“The Bible Scriptures are like a stream of water that a lamb can wade in and so deep that an elephant may swim in them.”

That saying or some form of it has been attributed to various authors. I think the first time I encountered it was someplace in the Matthew Henry Commentary, possibly in connection with Ezekiel 47. It does not really matter who said it, what matters is that it is true.

The Gospel message is so simple, if one wishes to understand the truth, then come as a little child and wade in it. Yet grown-ups complicate the message and twist it into theological concepts that would drown an elephant.

Take Nicodemus in John Chapter 3 for example.

John 3:1-3
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 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. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus was a man who had studied the Old Testament Scriptures all his life. He not only knew God’s “Ten Commandments”, but he could no doubt quote not only them but in all probability, the majority of what we Christians today call the 5-books of Moses. He had an intimate knowledge of everything the Hebrew prophets said. Yet he could not understand the simple truth of what Jesus was trying to tell him. All his life Nicodemus had looked for the Messiah which Isaiah and all the prophets promised would come. I’m not talking about he looked for the Messiah in the sense that he hoped He would come. Nicodemus looked in the sense that it was the predicted time for Him to come. Just as Herod at Jesus’ birth consulted the learned men as to when and where the Messiah was to be born, Nicodemus knew according to the scriptures as Jesus Himself said, “the time is at hand."

John 3:4-8 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 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.

Nicodemus is dumbfounded at the simplicity at which Jesus speaks. Nicodemus and the other rulers of the Jews were looking for a king that would put the Romans and everyone else into subjection under them: a king that would elevate the fleshly Jew to a place of honor as the rightful heirs to the kingdom as well. He could not believe what Jesus was saying, “Born Again”. In short, Jesus was telling Nicodemus you are looking at this thing all wrong. You have got to change your way of thinking. You see, the Kingdom Jesus was talking about was a Kingdom full of servants, not masters. Jesus is telling them and us that His Kingdom is a different kind of Kingdom, one in which brotherly love will abound. It is a Kingdom not of this world, not of man’s design, but of God’s design. You must be “Born Again.” You have got to change the way you are thinking. Don’t think how you can get an advantage over your brother, but rather think how you can benefit your brother.

The Psalmist understood this when he said in Psalm 51:10: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Ezekiel understood when he prophesied in Ezekiel 11:19: And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

John 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

At this point, Nicodemus' bubble has been completely busted. Deep down he knows that Jesus is the Messiah, he just cannot believe what the Messiah is telling him.

John 3:10-13 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

I really like verse 10, in which Jesus specifically points out to Nicodemus that he has all the pieces of the puzzle and he does not know the truth. “Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?” The next 3 verses are the keys to the kingdom so to speak.

What Jesus is relaying to Nicodemus in these three verses is that the Earth was created by God for man, so that man would have a reference point to understand God. Isaiah relayed this point in 55:9 of his book, in which he said, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

You see God is a Spirit which is so much greater than we are that He had to create a frame of reference so we could comprehend Him. He created this Earth that through it He might demonstrate Himself to us: a natural (earthly) example or point of reference that we might grasp a Spiritual (Heavenly) concept. So, Jesus speaks to Nicodemus and us in terms of things which we can see and touch. He is the Creator of both Heaven and Earth, and lowered Himself from His Heavenly throne to become one of us. All of this that we might know God in the fullness of His Glory, because He loved His creation.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

IT’S A NICODEMUS THING

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