Born To See God's Kingdom

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews who came to Jesus under the cover of darkness to avoid being seen by his peers. While a majority of the Pharisees believed Jesus to be an imposter who made false claims about being sent from the Father, Nicodemus seemed genuinely interested in Him. The first words out of his mouth recorded in John chapter 3 are a confession that Jesus truly was sent from God, the miracles He performed testified to that. Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus seems a bit unusual. You might think He would have said, “You are right on Nick, you have good perception.” But no; in fact Jesus told him he wouldn’t see or perceive of the Kingdom of God without being born again.

What perception was Nicodemus lacking and why would Jesus stress being born again? After all he correctly discerned Jesus to be a man sent from God. Like many others though, Nicodemus may have assumed Jesus was just another prophet or teacher like Elijah or John the Baptist and not the promised Messiah. The new birth gives spiritual sight into the realms of the Kingdom and Nicodemus needed to be born into God’s family not only that he would see and understand but to be eligible to receive the Kingdom as part of his inheritance. The Kingdom is made up of God’s family members not a bunch of hired servants.

Jesus explained to the Pharisees in Luke 17:20 that the Kingdom of God does not come with observation, or in other words it will not appear to the natural eye. It works like leaven or yeast that is mixed in with flour, a hidden ingredient that has a dramatic affect. (See Matthew 13:33) Given enough time and the right conditions yeast will affect the whole batch of dough.

Two Types of Leaven

The analogy of leaven is used to show how a small amount hidden inside has great affect. Christ’s teaching about the Kingdom of God has the affect of leaven as those who receive His words and believe on Him will think and see differently. In the same way Jesus spoke of the teaching or beliefs of the Pharisees and Herod being like leaven that turns our minds and hearts in opposition to God and His Kingdom. Both Herod and the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus. As the wise men came in search of the new born King, Herod rose up against Him out of insecurity as his ruler-ship was being threatened. The Pharisees were threatened as they saw the crowds following Jesus, their control over the people was slipping away. Both religious and political rulers fall into the trap of using laws to maintain control over people. The law is good and exposes the ugliness of sin but the punishment of the law was never intended to be a lasting solution. God sent His Son Jesus to fulfill the law, receive our punishment and be the permanent solution to sin.

The Futility of Human Wisdom

The Kingdom of God is so opposite to the ways of man that human wisdom rejects it as foolishness. Being born again involves repentance and a turning away from human wisdom and worldly thought. Paul writing to the Corinthians says God in His wisdom saw to it that man’s wisdom would not lead him to God but by the foolishness of preaching those who believe would be saved. God’s wisdom appears foolish to man while in God’s eyes man’s wisdom is folly. (See 1 Corinthians chapter 1) So repentance is vital to being born again. It is receiving new heavenly thought patterns that align us with the ways of God’s Kingdom.

Heavens Perspective

The new birth opens our eyes to the plans of heaven. Jesus Christ has been revealed to be the heavenly blueprint to be followed by those who build up the body of Christ in the earth. Just as God gave Moses a heavenly blueprint for an earthly tabernacle, so we are given Christ. Those who build must keep their eyes on heaven’s plan lest they build in opposition to God. In Matthew 21:42 Jesus reminded the religious Pharisees of the scripture that spoke of the stone rejected by the builders. That prophesy spoke of Christ as the rejected stone and the Pharisees as the builders who rejected Him.

As I look back on my own life experience I see that after being born from above I experienced that heavenly perspective, though only for a short time. It faded as I came under the influence of the leaven of religion. Without realizing it I became focused on keeping rules and allowed an intimate relationship with Christ to grow cold. I came to believe that grace was being empowered to avoid the outward acts of sin. I quit smoking, drinking and a lot of other bad habits but little did I know that I had fallen into a religious rut. Though I may have looked good on the outside, inwardly I was miserable. Having fallen back into an earthly mindset I lost sight of heaven’s plan. I focused on behavior rather than being in relationship. Of course I have to admit many other Christian I knew appeared to be doing the same so I thought it was normal.

Many years past but thankfully the grace of God crashed my pitiful religious party. I felt as if I had been born again, again. My eyes were opened afresh to that heavenly plan. I realized that religion had hijacked my vision shifting it from Christ to self. Though I knew the scriptures concerning the righteousness of Christ, I had a religious understanding of them. Instead of focusing on His righteousness, that I was complete in Him, I kept looking at my faults, believing if I just hung in there through religious duty I would make it through the day and somehow please God. The scripture speaks of the completed work of Christ on the cross but it only benefits me as I understand, receive and walk it out. What He did for us is not lacking in any way, it is a matter of having our minds renewed so that we know who He is as well as who we are in Him. We can only walk out this life by faith not leaning on our natural understanding.

God gave me an analogy I could understand since I worked in the building industry. He ran me through the mental process of building a house from the ground up. Starting with an old uninhabitable house that sat on a piece of property, I envisioned the excavator coming in and demolishing it and loading all the debris in trucks to be hauled to a land fill. The next step was to dig down to hard pan and lay the new foundation. Step by step and piece by piece the new house took shape. The builder had a set of blueprints that he constantly referred to as he measured and laid out each part of the house. One of the pages on that blueprint actually showed the completed house revealing what it would look like ahead of time. The Lord pointed out that never once did the builder consider the size shape or condition of the former house that once stood on that land but always referred to the plan of the new. In effect the builder kept his eyes on the heavenly plan, and never pondered the condition of the former house. I realized God was showing me how I had gotten my focus off of heaven’s plan and allowed my mind to go back to the old house that I used to be and how I began to try to make it look good and livable.

The leaven of the Pharisees, or their mindset and teaching leads to taking our eyes off heavens plan (Christ Jesus) and even going as far as rejecting Him as the chief corner stone. Our mind and vision is shifted over to that old house that was destroyed upon the cross and hauled away and buried with Him in a tomb. Religious teaching causes us to continually strive and grieve over the horrible condition of something that no longer exists. In stead of having our life hidden in Christ and receiving all that He is in our place we continue to look at what used to be, convinced it still exists.

Focusing on religious rules rather than relationship is being law conscious. Paul tells us that one aspect of the law was to stir up sinful passions to reveal our need of a savior and that is a good thing. But if we continue to be law and sin conscious even after our sins have been washed away we will surely find something even if it is a ghost from the past. God conscientiousness, or I could say being conscious of the heavenly blueprint, will keep us from digging up the memories of that old house. Though I was genuinely born again the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod that is prevalent in this world affected my walk with God. It eventually brought me into conflict with the truth of God’s Kingdom.

Nicodemus needed to born from Above to receive spiritual sight and heavenly wisdom. Though he believed in God and expected a coming Messiah, he would never recognize or have the vision required to see heaven’s plan. It is the same for us. No matter if we have been under the influence of religion or this world’s political system they both infiltrate the human mind and develop an opposition to the rule of God’s Kingdom. We must be born again and have our minds renewed to think on track with heaven. It is Jesus prayer that His Kingdom will come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.