My Online Faith Journal

3 " Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named  Nicodemus, a  ruler of the Jews;   2  this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “ Rabbi, we know that You have come from God  as  a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless  God is with him.”   3  Jesus answered and said to him,  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one  is born  [ b ] again he cannot see  the kingdom of God."      Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the people of Israel during the time of Jesus.  He was a man who had many scripture passages memorized and was a part of the Sanhedrin or ruling counsel.  He should have understood the concept about the new birth since it is mentioned in the Old Testament.  However, Nicodemus was trusting in the fact that he had been born a Jew for entry into heaven.  To this, Jesus begins his teaching to tell him he needs, as does everyone else, to be born again.  This was astonishing to someone who already thought he had eternal life guaranteed.  T

John 2:1-5 starts this way 2 " And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2  And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3  And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 5  His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."      Of these first verses I have verse 5 underlined.  Mary did not know what Jesus would do.  She understood him well enough that he would do something.  She understood that what he might ask them to do might not make sense.  They may be tempted to ignore his request.  But, Mary's directive is clear, no matter what he says to you to do, your job is to do it.  Mary had learned this by watching her son      Two examples I can think of when God called someone to do something that they didn't understand at the time is when

     29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.  John 1:29  KJV      Here we see John the Baptist in John 1:29-39, first specifically identify Jesus as the Lamb of God who baptizes with fire.   John identifies Jesus as 1. The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world vs.29,36.  See also references to lamb of God in Reveleations 5:6-8, 14:1, 17:14, 19:7-10; 22:1.  The lamb of God may be a reference to Abraham's mention when he was going to the mountain to sacrifice Isaac.  Abraham said that on that mountain God would provide for himself a lamb, a sacrifice Genesis 22:8.  It is also most probably a reference to Jesus as our Passover Lamb.      The lamb is the one who takes away the sins of the world.  The word "who takes away" bears with it both that Jesus took up the guilt of the sin of the whole world (Ex 28:38; Lev 5:1; Ezek 18:20) and also that he removed it.  The apostle John