“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.””
John 3:1-8
One of my sons and his wife had a gender reveal party today on Zoom to tell everyone the sex of the baby from the latest ultrasound. One of my other sons and I were talking after the reveal and eventually were discussing Christ and the virgin birth. It is interesting that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and is said to be “the first born of many brethren” (Romans 8:29). Just as Jesus was born of the spirit when He was a baby, being literally conceived by the Holy Spirit, so are we when we are born again. We have our own version of being born of the spirit. “Christ entered humanity by supernatural generation. We enter new life by supernatural regeneration.” (unknown)
We are conceived by our mother and father, but when we believe in Christ we are “born again” by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have a second birth. We are born by water (the flesh) and by the spirit, and are able to now enter the Kingdom of God. We are Christ’s “brethren” now, as mentioned in Romans 8:29. Through the second birth, by the spirit of God, we become Jesus’ brothers. Just as He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, we are conceived by our life of flesh and the baptism of the Holy Spirit when we are born again and sealed by the spirit (Ephesians 1:13).
We see the movement from darkness to light illustrated in the disciples in the book of Acts, when the spirit first arrives after Jesus’ resurrection. Before the coming of the spirit, they had doubts, questions, denied Jesus (Peter), and basically did not see what was going on even though they were with Jesus every day watching Him perform miracles and teach the most amazing content the world has ever heard. Jesus had to explain everything to them. They were still in darkness, and could not see, just as we are in darkness, blinded by the god of this world, and cannot see until we experience the new birth ourselves. But in Acts, when the Holy Spirit came, their eyes were opened and they could see clearly. The church was born into the world. (Acts Chapter 2)
I remember when I was born again, how before my new birth I did not see God anywhere, but immediately after being born again, I saw God everywhere – for months – it was incredible. (43 years later I still see God everywhere but am more used to it now.) It was as though a light switch had been flipped on and I could see. In John 1 we read:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:1-13
Jesus is the life and the light that is turned on in us when we are born again. Before we are born again we are “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-2), walking in darkness – we cannot see the truth – the gospel is like foolishness to us (1 Corinthians 1:18), we cannot comprehend it as the John 1:5 verse above states. There was a movie we watched a few years ago where the people were being controlled by a machine that an evil robot built to control humanity. A tower broadcasted a control signal. The tower was right there in plain sight, but the people could not see it because they were under its control and it was blinding them. They were completely unaware and had no idea what is going on. But there were some people in the movie who could see the tower and were not under its control. It is the best depiction I have ever seen of the darkness/blindness we have prior to salvation and the change that occurs after we are born again.
When we are born again through faith in Christ, God’s word says we are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Being born again is like having our own modified version of a birth conceived by spirit and flesh. Just as Jesus was born of flesh and spirit via the virgin birth, we are born of flesh and spirit via the second birth. Wow!
We rejoice over the birth of a child. It is joyous. It is also joyous when that child is born again (Luke 15:7) into the Kingdom of God. We are told there is rejoicing in heaven when someone repents and becomes born again, just like we rejoice when a baby is born. Have you experienced the second birth? Did the content in this post make you go ‘Wow’ or did it seem like nonsense to you? Do you believe that God created life on earth like John 1 and Genesis 1 tell us, or does a godless evolution make more sense to you as to how life on our planet got here? Have you been born again? Jesus repeatedly said to us “he who has eyes to see” and “ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:3-23). The John 1 passage explains the light and darkness situation that we find ourselves in. We are all born into the darkness. Thru the new birth we are transfered to the Kingodm of light. Are you walking in the light or are you still in darkness?
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:8-13
Father God, we come before you in Jesus name and ask that you would fill us with your life and Your light. Let us walk in newness of life, let us experience the new birth and become children of God by faith in Christ. We repent of our sins, turn away from them, and we turn to You by faith in Your son Jesus. Let us be a new creation as Your word says, joining the “many brethren” of Jesus that Your word tells us about. Bring us into Your Kingdom. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear, that we may hear and believe Your word of salvation, call upon Your name, and be saved. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.
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(ChatGPT responses were queried after writing the above post.)
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