Things natural are the emblems of things spiritual. It is no accident that in this very verse the same word is used to designate the wind that blows upon the surface of the earth, and the Spirit that breathes over the souls of men. In many languages the breeze or the breath is the symbol of the unseen vital principle that distinguishes living beings from the material universe, and even of the higher and properly spiritual nature. Our Lord in this passage of his conversation with Nicodemus extends the symbolism from the principle to its agency, and illustrates the working of the Spirit of God by a reference to the mysterious movement of the wind. The parallelism appears in -

I. THE ORIGIN. Man is powerless to cause the wind to blow from one quarter or from another, for the wind is one of the great forces of nature, i.e. of the operation of God, the Maker and Lord of all. In like manner, the Spirit of truth and holiness is the Spirit of God. No man can claim credit for his influences; they belong to the superhuman system which is independent of human wisdom or skill. If the Church of Christ is the creation of the Spirit (ubi Spiritus, ibi Ecclesia), it is not an institution of human origin and device, but an organism into which God himself has breathed the breath of life.

II. THE CHARACTERISTICS.

1. The wind is invisible, and the same is the case with the Spirit of God, who is perceived by no one of the senses. Invisibility is no proof of the unreality of the breeze or the gale. The influence of the Spirit of God is upon human souls, and cannot be traced by the action of the senses; but that influence is as real as is that of any force, whether material or psychical.

2. The Spirit of God resembles the wind in the secret and inscrutable character of his operations. That there are meteorological laws is not questioned; but the forces that account for the wind are so many and so complicated, that they are even now only very partially understood. At all events, the variations of the atmosphere were altogether unknown to Nicodemus, and the argument was obviously effective for him. In like manner, the operations of God's Spirit are mysterious; they take place in the recesses of the soul; their method is often incomprehensible by us. Yet there is nothing arbitrary or capricious in these operations; they are all the manifestations of Divine wisdom and goodness. The workings of the Holy Ghost are present where we, perhaps, should little have expected them. Not only can we not prescribe to God how he should work; we cannot always tell how he has worked. He evidently has many direct channels by which his Spirit approaches the souls of men.

III. THE RESULTS. If we cannot see the wind or trace its modes of action, we are at no loss to understand and appreciate its effects. We hear its sound, we feel its force, we perceive its presence by its works. The Spirit makes his efficacy apparent by his fruits.

1. How powerful is the Spirit of God! The wind, by its steady blowing, turns the sails of the mill, propels the ship across the ocean; by its vehemence, in the form of a hurricane or a whirlwind, destroys great works, uproots trees, unroofs houses. But what is this, as evidence of power, compared with the effects wrought by the Holy Spirit in human hearts - in human society? Here we see the mightiest works of the Supreme.

2. How various are the tokens of the Spirit's working! The wind may be Boreas or Zephyr; may sink into a sigh or wax into a roar; may pile the clouds in masses, or drive the mists like sheep before it, or fling the hail abroad. And the Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth, of conviction, of holiness, of consolation. The same Spirit distributes varied gifts to men "severally as he will." None can limit, none can even trace out, the diversity of spiritual operations.

3. How beneficent is the Spirit of God in his working! The wind does harm; yet its action, on the whole, is advantageous. But the Holy Ghost not only works good; he works nothing but good. He who is "born of the Spirit" is born to a new, a holy, a Divine life. A spiritual dispensation is the occasion of hope to this humanity, imparts to it a prospect which otherwise the most sanguine would not venture to dream of. A ransomed humanity thus becomes a renewed humanity, and renewal is the pledge of glorification. From the four winds the breath comes and breathes upon the slain; and the dead. live, and "stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army." - T.

I. Consider THE PLACE THE BIBLE HOLDS as an evidence of Christianity.

1. The Bible is the history of the Jewish people, and their existence to-day is a guarantee that the basis of the book is firm and undeniable.

2. Every contemporaneous and collateral witness adds to this assurance. The remains of Egypt and Assyria, the traditions of the Jews, allusions in Greek and Roman monuments and classic authors are grounds upon which we are assured of the historic character of the Scriptures.

3. The Bible is a whole literature.

4. It is the history of a religion. The funds. mental ideas of the various books are the same — but there is a manifest progress. The earlier writers look forward to a greater revelation. The ideas become clearer and clearer. The advancing faith never contradicts the past, and at length the culmination appears in Jesus.

II. THE ADAPTATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF MAN. Christ makes great assertions, but never attempts to prove them. Here He makes His heater's hesitation the consequence, not of defect in the evidence, but of defect in the man. For such a truth as the new birth admitted of no other evidence than its own light. Salvation must be based on a voluntary self-surrender. No more proof must be given therefore than will leave room for doubt, if men desire to doubt. Mathematical truth admits of perfect demonstration, but if religious truth leaves no room for doubt, then faith ceases to be religious. Its evidence is a probation for man. The force of this evidence varies according to spiritual condition. If a man is debased by sin, he will not readily open his heart, but if he is convicted of sinfulness, he will respond to the gospel and perceive how exactly Divine revelation is adapted to his need. Then its certainty will be felt in proportion to what he has found of peace and gladness. Just as the correspondence between the eye and light makes it absolutely certain that the one was made for the other, so it is with Christianity. Water cannot rise above the level of its source, and that men should of their own accord produce the Bible, and infuse into it such a marvellous power of raising men near its standard, is incredible. We shall feel the force of this far more if we can bring our own experience forward as a testimony. In this way each Christian becomes a living proof.

(P. W. Darnton, B. A.)

It seems a moderate claim that the alleged truths of our religion should be respected as realities But this demand covers the whole ground. Admit —

1. That God is a real Father and Sovereign.

2. That each soul is His child and subject.

3. That separation from Him is the most terrible of disasters, to be healed at any cost.

4. That Jesus is the Christ who achieves that reconciliation.

5. That a righteous life is the fulfilment of human destiny. Admit this, and you have granted the whole conclusion. The terms imply something more than intellectual assent. There is such a thing as an ineffectual creed. To realize a doctrine is to have it wrought into the roots of our life. This realization only takes place when the truth emerges from the nebulous haze of conjecture into clear, sharp light — when it takes hold of feeling and is taken hold of by faith. This is needed now for the true efficiency of religion. For our religion is not dogma, or theory, or dream, but a spiritual power. Let us examine a few facts, in the Christian faith which authenticate its claim as a religion of realities.

I. THE IDEA OF GOD. Christianity did not create this. It simply places itself on the basis of a natural reality affirmed by the consenting feelings and philosophies of the nations; and then proceeds to nourish and satisfy it.

1. It is a real authority that speaks (ver. 11).

2. There is reality in the very attitudes and occasions of its revelations.

3. Reality in its substance. "God is a Spirit," and with that simple announcement old idolatries that materialized the gods, and mythologies that multiplied them, vanished.

4. Reality in its disclosures of God's nearness and condescension. He is the God of houses, streets, schools — not distant or etherealized.

II. This opens the true doctrine of INTERCOURSE WITH GOD, or prayer. What is natural if not that a child should speak to his parents, that man should ask for what God only can give? Prayer is a reality — something yearned for, something satisfying. So speaks the world's best experience. To pretend to ask things we do not really desire, or things we have heard others ask for, is not prayer, but speculation or traditional mummery. Christ brings prayer back to reality. "Ask, and ye shall receive."

III. Co-ordinate with this is LOVE FOR MAN. Here again Christianity does not create the faculty, but out of it weaves the bond of spiritual brotherhood. In training this social instinct Christianity gives it the brightest tokens of reality.

1. It stimulates fellowship, and by the healthiest motive — disinterested mercy, of which its central and crucified Form is the incarnate example.

2. It regulates it by the wisest law — broad, far-seeing, equity, saving it from wronging one class by righting another, from destroying without constructing.

3. It directs it to the purest object — the personal relief, the universal liberation, the spiritual rectitude of each soul.

IV. Turning from the social to the private offices of Christianity, we encounter the only satisfactory interpretation of the natural YEARNING TOWARDS AN IDEAL MORAL PERFECTION. It is only in very inferior natures that this sensibility to exalted goodness is utterly depraved. Baseness secretly confesses the beauty of magnanimity. The story of incorruptible conscience is the perpetual charm of literature. With all select souls there is a tantalizing disparity between the aspiring aim and the lagging performance. How does the gospel justify this real passion for the best?

1. By blessing these native aspirations as the Divine seal set on humanity.

2. By encouraging them.

3. By furnishing them nutriment and discipline to ripen their vigour.

4. By holding up one in whom all their promises are realized.

5. By giving them a hereafter where they shall mature into open vision and into calm and balanced power.

V. Not less does the gospel fit the varieties of human consciousness in its great doctrine of A RULING CHOICE DETERMINING CHARACTER. It divides the world into two classes by the inexorable line of that voluntary consecration. There is one differencing point, the point of motive, where the world's people and God's divide.

VI. But there is one reality darker and more fearful. THE LAW AND GUIDE OF LIFE HAS BEEN BROKEN. I know I am frail, offending, and guilty. Who shall deliver .me? Christ. He has come for that.

VII. Infer, then, THE REALITY OF CHRISTIANITY.

1. In its ministry to the cravings of simple, honest hearts.

2. In its marvellous adaptation to the pain and gladness, fear and hope of our humanity.

3. In its unpretending address to our common habits, speaking the language of life.

4. In its boundless relief for a boundless difficulty.

5. In its expanding and exhaustless fulness for all glowing souls.

VIII. THE EARLY CHRISTIANS PREACHED, LIVED, DIED, FOR THIS REALITY, AND CONQUERED THE WORLD.

(Bp. Huntington.)

e: — Whatever exists, exists positively, has existence and also energy. Positiveness is the very soul of growth.

I. CHRISTIANITY IS POSITIVE.

1. God is a positive Being.

2. Man is a positive being.

3. Sin is a positive condition.

4. Holiness is a positive state,

II. CHRISTIANITY MUST BE POSITIVELY APPLIED.

1. It is to honour God.

2. It is to be serviceable to man.

3. It is to prove victorious over sin.

4. It is to be potential unto holiness.

III. THE POSITIVENESS OF CHRISTIANITY IS NEUTRALIZED —

1. When it is interpreted as a system of polite moral and aesthetic education. There is a class of writers and preachers who blot out of the Scriptures everything that is positive, who drop every word that bristles with damnatory energy, theorize the birth of Jesus, reduce the atonement to heroism, treat human depravity as a misfortune, speak patronizingly of hell as an exploded idea, and allude pleasantly to heaven as a benevolent myth. Many people are frightened by this "modern thought." They need not be, for this is a positive age, and a negative religion can make no headway.

2. When it is over-organized. Christ did not organize it because He saw that truth was over.organized, and therefore cramped. Christianity is a power only when it is organized in human hearts.

(W. H. H. Murray.)

You may judge of this —

I. BY ITS WORDS. Its "shalls" and "shall nots" are like so many bugle notes put into print. They sound with the energy of the Apocalyptic trumpets. Its commandments fall upon the conscience as a hammer of steel falls upon the anvil. Its warnings sound like the solemn protest of an indignant universe. Its threatenings roll over the guilty soul like the dreadful reverberations of ponderous thunder. Even its invitations suggest the tension of anxiety, and its entreaties come to our ears impelled by the urgency of anxious and infinite affection. Its very words are charged with significance almost to the limit of explosion. Heaven and hell, sin and holiness, faith and unbelief, life and death, salvation and damnation — these are glorious or dreadful words, mighty affirmations, expressions which challenge the attention of the most sceptical, and fill the thoughtful mind with solemn awe. No other religion has ever weighted the pages of its sacred books with such dreadful emphasis; no other religion has ever brought its believers face to face with such stupendous positiveness of assertion and conception. But if the verbal expression of Christianity is thus positive, what language is adequate to describe the positiveness of —

II. ITS SPIRIT? If its body is so tense and vibrant with energies, who may pourtray the vigour of its animating spirit? If the unlighted orb, as it hangs rayless overhead, can draw every eye to its dark circle, and compel human attention, what would be its power if its inherent fires should break through the shell of sombre surface, and the mighty sphere should suddenly be ablaze with beams? Tell me, you who know the words of Scripture, and have also felt the movings of its matchless and irresistible spirit, which is the stronger? Tell me, you who once heard in the word heaven the sound of sweet but far-off music, but who now have the resonance of the Divine harmonies sounding in you, did you know aught of that melodious word until the chime of it made music in your soul? No. Not till the spirit of Christianity is received into his heart can man know or dream how positive are its operations. Nor can man know what hell is until he lies enfolded within the coils of some serpentine remorse, and the dreadful stricture tightens on his conscience until he screams and moans in the agony of a tormented spirit. Do not say "exaggeration," for you know that what I say is true, when I declare that men and women there have been who have committed crimes so dark, dreadful, and damning, so obnoxious even to their blurred moral vision, that the memory of their deed has haunted them — yea, haunted them so that they could not eat, nor sleep, nor forget: the fires of remorse were within their bosom, and they could not quench them; the "damned spot" was on their hands, and all the seas could not wash the awful stain away, and at last they died: died screaming in agony, as if the torment of hell had already got hold of them; and it had.

(W. H. H. Murray.)

to: — Massilon, in the first sermon he ever preached, found the whole audience, upon his getting into the pulpit, in a disposition no way favourable to his intentions. Their nods, whispers, or drowsy behaviour showed him that there was no great profit to be expected from his sowing in a soil so improper. However, he soon changed the disposition of his audience by his manner of beginning. "If," says he, "a cause, the most important that could be conceived, were to be tried at the bar before qualified judges; if this cause interested ourselves in particular; if the eyes of the whole kingdom were fixed upon the events; if the most eminent counsel were employed on both sides; and if we had heard from our infancy of this yet undetermined trial — would you not all sit with due attention and warm expectation to the pleadings on each side? Would not all your hopes and fears be hinged on the final decision? And yet, let me tell you, you have this moment a cause where not one nation, but all the world, are spectators; tried not before a fallible tribunal, but the awful throne of heaven, where not your temporal and transitory interests are the subject of debate, but your eternal happiness or misery; where the cause is still undetermined, but, perhaps, the very moment I am speaking may fix the irrevocable decree that shall last for ever; and yet, notwithstanding all this, you can hardly sit with patience to hear the tidings of your own salvation. I plead the cause of heaven, and yet I am scarcely attended to."

Jesus, John, NicodemusAenon, Jerusalem, Jordan River, Judea, SalimAccept, Bear, Certainly, Eye-witnesses, Receive, Reject, Solemn, Speak, Testify, Testimony, Truly, Truth, Verily, Witness, Yet1. Jesus teaches Nicodemus the necessity of being born again,
14. of faith in his death,
16. the great love of God toward the world,
18. and the condemnation for unbelief.
22. Jesus baptizes in Judea.
23. The baptism, witness, and doctrine of John concerning Jesus.

John 3:11

     5854   experience, of God
     6604   acceptance, human

John 3:1-16

     6698   newness

John 3:11-12

     8744   faithlessness, as disobedience
     8836   unbelief, response

John 3:11-13

     7950   mission, of Christ

John 3:11-15

     2428   gospel, descriptions

Notes on the Third Century
Page 161. Line 1. He must be born again, &c. This is a compound citation from John iii. 3, and Mark x. 15, in the order named. Page 182. Line 17. For all things should work together, &c. See Romans viii. 28. Page 184. Lines 10-11. Being Satan is able, &c. 2 Corinthians xi. 14. Page 184. Last line. Like a sparrow, &c. Psalm cii. Page 187. Line 1. Mechanisms. This word is, in the original MS., mechanicismes.' Page 187. Line 7. Like the King's daughter, &c. Psalm xlv. 14. Page 188. Med. 39. The best …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

September 14 Evening
Ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son.--I COR. 1:9. He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.--Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Be ye . . . followers of God, as dear children.--If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. The brightness of his glory, and the express image of his …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 28 Morning
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.--JOHN 3:16. God . . . hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 31 Evening
What communion hath light with darkness?--II COR. 6:14. Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.--Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Darkness hath blinded his eyes.--Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.--Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 26 Evening
The Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.--PHI. 3:20,21. Upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. This was the appearance of the …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 8 Evening
They shall see his face.--REV. 22:4. I beseech thee shew me thy glory. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.--No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.--I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 29 Evening
That blessed hope, . . . the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.--TIT. 2:13. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil: whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.--Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.--When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

November 18 Evening
I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it; and, behold, the half was not told me.--I KGS. 10:7. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.--We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. My speech and my preaching was . . . in demonstration of the …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 2 Morning
If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only.--I SAM. 7:3. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.--Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.--Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Thou shalt worship no other …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 3 Evening
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God.--II COR. 7:1. Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.--Teaching us that denying ungodliness and wordly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.--Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.--Not as though …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 11 Evening
Behold, I make all things new.--REV. 21:5. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.--If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.--Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump.--The new man, which after God is created in righteousness …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 19 Morning
Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.--HEB. 12:14. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.--There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth.--There is no spot in thee. Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.--As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 16 Morning
It pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell.--COL. 1:19. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.--God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.--Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 3 Morning
Neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.--EXO. 13:7. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.--Abhor that which is evil.--Abstain from all appearance of evil.--Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 14 Evening
By nature the children of wrath, even as others.--EPH. 2:3. We ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.--Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile: what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.--The Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 14 Evening
[The woman's seed] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.--GEN. 3:15. His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.--He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. This is your hour, and the power of darkness.--Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. The Son of God was manifested, that he might …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 3 Morning
If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.--ROM. 8:17. If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.--Thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.--Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Father, I will that …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 20 Morning
There shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand.--DEUT. 13:17. Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.--Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.--Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Beloved, now are we the sons of God . . . And it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 21 Evening
I sought him, but I could not find him: I called him, but he gave me no answer.--SONG 5:6. O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! and the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, for they have even taken of the accursed thing . . . and they have put it even among their own stuff. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

The Brazen Serpent
'Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.'--JOHN iii. 14. This is the second of the instances in this Gospel in which our Lord lays His hand upon an institution or incident of the Old Testament, as shadowing forth some aspect of His work. In the first of these instances, under the image of the ladder that Jacob saw, our Lord presented Himself as the sole medium of communication between heaven and earth; here He goes a step further into the heart of His work, and under the image, very eloquent …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Musts
'... Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.'--JOHN iii. 14. I have chosen this text for the sake of one word in it, that solemn 'must' which was so often on our Lord's lips. I have no purpose of dealing with the remainder of this clause, nor indeed with it at all, except as one instance of His use of the expression. But I have felt it might he interesting, and might set old truths in a brighter light, if we gather together the instances in which Christ speaks of the great necessity which dominated …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Lake and the River
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'--JOHN iii. 16. I venture to say that my text shows us a lake, a river, a pitcher, and a draught. 'God so loved the world'--that is the lake. A lake makes a river for itself--'God so loved the world that He gave His... Son.' But the river does not quench any one's thirst unless he has something to lift the water with: 'God so loved the world that He gave His... …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Teacher or Saviour?
'The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him.'--JOHN iii. 2. The connection in which the Evangelist introduces the story of Nicodemus throws great light on the aspect under which we are to regard it. He has just been saying that upon our Lord's first visit to Jerusalem at the Passover there was a considerable amount of interest excited, and a kind of imperfect faith …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Wind and Spirit
'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and them hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.'--JOHN iii. 8. Perhaps a gust of night wind swept round the chamber where Nicodemus sat listening to Jesus, and gave occasion for this condensed parable. But there is occasion sufficient for it in the word 'Spirit,' which, both in the language in which our Lord addressed the ruler of the Sanhedrim, and in that which John employed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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