John 3:3-7 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (4) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? (5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of 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) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
In the last devotional, we touched lightly on the subject of being born again. What does
Jesus mean by this term? Nicodemus certainly wanted to know more about the
subject. We determined previously this process of being born again is the
sole work of the Holy Spirit. The child of God is born again when the Holy
Spirit enters and brings eternal life to the individual. It is entirely the
work of the Holy Spirit without any outside means of help. In fact, after Nicodemus
asked about this, "Jesus answered" him with a short explanation. Then
He said, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
Why would Jesus say to Nicodemus, "Don't spend too much time
wondering about being born again?" I think there are two reasons. The
first is obvious: We have nothing to do with our natural birth, except to be
the beneficiary of it. And we have nothing to do with the second birth (being
born again), except to be the beneficiary of it. Think on those things. We could
spend much time in "marveling" about this, but let us leave it at
this: We had no part in making the decision for our parents to give birth to
us. Neither do we have any part in God bringing us into His family. He did it
all.
The second reason that I believe Jesus told Nicodemus not to marvel at the
subject of being born again is because that was not the subject to which He was
taking Nicodemus. Jesus was stating a fact: A person must be born of the Spirit
in order to enjoy the blessings which God has in store for His children.
I have already stated that I believe Nicodemus had already been born of the
Spirit of God when he came to Jesus. Now the Lord is going to take him to a
higher level of his spiritual walk. We will run into Nicodemus on at least two other
occasions before we finish the book of John and see that each time is a step
higher in understanding and blessing.
What was Jesus teaching Nicodemus and us? Notice there is a term in both the
verses that speak of being born again. That term is "the kingdom of
God." What is this kingdom of God? Is it heaven itself? Well, there is an
eternal heaven and God's people shall inhabit that place when we die. But thank
God, there is a blessing to be enjoyed before God's children reach heaven and
it's called "the kingdom of God", or in some places it is referred to
as the "kingdom of heaven." This is one and the same. The old hymn
entitled, "We're Marching to Zion," speaks this in terms of being
able to understand the blessings of the kingdom of God. One verse of that song
says, "The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach
the heavenly field." Another grand hymn, "Blessed Assurance,"
states, "Oh what a foretaste of glory divine." The kingdom of God is
that state of heart and mind whereby we feel the immediate presence of our Lord
and know that He is walking with us.
The Apostle Paul gives us the biblical definition of the kingdom of God in
Romans 14:17. "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." I want to
conclude today's writing with this simple explanation. There is a peace
and joy that the child of God can experience which cannot be experienced by
those who are not born again. This peace and joy comes as the Lord reveals to
us our righteousness is only found in the grace of God through the righteous
blood of Jesus Christ. Our sins have been forgiven. We are born of the Spirit.
We belong unto the Lord God Almighty. Nothing can separate us from the love of
God in Christ Jesus. That is right! How do I know? The Bible tells me so and
the Spirit confirms it to my spirit. That gives me peace and joy through the
Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit)