April 15, 2012
Scripture:
Hymn 142 - A ruler once came to Jesus by night
Prayer
Recently, we have been looking at firsts in the life of the Lord. We’ve read of Jesus’ first sermon and His first miracle. Today, we will read about what might have been his first one-on-one conversation.
John 3:1-5
Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. We don’t know where this meeting was, since Jesus did not have a house of his own. Maybe Nicodemus met Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. We know that Jesus enjoyed being there and might have been praying when Nicodemus came.
Why did he go to Jesus at night? Nicodemus was a ruler of the Pharisees: maybe he went at night so that nobody could see him and make fun of him. He wanted to talk to Jesus about his miracles. Nicodemus had watched Jesus, and realized that he wasn’t like the other rabbis he knew. Nicodemus knew that only God can do miracles, but he wasn’t sure if Jesus was God. Nicodemus didn’t know of the miracle that Jesus was going to tell him about.
Jesus said, “Verily, Verily,” three times in this chapter. The word verily means truly. In the book of John, the words “Verily, Verily” are always followed by something important. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that he needed to be born again if he would see the kingdom of God. But Nicodemus didn’t really understand what Jesus was saying: did he need to become a baby again? Nicodemus’s body didn’t need to be born again. He’s very much like many people today: most of them would like to go to heaven, but they don’t know how to get there.
Read vv. 14 -16.
Do you remember when the Lord sent fiery snakes to punish the Children of Israel? They needed to look at the brazen serpent that Moses had made if they wanted to be healed. We have been bitten by sin and the only way we can be healed is by looking at the Lord Jesus and the work He did on the cross, and trusting in Him. Jesus told Nicodemus to turn to Him and believe. Then, Nicodemus would be born again.
Quite an interesting chapter, isn’t it? Nicodemus went to Jesus to talk about the miracles he had seen, and Jesus told him about a miracle that was yet to take place: the miracle of a Saviour dying for the sins of us all.
Luke 11:14-26
We see Jesus working another miracle here, and this time it’s casting out a dumb devil. It’s amazing to see the amount of opposition throughout scripture to Jesus, God, and His people. We can find the enemy all the way back in the Garden of Eden with the serpent. Satan used to be a great angel, but he rebelled against God and fell from heaven to become our great enemy. His power of death was taken from him at the cross, but he will be active until his end. Jesus fought him while He was here on Earth.
The Lord wasn’t casting out Satan, though, but a demon. When Satan fell from heaven, he took many of the angels with him. These are demons, or devils, and they are under Satan’s rule. They’re enemies that you can’t see. People can have demons dwell inside them, and these devils can—as in our passage here—affect physical actions. The devil in this man was dumb. Jesus demonstrated that these devils have power, but that He had greater power. Satan was the ruler of the world; but, now that Jesus had come, there was a stronger Ruler.
Satan’s demons can indwell people, but they can also suggest ideas and influence our behaviour. It was this type of activity that influenced those standing by to say that Jesus cast out devils through Beelzebub. When Peter said that Jesus was the Son of God, Jesus told him that the Father had revealed this to him. However, later on in that chapter, Peter rebuked the Lord for talking about His death on the cross, and Jesus rebuked him by saying, “Get thee behind me Satan.” Satan had influenced Peter’s thoughts. He started this in the Garden by asking Eve, “Hath God said?” This caused her to doubt, and the Devil has been influencing minds ever since.
Now, some of the opposition to our Lord was from man’s depraved nature. Not all of it was satanic like this situation. One of the charges that the people made was that Jesus got his power to cast out devils from the prince of the devils: Satan. Others asked for a sign from heaven. If a miracle wasn’t a good enough sign, what did they want? This was the type of opposition that Jesus had to deal with.
Jesus knew and answered their thoughts; they didn’t need to speak. If He used satanic power in order to cast out Satan, then Satan’s kingdom would be divided and would fall. This shows the folly of these people. Jesus then took the accusation and turned it around by asking, “And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out?” (v.19). This was to prick their conscience, and to show where He was from. “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” (v.20). Jesus hasn’t taken His throne yet, but His realm was real and He was dealing with the enemy.
Christ recognized Satan as a strong man with armour (death), a palace (the world), and goods (human souls) that were in peace. People are in the grips of a person who hates them and wants their destruction. While he can get them to not think about their souls, all is in “peace”. But as soon as the Gospel pricks someone’s conscience, there is no more “peace”. That person needs the peace of God. There are preachers today who preach peace; but their peace is, “Just do your best. Everything will work out.” There is no room for peace on this earth until the Prince of Peace comes to Jerusalem.
Satan may be the strong man, but Jesus is the stronger man. At the cross, He defeated him that had the power of death: the Devil. He has taken away the armour of the strong man and is claiming souls for Himself.
“He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” (v.23). There are only two sides to this battle of “God vs.Satan”. There is no middle or neutral ground, and this calls for decision. In Revelation 3:15 Jesus says, “I would thou wert cold or hot.” Our Lord doesn’t want lukewarm followers.
Jesus cast the demon out of this man, but there was no room for a vacuum. If a devil is cast out, the Lord must take it’s place, or it will come back with more devils. This is a picture of Israel. When they came back from Babylon, there was no idolatry. Throughout history since then there has been no idolatry in Israel. Today there is none. They are clean and garnished right now, but they will become an idolatrous nation when they adopt the beast and the anti-christ in Jerusalem.
Hymn 43 - Behold the Lamb enthroned on high
Prayer