Page 63 - Living Light Autumn 23

Monday November 13 - You must be born again “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”
John 3:7
Fulfilling the deeper meaning of the bronze serpent incident, Jesus says emphatically (in John 12:32), “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” But what will that look like? It will be as one who is born again (John 3:3). Without this sovereign intervention of God, a person remains outside his kingdom, unable to understand or enter it. Interesting!
Nicodemus is clearly a well educated, highly respected and devout religious leader of his nation. He is looked to as a theological expert (John 3:10), and yet his opinions of Jesus count for nothing if he remains in spiritual darkness. He must be ‘born again’ (John 3:3), ‘born of water and the Spirit’ (v 5). Jesus expresses surprise that ‘Israel’s teacher’ has no comprehension of what it means to be ‘born again’, for the Prophet Ezekiel, centuries earlier, had foretold this New Covenant blessing. In chapter 36 of his prophecy, Ezekiel outlines the transforming nature of ‘new birth’ as being cleansed from sin with pure water and receiving a new heart and new spirit (vv 25-27).
The Christian experience of conversion is nothing less than being made anew: ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Regeneration is the start of sharing in the divine nature, empowered to live a life fully pleasing to the Lord. Perfect? Not yet. But changed for good!
Lord Jesus, may I know the reality of being a new creation. Amen.
Tuesday November 14 - Let there be light
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”... the light of the
knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
Until Nicodemus was born anew from above, he would remain in spiritual blindness. Paul shows us that, in our natural human sinfulness, this inability to know God stems from the influence of Satan: ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Nothing short of God raising the dead or opening blind eyes is needed. It is God, says the apostle, who acts in re-creation as he did on day one of the original creation: ‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’ New birth is brought about by God commanding “Light” and “Life” – as Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) put it, ‘a divine and supernatural light imparted directly to the soul.’
This momentous act does not occur in a vacuum; it is accomplished through the proclamation of Christ in the gospel: ‘For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord...’ (v 5). And when a person’s eyes are opened, the blindness overcome, it is Christ who is seen in all his glory. What we were dead to, we now appreciate as ultimate reality – namely the beauty, supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus. May his glory fill your gaze and fulfil your every longing!
Lord Jesus, please help me to see and know you as you truly are – all glorious! Amen.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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