Drawn to Jesus.

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29).

That phrasing in John 6:29 strikes me for one specific reason: The work of God is done so that someone believes in Jesus, the one that God the Father has sent. God’s work is to bring someone to this active, living faith. God is working in that person’s life before they are believing in Jesus. This means that when a person comes to faith, there is a lot of activity or work that God has been doing to shake up that person’s mindsets, values, and general understanding of life.

In John 3, Jesus is met by a learned spiritual leader named, Nicodemus, who eventually comes to faith. In order for this faith to erupt in Nicodemus, God must be at work. John 6:44 gives us more insight into the creation of faith: “[Jesus says,] ‘No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draws him.’” The Father must be at work in that person’s life to disturb their status quo, to challenge their thoughts, to cause them to look further than they have been looking, to doubt what they have been trusting, and to start searching where they have previously been content.

Nicodemus was on the search. The Father had been nudging him or prodding him; it may have been prompted during Jesus’ very recent time in the temple. He is intrigued by Jesus. If John’s chronology follows his chapters, Jesus had just cleansed the temple from its abhorrent market scene. Cattle and coins were driven out so that worshipers could get close to the one place where God promised His Old Testament believers that they could meet Him.

Jesus’ zeal was evident to his disciples (John 2:17 -His disciples remembered that it is written, “the zeal of your house [temple] has eaten me up”). Jesus’ zeal may have also been evident to Nicodemus. Whether it was this event or some other episode, Nicodemus’ life had been shaken and he was now seriously wondering about Jesus. The Father, who sent Jesus, was drawing him. So Nicodemus went to see Jesus at night.

The phrase, “at night,” is key. “At night” means that Nicodemus wanted to keep this low key; he wanted to come to Jesus under the cover of night and leave without anyone recognizing him. Remember that there are no street lights at that time; after dark, your face could remain hidden from clear view. So he comes secretly to Jesus and tells him his reason for being there: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). He is interested in learning more from Jesus but he’s not ready to go public with this interest. That could stand as an apt description of someone who is religious but still has not personally been convinced that Jesus is Lord and master of their life.

There is one other point that grabs my attention: this man is a very learned religious man and he is approaching Jesus as a novice. He’s at the level of college professor but he is metaphorically going back to kindergarten. Jesus opens up Nicodemus’ profound lack of understanding when He introduces this first comment: “truly, truly I say unto you, ‘except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:5). Something so drastic has to happen in a person’s life in order for them to believe. It must be comparable to a birth; this kingdom insight is a traumatic and life giving experience. And “born again” is passive - it happens to you from the outside.

This stuns Nicodemus and causes him to inquire more. He’s stumped by the description of being born again. He’s hung up on the idea of physical birth but misses, initially, that there is a spiritual birth that must take place for a person to be able to see the kingdom of God and be a part of the kingdom of God.

What is this spiritual birth? It is God the Holy Spirit causing a spiritual birth or a spiritual change in a person. John 3:7-8 explains: “ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” There is a surprising change or “birth” when the Spirit of God creates faith in a person’s soul.

When God’s Spirit convinces that lost soul that the only end to their earthly life is an eternal punishment due to their broken state, the soul is made aware of their gruesome end. But the Spirit of God also offers a completely free gift of eternal life through the One who was hung on the cross as a substitute for that lost soul’s penalty. That One is Jesus. John 3 caps it off this way:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16-18).

Whether you are reading this note because the Spirit has birthed you to new spiritual life, or if you ran across this article because the Father is at work in your existence, the truth is the same: Jesus is there for you when you stand at the edge of eternity and you see the unending darkness of your broken soul. Jesus is there for each and every one of us because “God so loves the world!” All of this is the result of a loving God rushing into the frey of humanity in order to save those He loves.

Thank you, Father, for drawing us to Jesus, the answer! Thank you Holy Spirit for bringing us - birthing us - into this new life! Thank you Jesus for your dutiful willingness to go the distance and make that dreadful payment on the cross. Your blood covers our shame and guilt. Thanks be to God!