Checkmate - Earnest Expedition™

In the game of chess, originating in Persia (modern Iran), the word “checkmate” is used to indicate that a player’s king chess piece is in “check” and has no route of escape via any legal move under the rules of the game. The word “checkmate” originates from the Persian phrase shāh māt (شاه مات), meaning “the king is dead” or “the king is defeated.” The status of checkmate in a game of chess indicates that the game is over. Cue Private First Class William Hudson, United States Colonial Marines: “Game over, man!”¹ This is equivalent to the clock hitting zero in a football game with no penalty flags on the field. It’s over. The score is the score, and your team lost.

What if I told you that you were born into a state of checkmate? Would that feel fair? Especially considering you hadn’t even made any moves yet? In the Book of John chapter 3, a highly revered and exceptionally well-educated member of the Pharisees secretly went to meet with Jesus at night. His name was Nicodemus.² The Pharisees were exceedingly strict regarding their adherence to the Law of Moses and following all of the rules (at least, outwardly)–so much so that they created hundreds of extra rules around the core rules to make sure they didn’t mess up. Nicodemus was curious because of all the undeniable³ miracles Jesus had performed. To Nicodemus, these unexplainable miracles convinced Nicodemus that the power of God was working in and through Jesus. When they met, Nicodemus greeted Jesus as “Rabbi” (“teacher”) which further indicated Nicodemus’ respect for Jesus.

In the Jewish world at that time, if anyone was qualified as a “good person” worthy of respect and honor, it was Nicodemus. You could think of him analogously as a state senator, a state supreme court justice, and a revered spiritual teacher all wrapped into one person. However, Jesus did not pat him on the back and make him feel good about himself. Rather, Jesus wasted no time, giving Nicodemus a startling revelation about the status of humankind. It was bad news. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3. Nicodemus was reasonably confused by this out-of-the-gate response by Jesus. In what sounds like an unmistakable incredulous tone, Nicodemus asked Jesus how it would be possible to put a fully grown man back into his mother’s womb. Jesus continued:

“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit [i.e., being born again].”

John 3:5-8 (NIV).

Effectively, Jesus is explaining the condition humans find themselves in when they are born into our world. Jesus unequivocally and unhesitatingly gives the directive that a person must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. In other words, Jesus was communicating to Nicodemus that, despite all of Nicodemus’ works, righteousness, honor, theological knowledge, and good deeds, he still needed to be born again. This was a radical statement to someone of Nicodemus’ reputational stature. Jesus was, in effect, saying to Nicodemus that each human born on Earth automatically starts in a state of checkmate—they have no moves left (despite the fact that, at birth, a person has not made any choices yet). The game is already over. It doesn’t matter what choices a person eventually makes under their own power to better him- or herself, there are no legal moves left. Game over, man. It’s like spawning in a video game and instantly being taken out by another player or adversarial NPC. Unfortunately, in the case of our lives on Earth, Jesus is not referring to a game. He is referring to the reality of our initial status in the universe–regardless of how good (or bad) we think we are.

Nicodemus, still in incredulous mode, asks, “How can this be?” Jesus responds with a rhetorical question by noting that, despite the fact that Nicodemus is “Israel’s teacher”, even he—the great Nicodemus—did not understand what is required to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus goes on to say in verses 13-15 the following:

“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man [i.e., a common name Jesus used to refer to Himself]. 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.”⁴

John 3:13-15 (NIV).

Don’t miss some of the critical information in this short passage. Jesus, referring to himself as the “Son of man,” makes it clear that Jesus is the only man that has ever been to heaven and that He came from heaven. Moreover, Jesus foreshadows that He himself will be lifted up (on a cross), and that those that look to Him (not themselves) will be saved.

Up until this point, Jesus is providing a shocking set of imagery that gives “Israel’s teacher” the bad news that no one can do anything of their own accord to enter into the kingdom of God without a combination of things including (1) the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit causing rebirth, and (2) believing in (having authentic faith in and fully resting on) Jesus to be saved. This is unsavory to us. Our pride wells up and we think it’s not fair. We should be able to choose our way to victory and be given at least a puncher’s chance to use our own efforts to better ourselves to be acceptable to God. Nonetheless, Jesus’s point is unambiguous. We can’t. God gives us our own “Kobayashi Maru” test in life. For those that are not familiar with this reference, the Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise for Starfleet cadets in the Star Trek universe. This training exercise was introduced in the 1982 theatrical release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The training scenario creates a dramatic ethical dilemma with many lives at stake which results in a no-win situation. The only cadet to “pass” the test was James Tiberious Kirk because Kirk cheated by reprogramming the simulation when he was the cadet being trained. In a way, Kirk’s solution is analogous to what we need–something like a cheat code. However, in our case, Jesus is effectively telling us that we need much more. We need a completely new operating system with new, uncorrupted software code that we cannot create or maintain using our own efforts.

According to Jesus, absent the hope He provides, a no-win scenario is our reality. This is the bedrock of Christianity, not just some weird sect of Christianity.⁵ Unfortunately, this is not what is taught in many so-called “christian” churches throughout the United States and the world. Many well-meaning churches and people focus on changing others’ behavior with a laser focus on obedience and encouraging others to turn away from sin (their definition of “repentance”). I disagree with this specific framing of the concept of “repentance,” but that will be discussed in a later post. For now, the main point in this post is that, before anything else, in order to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again. And this is something you cannot do yourself by your own effort. According to the historical Jesus, your only hope requires certain things completely out of your control including the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit and the finished work of the person of Jesus Christ. That does not mean that we have no responsibility to respond to God. In fact, to the contrary, our responsibilities are to repent and believe (to be discussed in more detail in a later post). The point here is that it starts and ends with God, and we are hopeless without the sovereign work of God in allowing us to participate. Many people do not understand that all true Christ followers are born again. You might argue and say, “I disagree with you that in order to be a true follower of Christ you must be born again.” If that is your position, your argument is not with me–your argument is with the historical person of Jesus and His core teachings as recorded in the Book of John. If a person is not born again, such person, as defined by Jesus, is not an adopted child of God. See John 8:42-47 (NIV). That is the bad news.

It is no accident that the very next verse following the verses I discussed and quoted above is arguably the most famous verse in the entire Bible—John 3:16.⁶ That is the point of the story when Jesus shifts to the good news. There is good news. But in order for the good news to have meaning and context, there must first be bad news. And the bad news is this: checkmate. Your kingdom has fallen before it even started. You’re out of moves. You were born that way. You must be born again (if you are not already). Only then can you truly and authentically become an adopted child of God through His plan according to the teachings of Jesus.

The previous post ended with a question on how you can generate true Biblical faith. The answer is this: you can’t. At least not until you are born again (when your spirit is made alive by the work of the Holy Spirit), and even then you really aren’t the one doing the generating. At that point, it’s more like responding. An obvious next question at the end of this post is this: “How do I become born again?” As with the last post, the answer might surprise you.

¹For those not familiar with this reference, this is a famous movie quote from a character played by the late actor Bill Paxton in the movie Aliens directed by James Cameron and released in theaters in July 1986.

²“Nicodemus” is a Greek name meaning “victor of the people” (from nikē, “victory,” and dēmos, “people”).

³Nicodemus’ testimony as recorded in John 3:2 (NIV).

⁴This set of verses makes reference to Moses leading the people of Israel in the wilderness about 1400 years before Jesus spoke these words. This story is found in chapter 21 of the Old Testament book of Numbers, verses 4-9. The Israelites complained of the food they were getting from God, so God allowed snakes to bite and kill some of them (which, in itself, is symbolic of man’s introduction to sin in the garden of Eden). Per God’s instruction, Moses fashioned a bronze snake to the top of a pole and raised the pole. After that, the people bit by snakes that looked up to the bronze snake on the raised pole were saved from death.

⁵I will never forget many years ago listening to Anderson Cooper on CNN turning to a story and casually mentioning “so-called ‘born again Christinas’” with what sounded to me like an unmistakable tone of condescension. In my opinion, from Mr. Cooper’s tone, it would seem that a Christian that refers to himself or herself as “born again” is in some kind of strange sect or cult. I thought to myself at the time it was odd that the words “born again” were emphasized in such a way considering that this was one of the core teachings of Jesus.

⁶I’ll let you recite that one to yourself if you were made to memorize it as a kid. If not, the NIV translation of this verse reads as follows: “”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”