John
3:8 “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot
tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the
Spirit.” NKJV
I firmly believe I would be safe in saying that
there has not been one single human being that has ever lived that did not see
the effects of strong winds blowing whether during a storm or just in the
course of a normal weather day. Also many people have been refreshed by a cool
breeze blowing in the middle of a hot July day in the park. The wind comes and
disappears as it pleases and we can just enjoy it when it is mild and try and
seek cover or safety from it when it comes in the form of storms. The National
Weather Service works around the clock trying to predict the paths or
directions anticipated for Hurricanes with wind speeds up to 250 miles per hour
and also the Tornado with wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour. They are able
to be close in warning people living in these potentially dangerous locations
of an approximate day and time they will come but despite the sophistication of
the technology today these occurrences can never be predicted with 100%
accuracy. The wind to man is a mystery that he has never mastered or
comprehended and man will never come to full knowledge or understanding
concerning the wind. We have given our human definitions of the wind and what
makes it strong at some times and places and weaker in others but these are all
human theories that can never be totally relied on. The wind will forever be a mystery from
generation to generation.
Our Lord Jesus Christ however, unlike us knows all
the workings of the wind and its origin and how it works in all cases and what
it is made up of because He made the wind. It is not coincidence that He uses
this analogy of the wind to paint for Nicodemus and for us a picture of a soul
being given eternal life, resurrected from spiritual death, or as He puts it in
this 3rd Chapter of John’s gospel being born again. The comparison
our Lord uses of the wind cements for us the utter mystery of the new birth.
Great men of God over the many centuries have declared their utter inadequacy of
trying to use human language to define, describe, or develop ways for us to
understand this awesome and mighty miracle wrought by the 3rd Person
of the Trinity God the Holy Spirit.
What we can see from this picture painted in this
subject verse (John 3:8) is that the
work or miracle is unseen by any human eye and is wrought in the spirit of the
person that is born of God. A new nature (the seed of God) is planted in the
sinner that is totally pure, righteous, holy, and hates sin (1 John 3:9). Our Lord is saying that
everyone born again will become so dramatically new in every area of their
lives, their thinking, their world view, their appetites, their loves, and the
things that they hate will be so opposite of the way the rest of the people of
the world; that it will be visible to all but it won’t be understood (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). Just like the
wind moves about this world free and unobstructed, so will the newly born again
soul be free from sins demanding, destructive, and destroying power in their
daily lives.
The wind cannot be contained or corralled by
anything and so is everyone born of the Spirit now liberated in Christ having
all things from and created by our Lord Jesus freely at our disposal for us to
enjoy righteously (Galatians
5:1;1Corinthians 6:12). Everyone born of the Spirit is unashamed to enter
into the presence of a Holy and Just God because we now see Him as Father and
we desire to please Him as any earthly son or daughter does with their Father (Romans 8:16; John 3:21). Our Lord is saying
to this man Nicodemus and to us that this is the miracle of miracles, a
complete mystery, but an absolute must for salvation and it is all wrought by
the Power of God the Holy Spirit with no human effort at all.
Job
33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me
life. NKJV
Ecclesiastes
11:5 As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the
bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the
works of God who makes everything. NKJV
Ezekiel
37:9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say
to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe on these slain, that they may live.’” NKJV
John
1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. NKJV
Galatians
4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” NKJV
1
John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who
practices righteousness is born of Him. NKJV
1
John 4:13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has
given us of His Spirit. NKJV
1
John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the
victory that has overcome the world --- our faith. NKJV
1
John 5:10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who
does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the
testimony that God has given of His Son. NKJV
“When we are born again, a
new life - the life of God - is put into us by the Holy Spirit. But the old
self-life, which is called in Scripture the flesh, is not taken away. The two may
coexist in the same heart. ‘The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.’” F. B. Meyer
“Beware, I pray thee, of presuming that thou art
saved. If thy heart be renewed, if thou shalt hate the things that thou didst
once love, and love the things that thou didst once hate; if thou hast really
repented; if there be a thorough change of mind in thee; if thou be born again, then hast thou reason to rejoice: but if there be no vital
change, no inward godliness; if there be no love to God, no prayer, no work of
the Holy Spirit, then thy saying ‘I am saved’ is but thine own assertion, and
it may delude, but it will not deliver thee.” Charles Spurgeon
“To be born again is, as it were, to enter
upon a new existence, to have a new mind, a new heart, new views, new
principles, new tastes, new affections, new likings, new dislikings, new fears,
new joys, new sorrows, new love to things once hated, new hatred to things once
loved, new thoughts of God, and ourselves, and the world, and the life to come,
and salvation.” J. C. Ryle
If
you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this
from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear
Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I
believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from
the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn
from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control
of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you
Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus
Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and
Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple
I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader,
Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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