Isaiah 37 records the amazing delivery of Judah from the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria. King Hezekiah of Judah humbled himself before the LORD twice, asking for the LORD to protect the people. Isaiah prophesied that the Assyrians, who had defeated many lands and “burned their gods in the fire,” would not do the same to Israel, because the other nations “gods” were not gods at all. In addition to condemning the Assyrians in this prophecy, the angel of the LORD went out and killed 185,000 of the Assyrians’ troops. They returned to their homeland, and there two of Sennacherib’s sons assassinated him.
In Isaiah 38, King Hezekiah becomes sick, and Isaiah goes to him to tell him to get his house in order, because the LORD has determined it is time for him to die. Hezekiah turns to the LORD immediately, crying out and asking for more time. The LORD responds and promises Hezekiah fifteen more years. To show Hezekiah His promise is true, the LORD makes the sun goes back ten steps. Hezekiah responds with a “psalm” of lament that ends in joy, because he was preparing for death, but the LORD delivered him from it.
As we return to John 3, we remember it as the chapter with the best-known verse in Scripture: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. While that verse is the climax, it was John 3:3 that brought the truth to Nicodemus about eternal life, that Nicodemus was not able to fully grasp. Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, wanting to speak with Him, but not wanting others to know, (thus the coming at night.). He started buttering Jesus up with accolades about His abilities, but Jesus cut straight to the point: Unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus thought of a second physical birth, which he rightly saw as impossible. Jesus wasn’t talking of a second physical birth, but of a spiritual birth. When we are born again, we receive the Holy Spirit, and we receive the spiritual life that will live forever, the life we read about in John 3:16. John 3:17 is also powerful: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him, the world could be saved. So many in our world today think the God of Christianity is a vindictive, even hateful God. He is not. He doesn’t want to condemn us. He wants to free us. We can say if anyone dies separated from God it is literally over Jesus’ dead body. God did everything He could do for us. What remains is for us to respond. All we must do is surrender our old, sinful lives for the new life Jesus offered through the second birth. Jesus would soon die on the cross to fulfill John 3:16. We don’t know whether Nicodemus got the message that night. What we do know is when Jesus died, he and another Pharisee named Joseph took Jesus’ body down from the cross and buried it in Joseph’s tomb. That move would have been seen by the other members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews of which they were a part, as an act of betrayal and denial. Ironic, that Jesus was betrayed and denied by those closest to Him the night before He was crucified, and on the day of His crucifixion and death, two members of the body that worked to ensure His condemnation went public with their support of Jesus.