Yeshua taught that we discover the truth about spiritual reality by way of revelation from heaven, not by way of human reasoning. He said that we can come to know God only through Him: “No one has ever seen God; the only God (μονογενὴς θεὸς), who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). He presents himself as “the way, the truth, and the life – the true Bridge to divine life and eternal reality….
For example, when a religious leader named Nicodemus visited Yeshua to inquire who he was, Yeshua redirected the inquiry by asking what sort of man he was instead (John 3). Nicodemus was impressed with the reports of miracles ascribed to Yeshua and supposed that he was some sort of teacher sent from God. Yeshua, however, abruptly told him that unless he was “born from above” he would be unable to see the truth of the kingdom (John 3:3). He explained that no one can see the hidden kingdom of God apart from a spiritual “rebirth,” that is, a new mode of being that enables the person to enter another realm of existence altogether. Such transformation comes by means of the agency of God’s Spirit, that is, by an encounter with God that imparts heavenly life (רוח) to the soul…. Once that happens, the person is able to receive the truth of heavenly things.
Nicodemus objected to the idea of being “born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?” Perhaps he was suggesting that spiritual rebirth would be as impossible as physical rebirth. People are just too set in their ways to change… Yeshua reminded him of the distinction between the realm of the natural (“born of water”) and the realm of the spirit (“born of the Spirit”): “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind (ruach) blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” When Nicodemus still expressed uncertainty about all this by asking “How can these things be?” Yeshua chided him for his shortsightedness: “If you don’t believe when I explain in earthly terms, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” As a respected teacher of Torah, Nicodemus should have known the prophetic teaching of “rebirth” from the Scriptures, such as Ezekiel 36:25-28, Jeremiah 31:33; and indeed he had a responsibility to know this truth. Moreover the general theme of Scripture concerned the coming of Messiah, the Son of Man, who would undo the curse that befell humanity through Adam’s transgression, and this meant a new beginning…
To help Nicodemus see, Yeshua reminded him of the episode recorded in the Torah when the people became discouraged about the journey in the desert. At one stop they could not find water and they began to say that the LORD had abandoned them to die there (see Num. 21:4-9). God then sent “fiery serpents” (הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים) that bit the people and many began dying. When the people cried out in distress, God instructed Moses to make a semblance of a fiery serpent and to lift it up on a stake, so that everyone who was bitten could look upon it and live. Yeshua then made the connection for Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up: so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
The episode in the desert provides a vivid picture of deliverance for all who have likewise come under divine judgment. The lifted up serpent was an sign of righteous judgment; the people were entirely unable to rescue themselves, and the venom was lethal and without antidote. Only God could save them, and God’s way of healing was to have the people look at the impaled serpent to receive life. Only God’s power could kill the power of death’s hold over them… When Yeshua told Nicodemus that he likewise would be “lifted up,” he used the same word used elsewhere to refer to crucifixion (ὑψόω). “Looking at” God’s provision for deliverance at the cross is the means of salvation — that is, the greatest blessing of all: healing from our separation from God, deliverance from the judgment for sin, and the promise of eternal life. Again, all this comes by faith: “looking at” God’s remedy means accepting it as being offered for your sake. You are set free from condemnation, you receive newness of life, and you are able to live before God in honesty and confidence of his love for you…
“Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.” You are blind until God opens your eyes. When Yeshua gave sight to a man born blind, the Pharisees concluded that he could not be a true prophet of God because he healed someone on the Sabbath day (John 9). In response Yeshua said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who ‘see’ may become blind.” When the Pharisees heard this they asked, “Are we blind then?” and Yeshua replied: “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains.” Likewise the Apostle Paul was made blind in order to see; he had to lose the blindness of his seeing in order to behold the truth of God’s kingdom (Acts 9). As long as Paul thought he could see he remained blind, but as soon as he realized he was blind, he began to be able to see…
The difference between believers and unbelievers does not turn on the problem of sin and the condition of spiritual death – for both are in the same helpless state before God – but rather with the different responses they have toward “the light,” that is, the revelation of God manifest in Yeshua. Those who love evil hate the light and turn away from its disclosure, whereas those who “do truth” love the light so that their deeds are revealed as God’s power at work within their hearts (John 3:19-21; Eph. 5:13). There is an “exclusive disjunction” in the realm of the spirit: either you will love what is evil and hate the light, or you will love the light and hate what is evil. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matt. 6:24).
In the end there will be found two types of people: those who love the truth and those who love the lie. These are the children of light (בְּנֵי הָאוֹר) and the children of darkness (בְּנֵי הַחשֶׁךְ), respectively. Followers of Yeshua the Messiah are told to “walk as children of light” / ὡς τέκνα φωτὸς περιπατεῖτε (Eph. 5:8). The children of light are called to be am kadosh – a holy people – separate from the evil engendered by the fallen world and its forces, just as the very first creative expression of God was the separation of light from darkness (Gen. 1:3-4). The children of light “hate evil and love the good,” and conversely, the children of darkness “hate the good and love evil” (Psalm 34:21, Prov. 8:13, Amos 5:15, John 3:20-21). Regarding the heavenly Zion to come, it is written: “nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood (lit. “makes a lie”), but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:27).
The essential question is whether you are willing to believe in the light of God’s love, or not… What sort of person are you, after all? Yeshua is the light of the world, and those who follow him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12). So, do you have ohr ha-chayim (אוֹר הַחַיִּים), “the light of Life,” shining within your heart? The light beckons: “wake up, open your eyes, and believe” the good news: darkness and despair will not prevail; your mourning will find comfort, your grief its solace. Your heart’s deepest longing shines brightly, even now, if you will but believe… Now may you find courage and remember what is written: “The LORD is my light and my salvation (i.e., my Yeshua); whom shall I fear? The LORD is the refuge of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Amen.
Hebrew Lesson:
