Progressive Belief

If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:12)

Here is another verse that seems to elude me somewhat. I have never been satisfied with feeling that I know what Jesus is talking about here. In looking at His previous comments I do not see clearly what He is referring to as “earthly things”.

But one thing that I do see in this verse is evidence of a principle that might be called progressive faith or something along that line. If I understand this right, it looks like Jesus is saying that some level of belief must be engaged in or embraced as a prerequisite for being able to embrace another kind of faith. In this instance, basic earthly truths need to be in place in the mind and heart before heavenly truths will ever have a place to take root and grow.

I desire to understand this much better. Maybe it is earthly belief that I need here, whatever that is. I repeatedly feel challenged to enter into a deeper level of belief in God than I currently maintain. But very often I feel like I am peering into a fog bank where at best I can only make out dim shapes of what might be ahead. Occasionally there seems to be clear rays of light that illuminate a few things in the fog and darkness, but other times it seems more mysterious or even confusing.

I suppose part of this is simply the nature of faith itself. God wants to cultivate a spirit of trust in Him to move forward into the unknown without first being sure of what it is that I am learning. This is always the tension between the mind and the heart. The mind wants to know things before moving forward. This is a natural reaction of self-protection, of wanting to be in control. But God intends to train the heart which many times to me feels counter-intuitive to the common sense of the mind.

This passage reminds me of Romans 8 where those who are the children of God are described as being led by the Spirit of God. Here I see that the Spirit is like wind that produces evidence of its presence sometimes but gives no clue as to where it is coming from or going. That is very troublesome for the intellectual mind part of me that wants to live in a factual, formula rooted reality. Religion as I have known it insists on knowing where truth has come from and being able to string together proof texts and logic to display that. It also wants to know the purpose of truth and just where it is taking us. This is a very big stumbling block for many people who insist on a religion that must be provable and need concrete texts and arguments to support everything they do or believe in. I know, I was raised largely in such an environment.

But this business of allowing the heart to take the lead and keep my logic in a supporting role instead of in control is cause for consternation many times. It feels dangerous and I hear inner warnings that I could easily be misled into heresies if I don't keep my intellect firmly at the controls. I do realize that intellect and factual truth cannot be ignored while giving free reign to my emotions. But that is not really the problem despite all the accusations and concerns of those whose religion is mostly legal based. Jesus here is clearly challenging all of us to go far beyond our comfort zone, to release the stranglehold of our paradigms and to radically lurch forward into the fog while not knowing clearly where we will end up. This is the inner sensation that I have when reading this passage sometimes.

Where in all of this is the earthly things that Jesus is talking about? And does He even mention heavenly things at all in this passage or is that precluded by the presence of too much unbelief in the first phase? It almost seems that the things He talks about after this verse are more clear than what comes before it. Again, I don't feel that I understand all of this very well.

I have to trust God to reveal Himself to me in these verses as I always need to. I came here to find a deeper belief and perception of God, to come to know His heart a little better, to give Him opportunities to speak through these words and His Spirit to both my mind and my heart in ways I have never heard or experienced before. But ultimately I have to trust Him to reveal Himself to me. It is impossible to find out God by searching for Him. God is not subject to discovery simply by intellectual aggressiveness in spite of the assumption of millions of people. God can only be truly known by allowing Him to reveal Himself to us as He choses to do so.

So I await His self-revelation to me at a deeper level than ever known before by my own heart. I wait for His Spirit to reveal to me what Jesus meant when He referred to earthly truths preceding an ability to perceive heavenly truths. I want to live in connection with Him and to cultivate an atmosphere that will be conducive to allowing Him more freedom to disclose Himself to me effectively. I want to be able to move past my current confusion, fog and darkness into clearer light, humility and true love.

Choosing Birth

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" (John 3:4)

Yesterday I heard someone talk about this and they pointed out something that I had never thought of before. Nicodemus was obviously a good Jew and as most Jews believed, the way you were counted as a person in God's kingdom was by virtue of your ancestry. Therefore, when Jesus started talking about the kingdom of God, automatically any good Jew would instantly assume that they were already in it because of their birth to a Jewish mother.

So when Jesus asserts that one must be born again to see or enter into the kingdom of God, Nicodemus' mind began to mull over the impossibility of a grown person trying to successfully achieve this requirement once again. In his mind, he was already part of the kingdom of God because he was born to a good Jewish mother. But here was Jesus claiming that this assumed requirement had to be done yet again.

This is where it starts to become evident that Jesus is revealing the end of the era where God's chosen people were centered in the Jewish nation as a race. The time was quickly approaching when the Jews would fully reject God's covenant with them and God was already preparing an alternative group of people to be his chosen representatives on earth. This new group of people would be those who not only were born in the normal human way in water from their mother's womb but would also go through a similar experience of being birthed by the Holy Spirit in ways that paralleled that of their first birth.

But unlike their first birth, this time their birth would be a result of their own choice to cooperate with God's desires and plans for their life. When they were born of the flesh from their earthly mother's they had no choice in the matter. But to be born a second time into the real kingdom of God each individual must surrender themselves to be drawn into the very womb of God, to enter into intimacy with God's heart and to allow heaven to enter into their heart in ways very different from the life they had experienced up to this point.

What is also interesting to me in regards to this comment by Nicodemus is that what he was asserting as impossible was in fact exactly what Jesus Himself had done. Jesus had by His own choice and unlike any other human, actually chosen to enter into His earthly mother's womb in order to be born of flesh. If Nicodemus had realized the truth about who Jesus really was he would have realized to his amazement that the One in front of him had actually already done what he was saying seemed impossible. Jesus had entered into His mother's womb, and while it was not a second time of birth for Him as a human it was a Spirit entity being born again as a being of flesh.

While this is not possible for us humans to replicate or follow as an example, we can choose to do something very similar. We are already born of flesh but need to be born of the Spirit. Jesus was already a Spirit but chose to be born again as a fleshly being. In so doing He entered into a new state which had origins in both the Spirit and the flesh. What He is saying is that we too must make a choice to be born a second time in order to become something very similar to what He is, a human being that is also born of God's Spirit, something of a dual identity.

In doing this we embrace the identity of this new creation that Jesus pioneered. Jesus in a sense started a new breed of beings by His incarnation and He desires us to join Him in this new race of saved humans who will spend eternity with Him and with the rest of heaven enjoying His presence. It is our privilege to accept His invitation to be born into Christ so that we can spend eternity being ravished by His love for us.

This is highlighted in verse 15 where He declares that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. When we choose to allow God to rebirth us through surrender to His Spirit in our hearts, we will be born into Christ and become a new creature along the order that Jesus is by virtue of His dual identity. Being in Christ brings with it the presence of eternal life which is the very essence of Jesus Himself. As we enter into this new dimension of existence and grow up into Christ, our eternal life will be a light that will shine ever more brightly from our hearts and lives attracting others to join us in Christ.

No longer is being born into a certain race of humans a requirement for being one of God's chosen people. Neither is it a membership in some particular denomination or political affiliation. God's kingdom is a heart-based kingdom that is only recognized by those who have chosen to let God birth them into it by His Spirit. They do not need to be Jews or any other human race to be part of God's kingdom but they do have to experience what it means to be “in Christ”.

And according to these words of Jesus to Nicodemus, an important requisite for being in Christ is a choice to believe in Him. The real meaning of those words is still something I continue to explore, to ponder, to meditate on and to pursue in my own heart and spirit. I have spent years puzzled by these words and wondering just what this belief really involves and it is slowly becoming more clear to me. But it is also the growing passion of my heart to believe in this God who is revealing the real truth about His beauty, His truth and His glory to me which induces faith within me to trust Him even more.

I continue to marinate in this passage, partly because I want my own heart to be filled with new revelations about God that fill these words of Jesus. I want to believe much deeper, to believe not only facts about God that impress my left brain but to believe in God's trustworthiness, compassion and love that I am only just beginning to perceive with my right brain and my heart. I want both my intellect and my emotions to be deeply involved in my belief. I have a growing intensity of desire to experience this new birth every day even deeper than before. I want to know the joy of eternal life here and now and to become a better reflector of that light to attract others to Him.

Of Ladders and Lies

No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. (John 3:13)

I see an allusion to the issue of belief which is the main theme of this passage.

Belief involves testimony by a witness who has seen something first hand and relates it to others.

A witness testifies about what they themselves have seen.

A witness, to be credible, must have first-hand knowledge of what they are testifying about.

The real problem occurs when those who are making decisions based on the testimony of witnesses become so skeptical that they refuse to believe what a true witness is claiming to be true. There is where justice begins to break down, for if people refuse to acknowledge and embrace truth from an authentic witness then that person themselves becomes the obstacle for the spread of truth.

We often focus our attention on the validity of witnesses or the integrity of judges from a legal perspective and that is all very important, especially in relation to salvation. But often we overlook the role of those to whom the testimony is being directed, which in our system we would perceive as the jury. If, as members of the jury involving God's trial, we refuse to accept as valid the testimony of those who have first-hand knowledge of the truth about God, then we may find ourselves to be the focal point of an investigation to determine our own integrity. For in the long run, from heaven's perspective everyone involved in this trial must be cross-examined and must be accountable to the principles of integrity and truth.

God is not measuring us by how we relate to things we are unaware of or do not understand about truth. But we are very responsible for the choices we make when we do perceive truth, especially the real truth about God's character and the way He feels and relates to us. This is the core issue of our accountability before God and all the universe. The way that we choose to respond to the testimonies of those who have encountered God and particularly the testimony of Jesus who is the very revelation of the real truth about God, our choices in this regard determine our eternal destiny.

This is the aspect of the great trial going on where we find ourselves in a sort of mini-trial. Most Christians have mistakenly assumed that we are the main focus of the great trial taking place in the judgment, that we are the primary ones on trial before God. But a proper understanding of Scripture reveals that the real issue at stake is the reputation of God Himself and that He has chosen to allow all of us to form our opinions about what He is really like based on the evidence provided to us. In a very real way we are all selected to be part of the jury in the trial in which God is the defendant. And the most important part of that evidence is the testimony of Jesus about who God really is.

What we chose to do with His testimony then determines what direction our own role in this great trial will take. Those who accept the true testimony of Jesus and allow Him to cleanse and expunge all of the lies about Him that fill our heart and minds will become filled with His Spirit, with His perspective of life and will be transformed into His image. They will then in turn become witnesses themselves bearing truthful, first-hand testimonies about their own encounters with this God who claims to be good, gracious, merciful, kind, forgiving, loving and full of abundant life.

Those who cling to their own opinions about what God is like based on their perceptions of Him filtered through their own painful experiences in life and tainted by the lies of Satan embedded in their hearts, these will bear false witness against God in the things they say about Him and the way they live based on what they believe about Him deep in their hearts. They will resist all the claims that don't seem to confirm their preconceived ideas about God and will insist that God has a dark side that will lash out at times in anger, that God will resort to force to get His way when He gets cornered, that God will run out of patience with sinners and will use threats and torture to accomplish His goals whenever necessary.

Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus quickly moves to revolving around this core issue of belief in a testimony. Nicodemus is confronted with the need to challenge his own assumptions about God, to have his own unbelief exposed and to decide what to do with a true, straight testimony about God's love coming directly from the Son of God Himself.

The text quoted at the beginning of this post seems rather strange and vague until one begins to examine its connections in other places in the Bible. Then it begins to become evident that it is speaking directly to this issue of our own belief, our choices of how we are going to handle encounters with testimonies of truth about God. This text is a direct reference to Deuteronomy 30:11,12 and also an allusion to Jacob's dream of a ladder spanning the distance between heaven and earth. (Gen. 28:12)

For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity. (Deuteronomy 30:11-15)

This passage comes on the heels of a long list of blessings and curses that God laid out so that people could see the benefits and dangers inherent as a result of how they would choose to relate to Him, their source of life. When properly understood and perceived, these blessings and curses will be seen as the natural consequences of whether we choose to believe and embrace the life-giving offers of God to bless and transform us into His image again or whether we will cling to the lies about Him that are so familiar to us.

Unfortunately, religion cannot be depended on to relay to us the real truth about God as it claims to do. Religion has become one of the dominant sources of misconceptions about God in this world, that perpetuates the lies of Satan charging God with attributes that actually describe Satan's character in instead of the truth about God. Satan has ever sought to distort our opinions and feelings about God's opinions and feelings about us in order to keep us from trusting Him fully and being reunited with His heart of infinite love for us.

Satan hates love and particularly hates the Son of God. It was the Son of God that Satan wanted to displace when he was Lucifer in heaven and the thwarting of his plans to take over the government of heaven only intensified his bitterness and animosity toward Jesus. When Jesus came to earth to more fully reveal the truth about God to humans Satan did everything possible to bring Him pain, suffering and discouragement. He was determined to keep the truth about God hidden from the hearts of fallen humans and he was enraged that Jesus was spoiling the fruit of thousands of years of his deceptions and traditions that darkened the picture of God in our hearts.

Since Jesus returned to heaven Satan has worked even more diligently to distort Jesus' testimony about God and to cause us to prefer unbelief and doubt about Him over acceptance of Jesus' straight testimonies about His Father. He hijacked the church that Jesus set up on this earth and filled it with millions of lies about God illustrated through horrendous acts of brutality. It painted a picture of a God who is mean, vengeful, arbitrary and selfish. This became the norm for religion and its dark influence is still permeating every denomination that claims to have left its domain. The lies about God that fill religion are still in our minds, still infect many of our teachings and subtly influence our opinions and doctrines without our realizing it.

The real issue today just as it was in Jesus' day is still the core issue of belief or unbelief. It is not enough for God to reveal in various ways the real truth about how He feels about us. If we choose to cling to mistaken or distorted ideas about Him we will only take His testimonies and twist them to fit our preconceived opinions instead of allowing the light to expose our own deceptions.

Take a look at Jacob's encounter alluded to in Jesus' words. Jacob was a refugee running in terror that his brother would kill him if he could find him. He was full of shame, guilt, fear and all sorts of emotions that left him feeling abandoned and forsaken by God. He was discouraged and hid in a bunch of rocks to get some sleep while he traveled to his uncle's house for safety.

As he slept in this state of discouragement God gave him a dream of a glorious ladder that reached all the way from earth to heaven. This was meant to present Jacob with the amazing reality of God's desire to keep His covenant with Jacob that had been passed down from his fathers. God came to assure Jacob that He was going to care for him, protect him and bless him. But what was Jacob's response to this announcement?

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. (Genesis 28:20-21)

Now doesn't that beat all? God just got done assuring Jacob that He was going to take care of him without strings attached and Jacob turns around and sets up conditions for God to meet before Jacob would believe in His promise. He wants God to prove Himself before Jacob is willing to trust Him as his God. Now doesn't that sound an awful lot like unbelief?

This ladder in Jacob's dream actually represents Jesus Himself who connects earth with heaven. The angels of God are seen using this connection to communicate avidly between these two places and Jesus refers to this here in this discussion with Nicodemus. But I think that included in this reference was a reminder that we should not follow Jacob's example of unbelief in our response to the connection that Jesus wants to be for us with our Father in heaven. We should not burden our hearts down by setting preconditions for God before we are willing to entrust our lives to Him.

Note that Jacob was confronted to come to a fuller trust of God before he returned all the way to his father's house. I believe that this was necessary because God did not want Jacob to base his faith on the terms Jacob set up but on the covenant promises that God had outlined. When Jacob had his famous wrestling match with God it was really all about wrestling with the lies in his heart about God reflected in this vow that he had made years before.

Evidently Nicodemus was facing a similar challenge. He needed to face his own spirit of unbelief, his own doubts about God that were being stirred up by seeing how Jesus acted and spoke. Jesus was confronting him with crucial truths about reality and about God's attitudes toward us that need to be embraced if any of us are to ever see or enter into the kingdom of heaven.