John 3:12,13 - I have spoken of earthly things

3:12

What are we to make of this verse? The focus of Jesus’ teaching in this section has been on the need to be born again, surely this is a “heavenly thing”?  We think that the contrast is between non-spiritual and spiritual things, but this does not seem to make sense. Perhaps it is better to take both “earthly” and “heavenly” things as being spiritual. Jesus has been speaking about the change that needs to take place here on earth. We need to be “born again”, and Nicodemus (along with his fellow Pharisees) do not believe, even though the need for the change is obvious. But what happens here on earth is not the end of the matter. We will be raised from dead to new life, and we will reign with Christ forever. These are “heavenly” matters. If Nicodemus failed to grasp the earthly aspects of the kingdom what hope did have of grasping the heavenly aspects? The Pharisees thought that they were the experts, the truth was that they knew next to nothing. We all need to beware of this danger.

3:13

The final three verses of this section provide an incredibly concise and deep summary of what Jesus is all about. First we learn that “no one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven - the Son of Man”. If we want to learn anything of heavenly matters there is only one person who can teach us with any authority. That is Jesus Christ, for He is the only one who has actually been there. If we want to learn we need to turn to Christ. If the Pharisees wanted to learn then they needed to learn from Christ, but that was the one thing that they steadfastly refused to do.