To Be Born Again

You may have a question about how someone is "born again" or "born of the Spirit" or "born from above."

This is a good question, because we all need to know the answer. Now and forever both depend on it.

Jesus told Nicodemus, a godly man, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. (John 3: 3).

We can't even understand what the Kingdom of God is all about without it.

When Nicodemus questioned how he could get back into his mother's womb to be born again, Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [the water breaks and the child is born] and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3: 5-6).

Jesus was telling him that when someone is born physically, he has physical, mortal life. But when that person is also born spiritually, then the Holy Spirit enters into that person's human spirit, making it alive. Before that, he was spiritually dead, now he is alive. And anything we do in our flesh is contaminated by the sinful, the imperfect, flesh of our being, and cannot be accepted by God.

When Nicodemus didn't understand, Jesus chided him, saying, You are the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? (John 3: 10), because the priests and Levites were all taught The Law, so they could teach it to the rest of Israel: The Levites [were to] administer the law of the LORD and to settle disputes (II Chronicles 19: 8); and when Ezra read the Law to the congregation, the Levites stood on either side of him, 6 on his right and 7 on his left are named, and the Levites explained the Law to the people,...translating to give the sense so that they [the crowd] understood the reading (Nehemiah 8: 1-8). They were the official teachers of the Law.

God told Moses to scatter the Levites out all among the rest of the tribes, to take cities from all over and give them to the Levites as Cities of Refuge, you shall take more [cities] from the larger [territories] and you shall take less from the smaller; each [tribe] shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits. (Numbers 35: 8). This would give all the people of Israel access to a teacher to know the Laws that God gave them all to obey.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, one of the best educated and authoritative teachers. Jesus expected him to know about the personal sacrifice, in the first chapter of Leviticus, the technical law book on how to perform all the sacrifices, and make the connection.

The individual Israelite was to bring his own animal to the priest, lay his hand on its head identifying himself with it, then give it to the priest to sacrifice on the altar, dying in place of the person; and the priest sprinkled its blood on the sides of the altar to cover the man's sins, so he could be forgiven (Leviticus 1: 1-13).

Jesus said, Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I came not to abolish but to fulfill. (Matthew 5: 17). Now that Jesus has come as the Lamb of God, He has fulfilled that personal sacrifice laid out in Leviticus 1, as He died in our place, His blood splattering the sides of His altar, the Cross.

Now, when we let Jesus be our personal Sacrifice, taking our death on the Cross as though we're the only one (personally), then His blood doesn't just cover, but washes away all our sin, making us pristine clean, so that His Holy Spirit can come into our human spirit and make it alive. This is the New Birth.

Then when the Holy Spirit comes in, He immediately circumcises, or cuts away, our flesh from that new spiritual life, as God cannot live in the presence of sin, cutting off the power of sin from this new spiritual life, breaking addictions and bad habits:

In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; (Colossians 2: 11).

 And when we let Him take our death, it's like we died; and as He was raised from the tomb, so we are raised up to live a new life, not chained to those bad habits and addictions any more:

having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians 2: 12).

Baptism is the picture of having died with Jesus, buried under the water, then coming up out of the water as being raised with Him from the dead, to now live a new life. It is a public testimony of what God has done for us, and to ask for accountability from the witnesses to live that new life.

The whole reason for the Son of God to come to Earth at all was so He could have a human body to die a human death for each of us, to wash us pristine clean so that His Holy Spirit could live in each of us, even in this world.

God created the human race to be His children, having His life in us in His Holy Spirit, so that He could set us at the highest position in His government, ruling with the Son of God, with whom we are one Spirit as His bride (human marriage is one flesh) and sitting in His throne as He sits in the Father's throne.

God loves us more than we can imagine! And He wants us to want to love Him back. That's why He gives us a choice. We can be deceived, and caught in the sticky spider-web of sin; or we can turn to the One who designed and made us and loves us, and let Him clean us up, cause us to be His own children in His royal family, and spend eternity in Heaven's paradise, where genuine love for one another defines the character of the whole new world.

Those who refuse to humble themselves before Almighty God and admit that they deserve death for their sins (the paycheck we earn for sin is death, Romans 6: 23) and let Jesus take their place on the cross are left to meet God's perfect justice in the Lake of Fire, by their own choice. 

If you're not born again, God promised twice to answer if you seek HIM not what He'll give you, with all your heart and soul and passion, in His time and way.

Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!