Consider Nicodemus and Jesus words to him, a teacher of the Jews (John 3:3-7,16). First He said you cannot “see” the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and yet it operates in the world, wherever there are those who have put their faith in Christ. These “kingdom” people have a different perspective about what is going on. They “see” things differently because they are focused on that God is doing in His kingdom rather than what men are doing in the kingdom of this world. Jesus said Nicodemus did not have the ability to see what was true because he needed a new heart; he needed to be born again. Further, He said Nicodemus could not enter the kingdom of God unless he was born of the water and Spirit. I take this to refer to physical birth (water of the womb) and spiritual birth. You may take it in another way, but in the end the point is made: you cannot enter God’s kingdom unless you are born again, born from above. Nicodemus, as a Jewish teacher, assumed he knew all that was needed to be right with God. He forgot God had not given him a heart to perceive the things of God.
This “new heart” is, of course, provided for believers in Christ who live under the New Covenant. 2 Cor. 5:14-17 says that when we put our faith in Christ we become new creatures, new creations. There is something there that was not there before and that requires the Creator’s work. But look at what Paul says is the result of this new creation: from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. In other words, we can “see” the kingdom of God, see people through God’s eyes. Peter says that “having been born again” we now have the ability to “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Pt. 1:22-25). The difference is that, in the New Covenant, being born again we are indwelt by the Spirit of God. Israel in the OT had the word of God but did not have the indwelling Spirit. This is what God promised He would do for Israel, and He fulfilled that promise in Christ. On the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus crucifixion, the Spirit was poured out. Those who put their faith in Christ were born again by the Spirit and now had a heart to perceive.
Let me conclude with this quote.
For the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, not something added now and again to produce a de luxe type of Christian once in a generation. No, He is for every child of God a vital necessity, and that He fill and indwell His people is more than a languid hope. It is rather an inescapable imperative. (A. W. Tozer in The Divine Conquest, p103)
The word of God is impotent in my life apart from the Spirit of God. Even as the Spirit of God is useless to me apart from the word of God! In Christ we are new creations; all things have become new! Amen!!
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