Born Again: The Wind, the Cross, and John 3:16

Introduction

Nicodemus is a master teacher in Israel. He knows the Scriptures, he holds a respected position. And yet he comes to find Jesus at night. What he hears in response upends everything he thought he had mastered: "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." This message offers you three doorways into the dialogue of John 3: a short introduction to the four Gospels to situate where John is speaking from, a Greek word, anothen, which opens up the meaning of "born again," and finally the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness, a direct image of the cross. At the heart of it all, a verse you may already know by heart, John 3:16, which shines like a jewel in the middle of the passage.

Sermon Outline

1. A way in: the four Gospels and their focus

• This message opens a series that works backward through the Gospel of John, from chapters 3 and 4 to the prologue, with a session set for December 21 on John 1.
• The New Testament opens with four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The Greek word euangelion means "good news": the good news that Jesus announces, that he himself is, and that he accomplishes.
• Matthew puts the spotlight on the fulfillment of prophecy: "so it was fulfilled" recurs like a refrain. Mark is more compressed, with a fast pace that emphasizes Jesus as Savior and Almighty, especially through the miracles.
• Luke is a historian: he writes to Theophilus, a man who knows nothing of Judaism, and he cites places, dates, people, and eyewitnesses to prove the historicity of Jesus.
• John, however, stands apart. He does not follow chronology, and he says so himself: "These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). It is the only Gospel not classified among the "synoptics."

2. Anothen: born again, born from above

• In verse 3, Jesus uses a solemn formula: "Truly, truly, I say to you", in Greek, a double amen. Then comes the key word: anothen, which can be translated both as "again" and as "from above." Both meanings hold together.
• Nicodemus stumbles over the image: "How can someone who is old be born again? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb?" He takes the metaphor literally.
• Jesus clarifies: "No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." Here, the preacher chooses a specific reading. "Water" does not first refer to baptism, but to natural birth: as soon as our lungs fill with air, we forget that our heart first beat in water.
• The key is the balance that follows: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." There are two distinct births: biological birth, and the new birth brought about by the Holy Spirit.
• Why is this new birth necessary? Because John 3 echoes Genesis 3: Adam and Eve turned their backs on God, cutting themselves off from the Creator. The consequence is the loss of spiritual life in communion with God and physical death. The good news is that it is possible to live again in relationship with him.
• "The Spirit, like the wind, blows where it wishes. You hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes." The Spirit stamps in us the conviction that God exists, and he directs encounters, even the ones others call "no coincidence."

3. The bronze serpent and the jewel of John 3:16

• Starting at verse 13, Jesus points Nicodemus to an episode in Numbers 21. Having come out of Egypt, the people grumble in the wilderness. God sends fiery serpents that bite and kill. Moses intercedes, and God gives him this instruction: make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole. Whoever looks at the lifted-up serpent is healed.
• Jesus applies the image to himself: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." He is announcing his own crucifixion.
• And here is the jewel that follows immediately: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
• This passage is deeply Trinitarian: God the Father sends his Son, the Son speaks and presents himself, and he speaks at the same time of the Spirit who blows like the wind. Nicodemus discovers, woven through it, that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• Peter takes up this reality in his first letter: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). At the moment Jesus breathes his last on the cross, the temple veil is torn from top to bottom: the way into God's presence is opened.
• Even today, the Spirit blows over all the earth. He calls you to receive new life by fixing your eyes on Jesus lifted up on the cross, just as the Israelites looked at the serpent lifted up on the pole.

Key Takeaways

• Being born again is not simply a religious decision or a moral effort: it is a birth brought about by the Spirit of God, one you cannot give yourself.
• The Greek word anothen holds two meanings together: again and from above. One does not go without the other, the origin of this birth is heavenly.
• "Born of water and the Spirit" distinguishes two births: biological birth (the water, this life that began in your mother's womb) and spiritual birth through the Holy Spirit.
• The bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness is the image Jesus chooses to announce his cross. Looking at Jesus lifted up means receiving the spiritual healing offered to all.
• John 3:16 is not an isolated verse: it is the jewel that condenses the logic of the whole passage, the love of God who gives, the Son lifted up, and the faith that receives eternal life.

Personal Application

1. Like Nicodemus, are there questions you carry to Jesus "at night," away from others' eyes? What would you hope for from him if you dared to ask them openly?
2. Where do you personally stand with this reality of the new birth? Is it something you have received, something you are seeking, or something you are discovering for the first time today?
3. Identify a recent moment when you felt "the wind blowing", an encounter, a word received, an inner conviction. How did you respond to it?
4. When you think of the cross, do you see first a religious symbol, or do you see Jesus carrying your burden in your place?
5. John 3:16: try reading it slowly, replacing "the world" with your own name. What does that change in how you hear this verse?

Verses Cited

• John 3:1-21 · Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night
• John 3:16 · God so loved the world
• John 20:31 · The purpose of John's Gospel
• Numbers 21 · The bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness
• 1 Peter 2:22-25 · He bore our sins in his body on the cross

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly does "born again" mean in John 3?

The Greek word Jesus uses, anothen, can be translated both as "again" and as "from above." Both meanings hold together: it refers to a second birth whose origin is heavenly, brought about by the Holy Spirit. It is not self-improvement or an intellectual conversion, but a spiritual birth by which God restores to communion with himself a life that, since Genesis 3, had been cut off from him.

Is Jesus talking about baptism when he says "born of water and the Spirit"?

In this sermon, the preacher argues for a different reading. The immediate context ("That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit") points to a balance between two distinct births. "Water" then refers to natural birth, the life that began in the mother's womb, before the lungs fill with air. The second birth, meanwhile, is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Why does Jesus talk about the bronze serpent from Numbers 21?

In the wilderness, the people of Israel are bitten by fiery serpents. God commands Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole: whoever looks at it is healed. Jesus takes up this image and applies it to himself: "The Son of Man must be lifted up." He is announcing his crucifixion. Looking at Jesus lifted up on the cross means receiving spiritual healing and eternal life, the same dynamic as in the wilderness, applied to anyone who believes.