John 3:9

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

The natural man finds it very difficult to receive spiritual things, due to his inherent preoccupation with the mechanics of them, the "how" of everything. Nicodemus' question is therefore one of remarkable interest to all.

HOW CAN THESE THINGS BE?

How persistently man probes every mystery! Wherever there are dark and knotty problems, or things hard to be understood, there man stands, the great inquisitor, demanding to know, "How can these things be?" In a sense, this attitude is the glow of the human race, resulting in countless discoveries and inventions; and yet, there are certain areas that God seems to have reserved for himself, for even in Paradise there was a tree forbidden to man. In a little different sense, there remain certain questions of the deep things of God, which, by their very nature, are unanswerable. This is such a question, nor does it stand alone. However, the question of "how" God does this or that is not necessary to the enjoyment of God's gifts. As Jesus said:

So is the kingdom of heaven, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and he should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how ... but when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle (Mark 4:26-29).

From this word of Jesus, it is plain that people should be more concerned with obeying God's laws than in searching out the "why" and the "how." Nicodemus apparently permitted his puzzlement over the "how" of the new birth to prevent his ready acceptance of Christ's word. Of course, such questions have their place, but obedience should not wait upon the resolution of all problems.

Some of the questions which are similar to the one that Nicodemus raised here are: (1) How did God create the heavens and the earth? People strive in vain to answer this; but they cannot agree. It is enough for the child of faith to believe that "God spake, and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast" (Psalms 33:9). (2) How does God answer prayer? Does He answer by performing a miracle? How can prayer do any good when God already knows everything? We must confess a little sadly that we do not know; but we believe that "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). (3) How are the dead raised up? (1 Corinthians 15:35). This is another "how" that torments the intellect endlessly; but the believer holds that it is no more difficult for God to give one another life than it was for Him to have given him the first life. The soul's deepest instinct demands belief in a resurrection; but "how" it will come to pass is a problem beyond the perimeter of man's ability to solve problems. And yet there is an instinct supporting the divine revelation that a resurrection will indeed occur.

Illustration: The great chemist Farraday received an engraved cup of pure silver with his name and inscription on it; but one day a workman knocked it into a jar of nitric acid where it was quickly consumed. The workman was frantic with concern, but the great Farraday only smiled. He added other chemicals to the jar, precipitated the silver from the solution, returned it to the original craftsman; and within six weeks, the same cup was sitting in its accustomed place, perfect as before, inscription and all! If man with his little learning can do a thing like that, how easily may God recall our human spirits and reclothe them with the robes of flesh; nor should we dare to disbelieve it, merely because God has not permitted us to photograph him in the process.

How can a man be born again when he is old ... ? Part of the answer to that question, namely the reception of the Holy Spirit, was not even available to the apostles at the time Nicodemus made this inquiry; and his mistake of waiting until he had all the answers was tragic. His greater concern should have been the acceptance of what he knew, namely, that he should have accepted the baptism of John. If he had submitted to that, as did Christ and the apostles, he would have experienced more, in time, and would have been truly "born again."