The Life of Christ

Jn. 2:18 The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, seeing that You do these things?”

Not a hand was lifted; no one spoke a single word to arrest him.

• All they could do was whimper a bit and ask for a sign.

• This marked the beginning of a cold war between Jesus and the Jewish leaders that would continue to grow in intensity for the next three years.

• Jesus foretold the eventual outcome of that incompatibility in verse 19: Jesus answered and said to them, “Des troy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

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Jn. 2:23-25 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing. 24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man. Jn. 4:45 confirms there were miracles performed at the feast of Passover. “So, when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast” (Jn. 4:45).

• Jesus knew that miracles will always draw a certain measure of allegiance.

• This type of response, however, can be shallow and short-lived.

• His gift of entrustment only comes when we become responders to His word, rather than His signs.

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Jn. 3:1-3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Him 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.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is about to explain some very high-level doctrinal truths to Nicodemus.

• He will reveal for the first time the essence of John 3:16, as well as the true meaning of the serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness. Before Jesus does, however, He first explains the prerequisite to understanding these things:

• “You must be born again.” This means divinely brought into the kingdom of heaven through what will later be referred to as “new birth,” the moment when one’s sins are forgiven.

Jn. 3:4-5 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?” 5 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.”

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