And then, in reply to queries which he foresaw were rising in the mind of Nicodemus, he continued: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” This sublime truth is thus enunciated without any attempt at explanation. Why is one man led by the Holy Spirit to the Saviour, while another, certainly no less deserving, is not? This question has been asked through all the ages, but never answered. Where is the Christian who has not often said,――
“Why was I made to hear thy voice, And enter while there’s room, When thousands make a wretched choice, And rather starve than come?”
Infinitely momentous as are these truths, they are the most simple truths in nature. Nothing can be more obvious to an observing and reflective man than that a thorough renovation of spirit is essential to prepare mankind for the society of spotless angels and for the worship of heaven. This is one of the most simple and rudimental of moral truths. And when Nicodemus, with the spirit of cavil still lingering in his mind, allowed himself to say, “How can these things be?” Jesus gently rebuked him, saying, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? If I have told you earthly things,”――the simplest truths of religion, obvious to every thoughtful man,――“and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?”――the sublime truths which can only be known by direct revelation.
Jesus then proceeds from the simple doctrine of regeneration to the sublimer theme of an atoning Saviour,――a theme the most wonderful which the mind of man or angel can contemplate. There cannot be found in all the volumes of earth a passage so full of meaning, in import so stupendous, as the few words which then came from the Saviour’s lips. It was the distinct and emphatic announcement of the plan of salvation devised by a loving Father in giving his Son to die upon the cross, in making atonement for the sins of the world.
“No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven; even the Son of man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.”