Opening Prayer
Lord, let us experience the living power of Your Word. Amen.
Text: John 3:1–15
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 are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 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 marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Devotion
Because we have lost God’s image, as human beings we are by nature completely disqualified from blessed communion with the Holy One in heaven. We do not love Him, we have no joy in Him. How then can we be blessed with Him? Even if God could take us into His heaven in our natural condition, we couldn’t remain there and be happy. We must get back the love we lost, our mind must become like God’s, so that we have pleasure and joy in Him, if we are to be saved.
To fall and die, we can do that by ourselves, and Satan is happy to help us with it. But to raise ourselves and to live again, that we cannot do by ourselves at all, and the devil works against it with all his might. Only the Lord can send life from the dead. Love that is extinguished in our heart can only be rekindled from heaven. But, what grace! The whole Trinity is at work in this. All that God does, He does so that we shall have eternal life. The Father sent His only-begotten Son to us in love, the Son entered into humanity in love and has gained victory on earth again, and the Holy Spirit creates faith in us, so that we receive it in our hearts. Christ’s life and work in His humiliation is finished, but not gone. He is here with His perfect life, His innocent death, and His victorious resurrection, with all His saving work: annihilation of our sin and death, with the life that He brought us, the life He won for us, eternal life which is love. The highest importance of the means of grace is that the Father and the Son come to us in them with the Holy Spirit. In Baptism the Triune God, the God of our salvation, comes to us and gives us new birth. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ,” says Paul (Gal 3:27), and again: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life… Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:4,11). It has pleased the Lord to use water connected with the Word for this miracle of grace. The same Lord Christ, who once came and lay in swaddling clothes in the manger to win life for us, comes in His Means of Grace to our hearts and gives us life. Therefore He says in this Gospel: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,” and therefore Peter says: “Baptism also now saves us” (1Pe 3:21). By the Means of Grace the Spirit extends to us the treasure of grace, and by them He works faith, by which we receive His grace. Just as God willed that those who looked at the bronze serpent should live, so He wills that we should live by faith. The Lord Jesus, who was lifted up on the cross, died for us, was buried and raised again, is there before the eyes of our soul, and the Spirit enlightens our eyes, so that we can believe in Him. And through faith which holds to the crucified and risen Savior in the Church’s Means of Grace then His life of love comes into our hearts so that He remains in us and we in Him.
The new birth is a miracle that goes beyond the hidden depths of the soul, but new life breaks forth, is known by the renewed self, and shows itself to others. – Do you love God from your heart? Does Jesus live in you with His love? Do you long for Him, are you happy in Him, and do you gladly submit your will to His? Do you pray to love Him with your whole heart, and are you concerned that you do not love Him as you ought? Then you are truly reborn and are a “partaker in the divine nature.” – Let nothing be so important to you as having life in God. If you have that, then you are saved; if not, you are lost. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Those are Jesus’ own words.
Closing Prayer
O God, give us Your Holy Spirit, so that we may truly believe and have the heavenly life of Jesus’ love in our hearts. Enter into us, good Holy Spirit, and drive away darkness and death. Triune God, let us live in You now and forever. Amen.
Hymn
O little flock, He speaks to you
Who long for peace, unheeded;
And empty form is not for you;
New life is sorely needed.
For what is born of flesh is flesh,
Sees not God’s kingdom, only death;
New birth is by His Spirit giv’n,
And sent from heav’n,
A rich new life with all forgiv’n.
If then God’s kingdom you would see,
Rebirth you must be owning
Of water and the Spirit free,
Old Adam surely drowning.
The Spirit moves, unseen by all,
And sends forth His most holy call;
His way we do not understand,
His hidden hand,
But to God’s Word we do attend.
It makes my soul so strong and glad
That God to me has given
Regeneration’s precious flood,
The Spirit’s gifts from heaven.
From Satan’s grasp He rescued me,
Adopted me His child to be,
Baptized I have God’s precious dow’r:
The Spirit’s pow’r,
That I in faith may stand each hour.
Landstad: Hos dig, O Jesus, seent om Nat L 447:3.4.6 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Allein zu dir (ELH 415); alternate hymn: Come, Thou almighty King ELH 12