Jesus Opened The Gates To Let The Trash Blow In

John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

To fully understand verses 6, 7, and 8 it is important to keep the background of this discussion in focus. Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Israel. Nicodemus, a Jew of Jews, was struggling with the new kingdom realities Jesus had introduced. Jesus was not the Messiah expected by Nicodemus and the Sanhedrin.

In Nicodemus’ world, religion was based in the physical. It was racial. It all began with birth from a pure lineage of ancestors. Position and privilege were given based on name, title, and obedience to covenant and cultural laws. It was so structured... so controllable. But Jesus came to change Nicodemus' world.

This verse is key to understanding the great change that was taking place. Jesus used the wind to illustrate entrance into His new Kingdom. A person can’t tell where it came from or where it’s going… it only matters that it is here.

The history of Christ's Kingdom can't be measured by physical patterns. Young Charles Spurgeon sought shelter from a snowstorm in a small church, heard and believed the Gospel, then became the “prince of preachers.” A slave ship master, John Newton, heard and believed the Gospel, and went on to write the great hymn Amazing Grace. Who could have predicted all that! But millions of realities like that, we now know, make up the history of Christ's kingdom.

In Christ's kingdom a person's past has no influence upon God in their present. The most profane or "low born" can be immediately born again, and have equal standing in His kingdom with a Jew of Jews. In Christ's new kingdom a boy born in a dusty north West Texas town to an unwed mother, beaten and abused to anger by his adoptive father*, and influenced by his atheist grandfather, can hear and believe the Gospel, then serve in this Messiah's kingdom all his days. No “rhyme or reason” to all of that, but I am thankful it is so... and on this day I offer my thanks and praise to my Redeemer for opening His kingdom gates to people like me.

*not to be confused with my step-father