Have you ever looked at someone and thought they have everything?  It seems they have no needs!  Nicodemus was a man like that – well known, a member of the Jewish Council, a religious teacher and wealthy.  Yet he had deeper needs, and Jesus knew that.

 

When Nicodemus comes to Jesus one night, Jesus speaks into that need.  “You must be born again.”  Like so many today, Nicodemus was knowledgeable, but he didn’t understand spiritual truths. So Jesus speaks to him about something he would understand.  History! 

 

He reminds Nicodemus of the time when his ancestors were living in the desert and many died from snake bites.  It happened because of their sin.  God told Moses to make a bronze snake and lift it on a pole.  By looking at this bronze snake, anyone who had been bitten, would live.

 

Jesus goes on to explain the significance of this.  Everyone needs to be saved from sin and its’ consequences.  This was Nicodemus’ greatest need.  Just as Moses lifted the snake on the pole, so Jesus would be lifted up.  And just as those who looked to the bronze snake lived, in the same way, those who look to Jesus and believe will live.

 

Jesus describes this as being born again.  The life we receive is not physical.  We already have that!  It is eternal life.  God’s life.  We don’t know how Nicodemus responded to Jesus’ words that night, but it seems he did believe.  The spices needed to anoint Jesus’ body were provided by Nicodemus.  He was there for Jesus’ burial.

 

One of the most loved verses in the Bible is John 3:16.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  This is everyone’s deepest and greatest need.  Have you received this life and come into a new relationship with God?  If not, then choose today.  Look to Jesus and believe.  Perhaps you have, then pray for someone who isn’t.  This is our greatest need.