’ in ‘the now.’ He IS ‘now.’ “I AM that I AM.”

This fact of God’s immaterial, eternal existence represents a conceptual scheme so radically different from ours that it will, in all likelihood, lie forever beyond our comprehension. However much it might tantalize us, our minds and our language are inadequate to do any more than merely scratch the surface of this profound a mystery. We can no more understand the totality of God’s existence than we could fit one hundred gallons of water into a ten-gallon bucket; the necessary capacity simply isn’t available.

What then can we say to all of this? How should we react to the fact that God transcends our understanding? We can rebel against it, as some do, and determine that we will not submit to anything we cannot comprehend and judge for ourselves (this was essentially the sin of Eden); or we can humble ourselves, acknowledge his supremacy, and submit to his guidance:

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations,

Before the mountains were born

Or you gave birth to the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

You turn man back into dust

And say, ‘Return, O children of men.’

For a thousand years in your sight

Are like yesterday when it passes by,

Or as a watch in the night…

So teach us to number our days

That we may present to you a heart of wisdom.” – Psalm 90:1-4, 12

*Scriptures are taken from the NASB

The Bible and Homosexuality - Why Christians cannot condone Same-Sex Unions

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Is the Doctrine of Imminence Biblical?

The doctrine of imminence - meaning that Jesus could return for his church at any moment - is very popular today, but is it biblical?

In this video, I examine pre-tribulationist arguments in defense of imminence as offered by Renald Showers, Thomas Ice, and John Walvoord. The following points are addressed from the scriptures in detail:

Part One: Are there any biblical events that must precede the rapture of the church?

Part Two: The Prophecy of Peter's Martyrdom

Part Three: Did James teach imminence in chapter 5 of his epistle when he declared "The coming of the Lord is near" and "the judge is standing right at the door"?

Part Four: Does the early Christian saying "Maranatha!" imply imminence? What does the term mean and why does Paul use it in 1 Corinthians 16?

Part Five: Was the church at Thessalonica expecting an imminent rapture?

* If you enjoyed this presentation and would like to support the author so that he can create more such content, you can donate via PayPal to rhawes73@gmail.com (or send an email to this address if you would like to donate some other way). Thank you for your support!

** Click here to visit my YouTube channel.

The Bible, Science, and Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience has an iron grip on large parts of the Christian community. The people in these various camps will find it next to impossible to engage with intelligent, educated people to any real degree. They'll be laughed off, and they're deluded enough to think they're being persecuted for the Lord's sake. Meanwhile, they accuse Christians who reject their interpretations of being "compromisers" and agents of deception.

I well remember the time when a lady tried telling me that dinosaur bones were a satanic deception. She was completely serious and was actually angry that I believed otherwise. I was a small child at the time, and remember that I just nodded compliantly in response, hoping to put some much-needed space between me and the big, angry lady as quickly as possible.

The Bible is not a science book. It was written to, and by, ancient peoples who didn't know even a fraction of what we know today, and it often employs poetic language that should not be interpreted literally or as some kind of scientific commentary.

For instance, Psalm 104:5 says that God "set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." Some have taken this to mean that the modern understanding that the Earth rotates on its axis and orbits the Sun must be false (another alleged NASA hoax). It must be remembered, however, that the psalmist did not understand the "earth" in the sense that we do, that is, of its being a planet. The term is probably better translated "land," as this is what the ancients knew (and, often in scripture, "the land" refers to the limited area in which particular events are taking place, rather than all land everywhere). To the ancients' way of thinking, the land, the sky, and the sea all had their designated "places" in the scope of creation. That's what the psalmist is talking about here: how all things are subject to the order God has established in creation rather than being in some kind of chaotic flux. This certainly conforms to what we have learned by the scientific method (and particularly so within the lifetime of human beings), but it should not be taken as an exhaustive commentary on the composition of our planet.

Even those passages where God himself speaks of what he has made should not be taken as necessarily literal or precise. God used simple terms to communicate with people of simple understanding, and he often used poetic comparisons, just as we do today when explaining things to children. When my six-year-old son tells me, "Look, Daddy! The sun's going down!", I don't subject him to a lesson in cosmology. He has some growing up to do before we get into all of that, just as the human race has had some growing up to do in terms of its understanding of the universe.


* Image courtesy of NASA.

** If you enjoyed this article and would like to support the author so that he can create more such content, you can donate via PayPal to rhawes73@gmail.com (or send an email to this address if you would like to donate some other way). Thank you for your support!

*** Click here to visit my YouTube channel.

The Cure for Broken Relationships

It's tragic to see so many marriages falling apart, including Christian marriages. In many instances, this is attributable to stubbornness and selfishness on the part of one or both spouses. In other instances, it seems to be the result of years of unresolved frustration and anger that give rise to bitterness. In the latter case, things tend to come to a head quickly, with one spouse abruptly storming out on the other, who is then left bewildered and broken. Where children are involved, it's all the more tragic.

What's the remedy for this? Counseling? Therapy? Medication?

The answer became more fully apparent to me some time back while I was praying for a Christian couple that was in turmoil. This was one of the rare instances in which the Spirit actually answered me, and he did so as he almost always does - by interrupting me, which I suppose is his way of letting me know that what I'm hearing is not my own thought. He said, very simply, "I can't help them if they won't yield to me."

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are all essential to establishing and maintaining the harmonious relationships that God intended us to have with one another, and all are called "fruits of the Spirit" in scripture (Galatians 5:22-23). They are manifestations of the transformative work of God in our character, and they can only be developed in us as we learn to yield to him rather than indulging our own desires, which typically manifest as lust, anger, stubbornness, selfishness, unforgiveness, bitterness, vengeance, and the like - all the things that typically destroy relationships.

If you're facing turmoil in a relationship today, it may well be that - contrary to conventional wisdom - marriage counseling should not be your first step toward reconciliation, at least not for the Christian. As I see the teaching of scripture, the first step may well be to spend time apart for awhile, seeking God individually, repenting of selfishness and learning to hear his voice and yield to his gentle prompting. Ephesians 4:3 refers to a "unity of the Spirit" that results in "the bond of peace." If you are both focused on him and yielded to him, the Spirit will naturally facilitate peace between you. Counseling tends to focus on working out your animosities, which shifts your attention to yourself and will likely cause you to become defensive. By giving control over to the Spirit of God first, you learn to see things (including one another) through his eyes, and the old complaints and battles will be far easier to overcome because pride and selfishness will no longer be in the way.

What, then, if your spouse is not interested in yielding to the Spirit of God? The hard truth there is that reconciliation may not be possible. As painful as this may be, regardless of what your spouse may choose to do, remain focused on the Lord, yielding to the Spirit rather than to succumbing to despair. The Spirit is not only capable of producing a unity that results in peace between persons, but also between us and our Lord, and it is this peace that the Bible tells us "surpasses all comprehension" and is able to "guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus."

When the peace of the living God has hold of you, there is nothing you cannot endure. Jesus was able to face the specter of the cross, in spite of being abandoned by his closest friends, simply because he knew "I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (John 16:33).

Your Father will be with you, too. Look to him and yield to his Spirit, cultivating the bond of peace that unity with him results in, no matter how even those closest to you may wound and betray you.


* Scriptures taken from the NASB

Matthew 24 and the Rapture Debate, Part Two: The Rapture as a 'Mystery' revealed by Paul

The second video in my series on Matthew 24 and the rapture debate focuses on the pre-tribulationist argument that the coming of Matthew 24:29-31 cannot be the rapture because Jesus was relying on Old Testament prophecies for his teaching and the rapture is a New Testament "mystery" never revealed in the Old Testament.

Most pre-tribulationists that I've heard who hold to this belief argue that Paul first revealed the rapture in 1 Corinthians 15. I break this position down in two ways: 1) Examining what a biblical "mystery" is and how the rapture fits in with that, and 2) Demonstrating why the 1 Corinthians 15 argument ends up unraveling.

* If you enjoyed this presentation and would like to support the author so that he can create more such content, you can donate via PayPal to rhawes73@gmail.com (or send an email to this address if you would like to donate some other way). Thank you for your support!

** Click here to visit my YouTube channel.