"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." (John 3:16 KJV)
"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." (Isaiah 53:10 KJV)
Didn't see it coming, but it was bound to happen sooner or later! That is the primary reaction I would imagine taking place inside the heart of a man that came seeking answers: his heart was just ripped wide open! Have you ever wondered why this verse is so well known and is displayed all over the world? Well, it is basically the summary of the Book: if there could be one Scripture to pull from the entire Bible that could sum up the message God is wanting to share, it would be this verse regarding His Love!
As I have said before, not many people realize that Jesus is the one speaking. I know that I was not aware of this fact, not until I became His; then it became abundantly clear, and it broke my heart! If you can, try to imagine the sequence and the pattern of thought going on in the mind of Nicodemus; as he has just processed the illustration of the bronze serpent lifted up, for life to be given; related the lifting up of the Son of man, again, given for life; and now he is crushed by this!
It might be hard to imagine, seeing we hardly know how it feels to be living by the Law of God. I mean, it is really not all that well practiced by many of those in the world; and those that do practice keeping it, really seldom even understand what it represents. But here was a man that lived it, studied it, and made it the governing part of his life.
Not sure if that might have helped; but just in case you need more assistance: The image that was in his heart of who God really was, was drastically changed in an instant! I know it might not seem as much, but the whole entire reality of his life was just changed, by the realty of God's love! We maybe cannot see it, because the majority of us have not lived out most of lives trying to please God by the way we live our lives.
Why was Jesus such a threat to the Jewish Leaders? Why did they hate Him so much? Big news to them, but news they did not care to accept as truth; as a matter of fact, they refused to accept it, making it an opposing view to what was really in their hearts. Basically, Jesus was speaking earthly things, things that cut right to the heart; things that Nicodemus could easily understand and know; because the Scriptures he had studied all of his life, had told him so!
We cannot conform to the Law; we must be transformed...
"Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don't want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. And even those who advocate circumcision don't keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciple. As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world's interest in me has also died. It doesn't matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation." (Galatians 6:12-15 NLT)
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