Living Stone

When Jesus told the Pharisees that He was going to go away and they would not be able to follow Him, they jumped to an earthly conclusion. In fact they thought of earthly things no matter what He said. Every time Jesus talked about heavenly things, they misunderstood Him and thought on earthly meanings. Here Jesus was talking about going to His kingdom in heaven, and they thought He was going to kill Himself. I'm sure that they were hoping He would do this since they were planning to kill Him anyway! This would save them the trouble. The reason they could never understand His teachings about heavenly things is that they were dead in the spirit. They were of the earth, and their father was the devil. That is why Jesus said that they were from below, and He was from above. Unless they would believe that Jesus was God, they would die in their sins. They would remain spiritually dead.

Because we have been made spiritually alive in Christ by believing in Him, we have the ability to understand spiritual truth. It is important then that we think on heavenly things and not focus on earthly things. We need to interpret scripture through spiritual eyes and see the spiritual path that God is speaking of. Too often we see scripture through earthly eyes and look only for earthly applications. God cares about this earthly life, but it is a means not an end. This is not the goal. Remember to allow God to use you in your life, to gain glory for the Lord in eternity. When we see things from this perspective, we understand what the Lord is doing in our lives in a whole new way.