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."
Message: Our Need for Regeneration
Time: John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."
What the Lord is Saying: Nicodemus had come to Jesus to acknowledge to himself that this man Jesus that had come could only do signs if God had sent him. And we remember that prior to this, at the end of chapter 2 was the declaration that people were believing in Jesus because of the signs that they had seen him doing. Jesus now in verse 3 has a clarification to make to Nicodemus and others -- "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Jesus is probably making one of the clearest declarations in scripture. One must be born again.
Nicodemus is bewildered with the words. It is like he has never heard anything like this before and probably he hasn't. He rightfully doesn't understand as most persons hearing this would not understand - 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?”
And so Jesus further clarifies. Jesus is not necessarily answering Nicodemus question it seems but continuing to proclaim that life is not simply about watching him do miracles and signs and then believing but one must be born again. And being born again or the process of being born again includes being born of water and the Spirit.
It is interesting then the mention that to be born again is a change that happens by the Spirit so it is not a man-made change per se. And thus, is the idea of regeneration. I love to listen to people's testimonies because born again experiences cause a complete change in a person most of the time. There is an awakening that occurs. I'm always thinking back to when this occurred for me, at the age of 14, 3 weeks shy of my 15th birthday. As I think about it, my sense is the change had already and the date, August 10, 1982 in the afternoon in a Wendy's parking lot, was, I believe, a formality. And yet I know in those moments God awakened me to an understanding of Him and since then the light bulb has been on and the desire has been there to continue to grow in Christ.
As I saw yesterday, Nicodemus as a Pharisee held to the idea that (1) God created the world, (2) chose Israel as His people, and (3) rewarded and punished them according to the law or their observance of the Law. Because of this, simply being a part of nation of Israel or a Jew guaranteed a person to be accepted by God for all eternity. And yet Jesus points out here that a person must be "born again." This must have been hard to hear. Will Nicodemus still think Jesus is sent from God? For now, Jesus is saying that your lineage or his progeny is not the ticket. I wonder in the Old Testament times, did the annual atonement that was made by the priests in the Temple/Tabernacle, was this for any and all Jews or was it only for a specific segment of those populations?
I think there is still a great tendency to claim allegiance to your parents faith or grandparents as a person is born and think that is good enough. But Jesus is saying that it is one thing to born of flesh but something different to be born of the Spirit.
Summary: To see the kingdom of God, you must be born again, by the Spirit of God.
Promise: No one is born a Christian.
Prayer: Father God, thank you for waking me up. And giving me new life in You, making me born again and brining me into Your kingdom.
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