Replies

pastorbillrandles wrote:
“First of all Belteshazzar, I am not trying to be ‘clever’, I am in good faith trying to promote discussion and understanding of scripture.”

Nor did I say you were trying to be clever. Nor am I accusing you of doing anything that is not in “good faith.” And I do believe that you are promoting “discussion and understanding of scripture.” And I believe that perhaps not only your readers will learn something.

Nevertheless, it was a clever answer in that on the surface it would appear to be true. John points to Jesus. Jesus would never point to John. Ergo Jesus could never have directed Nicodemus to John. But to argue this way is to negate the very point you were trying to make. You say that Jesus was pointing Nicodemus to Ezekiel. Well, tell me, how was Ezekiel’s call and office as prophet any different in purpose than John’s? Was he not also called by God to point to the coming of the Christ? To prepare His way?

The only difference between John and Ezekiel is one of proximity. Jesus calls John the greatest prophet ever born of women (Matthew 11:11) for the simple reason that John is the last prophet, the last in a long line pointing to the Christ. It is John’s nearness to Christ that gives him glory, not John’s innate greatness in comparison to the other prophets. In the same way - and in the very same context! - Jesus says that Capernaum was “exalted to heaven.” (Matthew 11:23) Why? Was it better than any other town in Palestine? No, it was the home of the Christ at the beginning of His ministry. Its proximity to Him is its great glory and exaltation. Nevertheless, as Jesus said, “he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater” than John, that is, it is a far greater thing to be an heir and citizen of heaven and thus have its glory than to have the earthly renown of John or the exaltation of Capernaum. In the same way, why is Mary addressed by the angel thus, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women”? (Luke 1:28) And she says of herself - having believed the words of the angel, which were the words of God Himself! - “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:48) Why is she so favored? Surely, dozens and dozens of women had carried within them the genes of the coming Savior, from Eve to Sarah to Rahab to Ruth etc, but Mary carried Him in her womb. Mary gave Him birth. Mary nursed Him at her breast. Her glory and blessedness - and great it is! - is entirely due to her proximity to the Christ.

Nicodemus’ great error was to not listen to and believe the prophets, who all pointed to the Christ, all described Him and His words and works. He failed to believe the last and greatest of all, John. He failed to heed John’s admonition to repent and be baptized, an admonition as much from God Himself as the words the angel spoke to Mary. That is why Nicodemus is taken to task bluntly, but in truth, gently, by Jesus. Understanding never comes by choosing how we will approach God. Understanding comes by doing things God’s way, who in truth comes to us.

pastorbillrandles also wrote:
“That is not an assertion, the text says...”After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.”

Fine. But is John’s gospel just a string of unrelated recollections of Jesus? Or is it a well thought out - by God the Holy Spirit! - and exceedingly cohesive narrative intended to lead to understanding and faith? The persons and work of John and Jesus are intertwined in the first chapters of John for a very good reason. Again, if there is no connection between the narrative of John 3:1-21 and John 3:22-36, why did “there arise a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification”? What is this purification? Does it have anything to do with the application of water, reference to which is to be found in the OT, as an earlier poster noted. Of course it does! John’s disciples and the Jews were arguing about the difference between the OT era rites of purification and John’s baptism! That is why John answers his disciples question, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified - behold, He is BAPTIZING and all are coming to Him,” (John 3:26) the way he does. Baptism, whether John’s, which was for Israel (”for the Jew first and also for the Gentile”) would not be fully actualized until “all righteousness was fulfilled,” i.e. fulfilled by the Christ in His perfect life lived for us and His atoning death died for us, until Jesus the Christ cried out, “It is finished,” or that for “all the nations of the earth,” which was commanded when all things had been completed is one and the same, as St. Paul powerfully asserted: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, ONE BAPTISM; one God and Father of all (Jew and Gentile believer alike!), who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)

pastorbillrandles also wrote:
“Thirdly, Ezekiel 36 does have a fulfillment in the NT as well as at the time of the end. The NT fulfimment of Ezekiel 36 is the New Birth!”

Indeed! And the New Birth begins with water and the Spirit, i.e., BAPTISM, as Jesus explained to the, for the time-being, uncomprehending Nicodemus and for all the uncomprehending Nicodemuses who would come after him. The prophecy of Ezekiel 36 (and 18) has a great deal to do with John 3, and thus with John the Baptizer and the baptism God commanded through him for all Israel.

pastorbillrandles wrote:
“Fourthly , I have never said or considered Baptisn to be “of men”, read the article!”

I did read it; and am saying you are not understanding baptism rightly.

pastorbillrandles wrote:
“Finally we don’t know whether or not Nicodmus had been baptised by John or impacted by Him at all. But we do know that Jesus insisted that He needed to be born again!”

If Nicodemus was not impacted by John “at all,” he never would have come to faith. But he did, as John the Evangelist makes clear for us. (John 7:50-52 and John 19:39-40)

Being born again (or perhaps more accurately, “from above”) and baptism are intimately intertwined, and that by the word and will of God. Nicodemus learned the lesson that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Nicodemus learned that to sit at the feet of the prophets, including John, is to sit at the feet of Jesus the Christ, for they all pointed to Him! He learned that to sit at their feet is to learn how to be “apt to teach,” (1 Timothy 3:2) and become in fact the “teacher of Israel” that he then was only in name.