This is a simplified version of the Bible story found in John 3:1-21, written for children to understand. For the original version, please refer to the Bible passage.
One night, Nicodemus went to visit Jesus. Nicodemus was a leader of the Jewish people and a Pharisee. He said to Jesus, “We know you’re a teacher from God, because you do miracles that only God could do.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see God’s kingdom.”
Nicodemus was confused and asked, “How can someone be born again when they are already old? Can they go back into their mother’s belly and be born again?”
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter God’s kingdom. The flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Don’t be surprised that I said you must be born again. The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. It is the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can these things be?”
Jesus said, “You are a teacher of Israel, and you don’t understand this? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
He continued, “God loves the world so much that He gave His only Son. Whoever believes in Him won’t die but will live forever with God. God didn’t send His Son to blame or punish the world, but to save it. If we believe in Him, we won’t be blamed, but if we don’t believe, we’re already blamed because we didn’t believe in God’s only Son. Light has come into the world, but people like darkness more than light because they do bad things. People who do bad things don’t like the light because it shows their bad deeds, but people who do what’s right come to the light, so everyone can see the good things they’ve done for God.”
Biblical Lessons
- To enter God’s kingdom, we must be born again of the Spirit.
- Believing in Jesus is the way to have eternal life.
- God loves us so much that He gave His only Son to save us.
- Those who reject Jesus are already condemned because they don’t believe in God’s only Son.