Salvation Pictures in John

A few weeks ago, May 27 to be precise, the pastor preached from John 3 for Trinity Sunday. He focused on the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. It was a good message. And like all good messages, it got me thinking.

I have spent my entire Christian life among brethren who lay great stress on being born again. I believe this and agree with them on the need and possibility of being born again. But from many preachers you get the impression that this is how Jesus dealt with everybody he met. I have often wondered if Jesus indeed told everyone he spoke to, Ye must be born again. I wondered again that Sunday.

This time, I not only pondered, I decided to go through the gospels to see how Jesus approached people. At first I was going to go through all four gospels, but then I realized that is a lot of material! I chose instead to focus on the Gospel According to John, where the phrase actually occurs, and see how Jesus spoke to people, and to answer the question, How did he describe his offer of and our need for salvation?

First, let me tell you this was a real blessing! It is probably safe to say that anytime you go through the Scriptures with an open and seeking heart you will be blessed. I admit, I was surprised by what I found. I was also strengthened and encouraged in this matter of presenting the gospel. The next several posts will be what I found in John in answer to my question.

The chapters are long, too long to include in each post, so if you are read these posts you may want to grab a Bible and read the chapters so you have the context. Imagine that, reading a chapter from John each time you read my post! Let me hasten to say, this isn’t a study of the chapter or of the book. We’re just reading through to see the big picture; looking at how Jesus spoke to people and what pictures he used. And by pictures I don’t mean to suggest being born again is not a real thing. Jesus used many visuals in his teaching: a sower went out to sow, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country and more. He was always using visuals and telling stories - apparently we remember better that way. So my question is, What visuals did he use for salvation when he spoke to people?

I will begin next week and post once a week (OK, maybe twice if I get excited!), probably each Tuesday, one or two chapters at a time. I hope you join me!