"Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"
In today's quote, Nicodemus did not yet understand how being "born again" would work. He obviously did not understand, as we now know, that the rebirth would be accomplished when the lost accepted the renewal of spiritual life that came when Jesus completed His, yet to come, sin remitting sacrifice.
Jesus told Nicodemus, in essence, that as a Jewish spiritual authority, he should have gathered from the study of the prophets, that Jesus (The Messiah), would someday inevitably come and offer a means by which all humanity could receive a spiritual renewal, and a means by which they could have their sin remitted and be redeemed back to the good graces of God.
Jesus said; "we speak what we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness." Jesus, in essence, told Nicodemus that his thinking, much like many today, was restricted to purely physical aspects of redemption and that he had not perceived the spiritual aspects of the same.
Jesus implied that Nicodemus had not understood that the message of the prophets had also predicted a spiritual renewal .
Jesus then said further; "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" In that quote, Jesus told Nicodemus that if he was unable to understand and believe the physical aspects of the divine rebirth, then he most certainly would not be able to understand how the renewing (rebirth) of the spirit.
Looking back on this lesson, and knowing what we now know, we should consider how confusing this must have seemed to Nicodemus, seeing that he was being challenged to accept what Jesus said, purely by faith.
More of what Jesus was teaching during His encounter with Nicodemus as tomorrow we continue through the third chapter of John.~
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