/Let be their place, desolate; in their tents, let no one live. For the
one which You Yourself have stricken, they persecute; and on the pain of
those You wounded, they talk. You add iniquity on their iniquity; and do
not let them come into Your righteousness. Let them be blotted from the
book of life; and with the righteous, let them not be written. Yet, I
myself, wretched and pained; let Your salvation, God, set me on high. I
will praise the Name of God in song; and I will magnify Him in
thanksgiving. And it will be pleasing to Yahweh, more than an ox; or
bull with horns and hoofs. The humble will see –they will be glad; you
which seek God, yet your hearts live! For Yahweh hears the poor; and His
prisoners, He does not despise. Let praise Him, heaven and earth; seas
and all moving in them. For God will save Zion, and He will build cities
of Judah; and they will dwell there and possess it. And the seed of his
slaves will inherit it; and the lovers of His Name will dwell in it. /
The birth of a child is a wondrous experience. As a new, young life
emerges into the world, the joy & excitement of family & friends is
indescribable. Yet, in previous years, this newborn baby simply was not.
It didn't yet exist or live. But once it is born, everyone can behold
the gift of life which God has bestowed. The young child is taken home
to dwell with mother, father, and siblings.
This was the birth and the life that Nicodemus expected. Nick-at-night
came seeking God's answers, and Jesus doesn't disappoint. But this young
pharisee gets more than he bargained for. For Jesus does not speak to
him about the earthly birth that bestowed a temporary life on this
world. Jesus tells Him of a better birth, which bestows a much better
life indeed–life eternal! But Nicodemus just doesn't get it. "How can
these things be?!" he asks. Seems Nick-at-night had much to learn.
But Nicodemus should have known better. He was a teacher of Israel. He
knew the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament. He knew Psalm 69 which
speaks of the Book of Life! He should have realized that God's salvation
bestows a new life. For God had promised a future dwelling place for His
people, where they would no longer be wretched, pained or poor any
longer. He should have known that the God of heaven would lift the
righteous up on high to a new life.
But it was the *born again* thing that puzzled Nick. He could not fathom
how this could happen. But he is sadly in altogether too much good
company today. Many Christians haven't the foggiest notion what being
born again to new life is all about. Some think it's a command, of
something we gotta do. As if you did anything to accomplish your first
birth, why should you be able to cause your 2nd birth? Others think that
it is a decision you make, or an experience you have, or a prayer you pray.
But being born again has nothing to do with your prayers, your
decisions, or your actions. It has everything to do with what God does,
to make you born anew, born from above by water and the Spirit. This is
baptism, not your dedication to God, but His dedication to you to
cleanse you of your unrighteousness, lest you find your name blotted out
of the book of life. It is the blessed exchange of your sins for Jesus'
Own holy righteousness, which you come into as your eternal salvation.
Your names are included among the righteous ones in the Book of Life.
Not because you have done lots of righteous things. You haven't. Your
name is written in the Book of Life precisely because Jesus Himself is
your righteousness. He did everything right to earn heaven for you, as
He kept God's Law perfectly in your place. Then, at the +, He gave up
everything He deserved, and suffered the punishment of your sins in your
place. He chose to be blotted out of the Book of Life to save you!
Nicodemus sought God. But he couldn't yet see God's kingdom for what it
was. Such is the way with all *seekers*. They can never discover God's
truth from their own efforts at searching. For true seeking comes only
by faith, worked & maintained in your heart by the Holy Spirit. You seek
Jesus where He is found, lifted up like that wicked serpent on the tree
of the +. You believe in Him who became your sin and died your death on
a hill outside of Zion & Who took up His life again for you.
You now seek Jesus where He has promised to be found–in His Word. His
word proclaimed declares His gospel love for you from the +. His word
connected to simple water makes you born again to life everlasting in
Holy Baptism. His word combined with simple bread & wine delivers to You
His real presence in the body & the blood, for your forgiveness. You
need never fear your name being blotted out of the book of life, for you
believe in Jesus, and will never perish, but have everlasting life! Amen.
John C. Drosendahl, Pastor
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