John 3:16-21
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Tyndale. The One Year Bible Illustrated NLT (pp. 1125-1126). Kindle Edition.
I left the credit in there from my copy and paste from the One Year Bible. My favorite translation of the Bible is the NKJV, but I appreciate the NLT. This is the One Year Bible I purchased back in 2022 to read along with my church at the time. It has been a blessing and a jumping off point for many of these blog entries that you see here at jesusiscomingsoon.org.
Ever since I was familiar with John 3:16 in context it has had much more meaning than the usual, “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” (I actually mixed NKJ and KLV there, and probably not exactly word for word, but close) This memory verse is awesome and true! God so loved the world! He sent His Son to make the payment for my sins that I couldn’t make! But when you read on, you see a problem and an exhortation…
The world is already under judgement. Jesus came to free us from that judgment! Original sin in Adam causes all of us humans to be born into that sin nature. We heap our own sins on top of that. If you don’t humble yourself because you don’t want to come into the light and have your worthless evil deeds exposed, you will stay in darkness and die in your sins, eternally separated from God. But… if you do humble yourself, believe in Jesus, and trust in His work at the cross, then you receive His gift of forgiveness and inherit eternal life with Him!
What is the result (or should be)? As you come into the light your life changes! Others will begin to see that what you are doing pleases God! This is a tough saying in the sense that we are tempted in our flesh and sometimes we fall. The solution is to keep running back to God to realign your life with His Holiness. The encouraging thing is that we are assured that when we accept God’s gift of His Son, we are no longer condemned! It’s God’s Lovingkindness that brings us to repentance. Our healthy fear of God brings about change in our lives because we know whithout a shadow of a doubt that He loves us! Because of that we want to spend time in His Word, in His presence in prayer. It’s that abiding in Him that bears fruit, much fruit, and fruit that remains.
Nicodemus came to understand this and was one of the first Christians. Was he a perfect man? I can say with confidence that he was not, because none of us are. Did his life begin to align with God’s as He walked with Jesus? I can say with confidence that it did, just like yours and mine will if we humble ourselves and come into the light! Pray for your friends, family, our leaders, and all that are in the world. That they might recognize God’s Love, humble themselves, and accept His gift of eternal life in Him. There is no other way to avoid God’s judgement of a world that is already condemned. Adam got us into this mess through his disobedience. We add to our mess because of that sin nature. God provides a way out through a spiritual rebirth because Jesus was obedient; enduring the cross on our behalf.