Ep. 08
Cornelius preaches on John 3:1-21, opening by asking the congregation for the most iconic verse in the Word of God. The answer comes straight back — John 3:16 — and he asks who can say it in another language. Then the passage is read: Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council, comes to Jesus at night, calls him a teacher who has come from God, and is told that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
He calls the passage the carnal mind against the Spirit — Nicodemus’s intellect set against Jesus speaking in the Spirit, the two talking past each other, Nicodemus understanding almost none of it. The Pharisees were the learned, the ruling class in Jerusalem; they knew the Torah, the prophets and the traditions, and had added many laws. Nicodemus came at night because he did not want to be seen. “You must be born again,” Jesus says, three times, prefaced by “very truly”.
What kingdom is he talking about? Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: a statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay standing for successive kingdoms, struck down by a rock not cut out by human hands, which grows until it fills the earth. Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome have all gone; the kingdom of England will pass too, but God’s kingdom will not. And you cannot join it by effort. He was not born in England, so he has to work for citizenship — but nobody earns their way into God’s kingdom, because you are born into it.
The Pharisees knew an enormous amount about God, and missed that Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets had something else: relationship. Abraham walked with God; Moses was called at the burning bush and stood before God daily in the tabernacle; the prophets were in contact with him. The Pharisees studied God without knowing him, and many people do the same. It is not about works but the heart, and it is vertical. Then the bronze snake: Israel complained, venomous snakes came, and God told Moses to lift a bronze snake on a pole — look at it and be healed. Nothing to do, no medicine. Cornelius, who lived in Mozambique among venomous snakes, is emphatic that salvation by works does not exist. Likewise the Son of Man was lifted up, and simply looking at the cross saves. He quotes 2 Corinthians 5:21 and lands on John 3:16, which holds everything: God’s love, the gift of his Son, and eternal life for whoever believes.
Bible passages
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Calls to action
Watch the video: https://youtu.be/OtvTK7HO3PI
