T. Austin-Sparks · 2 of 8
The Earthly and the Heavenly Man
What I am going to do may seem a very unusual thing, that is, speaking on the basis of that which is almost exclusively used for the unsaved. "Jesus said... , verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born from above (RV, margin), he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Of course, originally as here, they [the words] so apply, but I am remembering that John wrote this many decades after the incident. The old man, the apostle who outlived all the other apostles wrote this, and went right back to this early time, and wrote it not for the unsaved, but for the church.
John's writings are undoubtedly for the church, and he wrote for the church: "Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God", I do not mean, of course, that he said to the church that it had to be born again, but he was laying down something of primary importance for Christians. You notice that I have changed to the actual text - "Except a man be born again" - is the Authorised; "born anew" the Revised; but it is actually "born from above", because the word here is the same word as in verse 31 - "He that cometh from above is above all". It is the same Greek word: "born from above". I have said that it is an unusual thing to address Christians upon that basis, but the fact is that, in one way or another and in varying degrees, the whole of the New Testament is about that which is born from above, the nature of it, what it is, what it does, how it should behave and everything else. That is a sweeping statement, but it will stand investigation.
So we are going to read a section and dismiss this very unfortunate chapter division. We have to refer to it for convenience sake, but you will see how unfortunate it is. We go back into what is verse 24 of chapter 2 and go on to verse 13 of chapter 3.
"Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, for that He knew all men, and because He needed not that anyone should bear witness concerning man; for He Himself knew what was in man. Now there was a man of the , named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came unto Him by night, and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that Thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto 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, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born from above. The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no one hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended out of heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in heaven."
Two Men - The Earthly and the Heavenly
Now, in that section, we have two persons face to face, an earthly person and a heavenly Person. One word is used of them both, the word 'man'. "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, for that He knew all men, and because He needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man; for He Himself knew what was in man. Now there was a man...". I do not want just to pass over anything without its force striking you. That John put in that word 'now' is tremendously significant. For some time I puzzled over the place of Nicodemus in the gospel by John. John in his summary said he had written his gospel with the one object of showing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31), and I could not see how Nicodemus fitted into that; but that little word 'now' linking with what had just been said and what follows, is a key. "Now there was a man...". And then as we go on we find that this word is used of the other, Christ, "the Son of Man". That title, as you may know, occurs some eighty-eight times in the New Testament, and eighty-four of the eighty-eight are in the gospels, and eleven times in this gospel by John. Forgive this detail, but it is important. What I said just now about why John wrote this, this title Son of man when it is used of Christ always has the definite article - "the Son of Man". It is a title used of others in the Bible, but whenever it is used of anyone else, it is always without the article - 'son of man'. But when it is Christ, it is always "the Son of Man".
The Earthly Man, Represented by Nicodemus
You have, then, two men, two people called 'man', and they are facing one another. On this side is the earthly man. Jesus does not commit Himself unto him. He knew all men in that category. He knew what was in that man, what he was made of, how he was constituted, what he was capable of. He knew all the constituents of that category, all men: man. And it is to that earthly man that these other words relate - "There was a man...", and John is really in the back of his mind saying and meaning, 'Now there was an earthly man named Nicodemus.' "That which is born of the flesh is flesh", that is the earthly man. Verse 13 again, "No one hath ascended into heaven" - that is the earthly man. Perhaps you say, "Well now, that is doubtful; Elijah did and Enoch did!" But if you knew the exactness of the Greek here, you would know that the Greek says, "No man of himself hath ascended into heaven." Elijah did not of himself, nor did Enoch of himself; but this One, this heavenly Man, ascended Himself. But this earthly man - "no man of himself". Verse 19 - "This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness." Verse 27 - "A man can receive nothing, except it hath been given him from heaven." This is the earthly man, what he is made of, how he is not going to be trusted by heaven, what his limitations are, what he cannot do of himself, and what he cannot receive of himself. "There was an earthly man".
The Lord Jesus, the Heavenly Man
On the other side, there is the heavenly Man. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." "Born from above". Verse 12 - "If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?" And, "no one hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended out of heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in heaven." Here is the heavenly Man. Verse 16 - "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (the heavenly Man from heaven, given from heaven). "God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world"; God sent His Son. Verse 31 - "He that cometh from above is above all." Then, of course, you want to read all those other passages later on. Take chapter 6 as a whole, or almost as a whole, "I am come down from heaven" (verse 38); "I... came down out of heaven" (verse 51); "I am the bread which came down out of heaven" (verse 41). You know how much there is of it there, and especially verse 62 of chapter 6 - "What then if ye should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before?"
The Earthly Man at His Best
An earthly man and the heavenly Man standing face to face. Now, these two are representative men. Look at Nicodemus. There is a touch of genius about this thing in John's putting Nicodemus in here, let us say there is the genius of the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus, a representative earthly man. As to his nation, he belongs to the chosen nation; out of all the nations, chosen of God, to whom belong the oracles (Rom. 3:2) and the , a nation peculiarly and particularly related to God. Nicodemus belongs to that nation. As to his sect, he is a Pharisee, a man of the Pharisees. Pharisee is a Hebrew word which means separated by specific beliefs and practices. Within the chosen and particular nation, a particularly religious people or sect, you may say the very core of an nation; very strict in their tithing, eating and drinking, washings and rites; and they held very strictly to the belief in the natural immortality of the soul.
Jesus said to this representative Pharisee - "Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." As to his position: a member of the Sanhedrin, a ruler of the Jews, that is, a member of the National Council. As to his character, he is no man to be despised. Let us get rid of anything like that in our mentality about Nicodemus. He is a man to be honoured. He is mentioned three times by John. He is a perfectly honest man. The second mention is when he raises the question in the Council - "Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth?" (John 7:51). The third time is when beloved friends were bringing their spices to the tomb and it says: "And there came also Nicodemus, he who at the first came to Him by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds" (John 19:39). He is out in the open now. He is an honest man. As to his spiritual condition he is blind, ignorant, helpless, "Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? ...We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?" Blind, ignorant, helpless - that is the representative man, the earthly man at his best in every way.
