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Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

     The importance of this redemptive passage is easily passed over without its auxiliary meaning being discovered.  Jesus is speaking to a religous master of Judaism, namely Nicodemus.  Jesus confronts Nicodemus with the stark reality of his public ministry, AND the fact miracles and people's lives were been profoundly affected.  Jesus, without equivocation, stops the double-minded religious leader in his tracks, when Nicodemus coming to the Messiah under the cover of darkness by night, receives a powerful Messianic rebuke.  

     Jesus tells Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness."  Jesus reveals to Nicodemus that although nothing has been done in a corner (Acts 26:26) and everything Jesus has done in his ministry has been completely transparent, Nicodemus has refused to accept the power of Jesus' objective testimony.  Nicodemus, at this point, has denied his God-given moral conscience when it came to the overwhelming proof that Jesus is indeed the living Word, the incarnate Son of God. 

     Jesus, continuing in this secretive exchange with the rabbi, reveals to Nicodemus that since Nicodemus rejected blatant truth in the public arena, Nicodemus was assured he would never grasp the heavenly truths Jesus came to reveal and declare--Nicodemus would be lost forever. 

     In closing Jesus made the connection between an individual being able to recognize truth in the public arena and their capacity to move to the next level, namely the spiritual.  Honesty, transparency, and integrity with oneself, Jesus stated, was imperative if an individual was going to be moved and led of the Spirit. Fortunately, it appears Jesus' powerful rebuke may have yielded the peaceable fruit of rightousness when in John 7:50 and 19:39, the rabbi legally defends Jesus and voluntarily offers to purchase a 100 pounds of myrrh and aloe for the preparation of Jesus' body.