Understanding Rebirth – BORN AGAIN
Bible verse in focus: John3:1-7
1There 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 are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
These lines first of all tell us that any man can tell (discern) a true man of God. Nicodemus wasn’t born again but knew that Christ was a man of God, in his own words, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” As you can see, he was able to recognize Jesus as a man of God because of the signs and wonders that follow him. (Here’s the flip side, most sane human being can also recognize false teachers/prophets – be careful )
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus clarifies here that, even though any Tom, Dick and Harry can tell a true believer from a pretender, to see the kingdom of God, one must be born again. So what does the kingdom of God mean? What is KOG? How do I understand the KOG? It’s easy, be born again and you’ll not only know but you’ll see the glorious kingdom of God hehe.
Anyway, KOG is a totally different subject but here’s a gist. KOG is not a statement or a phrase referring to heaven where God sits on the Throne of Glory - HEAVEN is the name of that awesome place. KOG on the other hand refers to the spiritual realm over which God reigns as king, or the fulfilment on Earth of God’s will. In the Lord’s Prayer we see, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” KOG refers to God’s kingship, rule, or sovereignty over our lives, in our homes, work place, community, God’s will happening in our relationship – (for instance, no sex before marriage or apart from marriage.) The will of God in governments and everywhere else, not just in heaven but here on earth. Makes sense?
So to see and experience the KOG we have to be born again, a carnal mind cannot see, understand, experience and enjoy the Kingdom of God. Yes enjoy! I mean it; the will of God is enjoyable. If only there was time to explain this subject on “The Will of God” but here’s cutting a long topic short:
It is God’s will for us to enjoy a life of prosperity, health and all things good and perfect (James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.)
The ultimate will of God – Let’s look into the Lord’s Prayer again, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” So what’s the will of God for us in heaven? It’s praise and worship which is revealed in Revelation.
Revelation 7:9-12
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
The will of God is that all peoples from across the globe be saved or be born again to worship Him. Worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth is seriously enjoyed by all who has experienced it. It’s the ultimate high when God inhibits our praises. Believe you me, it’s the greatest high! I used to be high on all the drug I could lay my hands on and now I’m high on the Spirit and the kick is out of this world, literally. You can’t explain and the best part is; it’s free. However, you have to be born again.
How? Yup, that’s the next question Nicodemus blurted out;
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Personally, I have a hunch that this question was asked to ridicule Jesus. Nicodemus was a man of Pharisees, a Ruler of Jews and a teacher of Israel – in John 3:10 – He was wise, educated and had ample knowledge of the spiritual world assuming by the fact that he was a learned Pharisee, and yet he asks this question about a man entering into his mother’s womb. Legit or not, Jesus made no fuss about it and answered him anyway. (Lesson here – don’t be carried away by negative remarks or mockery.)
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
This five punctuated verse to me is/was the hardest to understand. “Born of water” took me a very long time to understand. I was perplexed, why not just born of the Spirit? What has water (H2O) got to do with being born again? I wanted to shrug it off, but knew it was important because it lies at the heart of Jesus’ explanation of born again.
I looked around for explanations and came across a few. Some explain ‘born of water’ as the natural birth, explaining that, we have to exist to be born again. I mean it’s true but I wasn’t satisfied because it was too obvious – we have to exist, indeed! My goodness! I looked for verses supporting this and came up short too.
There were suggestions like born of water being bound up with baptism. This totally made sense too, even biblically. However, wouldn’t it be easier for Jesus to just say, ‘be baptized’? born of water and the Spirit had to be parallel with ‘born again’ or the hard fact or direct meaning of ‘born again’ should be ‘born of water and the Spirit’. Putting in parallel the verses - John 3:3 and - John 3:5 together demonstrates what I mean.
John 3:3 John 3:5
Most assuredly, I say to you - same as - Most assuredly, I say to you
unless one is born again - same as - unless one is born of water and the Spirit
he cannot see the kingdom of God - same as - he cannot enter the kingdom of God
So there we are, they have a parallel meaning indeed. Born again is explained by Jesus as born of water and the Spirit. There has to be a verse to support this and voila.
Further explanation came from the book of Ezekiel. Before going into that, remember what I said earlier about Nicodemus trying to intimidate Jesus with his question about entering a mother’s womb? As a learned Pharisee, Nicodemus had studied the Old Testament, along with a great deal of additional theological reflection. From all this learning, Nicodemus would have picked up what Jesus’s words meant because in Ezekiel 36:25-27 it reads;
“25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
Notice the first line, ‘will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean’? It clearly elucidates that water is synonym to the Spirit here and that Jesus was referring to it in His explanation of ‘born again’.
Born of water and of the Spirit thus imply to one single birth which is the spiritual birth which in turn means BORN AGAIN, rebirth as others put it. As Jesus’ physical birth was of the Spirit, so shall our spiritual birth be of the Holy Ghost – ghost, cause some like it this way. Now this makes it clear, we are now sons and daughters of the Living God. Do you now see how clearly we have become children of God? Let’s make it plain and simple, we as born again believers, we share the same father with Jesus Christ, our Father being the Holy Spirit. We are literally siblings. Isn’t that just amazing?
John 1:12
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
Now this being said, it is rather impossible for anyone who is born again not to see the KOG. It is our rightful possession. Romans 8:17 - And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Verse 6 implies that if we are not born again and living according to the lust of the flesh we cannot please God – Romans 8:8 says - and those who are in the flesh cannot please God of which the ultimate result is eternal death. However, being born again or born in the Spirit will grant us eternal life. You’ll find Romans 8:13 saying ‘for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Verse 7 is a statement to cement the fact that a man has to be born again to see the KOG, there’s nothing else that can be done to have this privilege, so Jesus encourages Nicodemus to just accept the only way and not to think of other ways.
It is done, you have only one thing to do. Will you choose to be born again?
My revelation of Born Again
To understand this further, let’s look into the physical birth. Anyway before anyone of us were born, our parents were well prepared, rich or poor, they were ready for us. They went about talking about us the moment they found out we were in our mother’s womb. Everything from clothes, cots, bibs, milk bottles, diapers, toys and in western countries, rooms were already prepared for us before we entered the world. Some parents go to the extent of admitting their unborn kids to the best schools they can afford and some even to schools they can’t even afford. Money is not only spent on unborn babies but saved for their well-being. Food habits of the mother is also changed and vitamins, iron, calcium and minerals are consumed to nourish the foetus. All these were done without an assurance that the baby will be alive. It’s hope and longing for a healthy baby stirred by the love that compels a mother and father to be ready.
These preparations are some what like the preparation that had been going on in the spiritual realm as well. God has prepared for us, even as we were still sinners (foetus in the womb), a place for us in heaven. Not just in heaven but here on earth too, God wants us to abound in good health, never to be deficient of our needs and requirements.
Now the birth, yes! Alright, the greatest pain a woman can suffer happens just before she gives birth to her child. She goes into labour. I’ve heard a lot of women, even my wife talks about the pain they have to endure while in labour and that there’s nothing more painful than actually giving birth. Some women due to health issues have to be operated upon to give birth but the process of the operation and the aftermath may be equal to the pain of natural birth. The process of giving birth has nothing to do with enjoyment nor pleasure. Blood and water has to be spilled for a baby to be born.
I liken Jesus being in Gethsemane praying to God and then taken to court and being judged as a blasphemy to a woman going into labour. Just imagine the hurt and pain of being accused of something that you have not committed and knowing you have to face a series of humiliation and severe whippings for it. It doesn’t end there, Jesus knew the crucifixion He had to go through. Both the mother’s love for you and Jesus’ love for you, the hope that you will be born/born again is the only thing that keeps them going on, that enables them to bear the pain without a word. Ask any mother to give up during their labour and you would be fortunate if she doesn’t slap you across the face. It’s not that strange for Jesus to have kept His mouth closed now, is it?
Will you choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? God will not tamper with your will. He didn't control the will Adam and Eve, He sure won't change His mind about you. He wants to be chosen by you.
It is done, you have only one thing to do. Will you choose to be born again? Make your choice now, you could run out of time.
Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
