Life Can Begin Anew

KEY VERSE: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” —John 3:3

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: John 3:1-17

NICODEMUS had evidently heard that Jesus was preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand; and possibly he may have heard that Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, the great king in that kingdom.

But in view of the Lord’s complete absence of political influence, and with only a handful of followers from among the common people, Nicodemus was naturally perplexed that such claims should be made. Hence Jesus’ emphasis of the fact that a man must be “begotten from above” if he would ‘see’, in the sense of understanding, that the kingdom is in its embryo state during the Gospel Age. For instance, Paul says, God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,” suggesting that God’s people, when begotten from above, enter into a new world, a spiritual world, with new hopes, aims, ambitions, interests, old things having passed away, and all things having become new.—Col. 1:13

The apostle further says, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 14:17) In Nicodemus’ question, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” we see the operation of the natural mind, with its ability to reason only on the level of earthly things. And in his reply, Jesus enunciates a further vital truth that can be fully appreciated only by those Spirit-begotten. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born [or begotten] of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (vs. 5) To ‘see’ and ‘enter into’ the kingdom, one needs to be ‘begotten from above’ through the Word of truth.

This Spirit begettal, our Lord tells us, is brought about by means of two things—‘water’ and ‘Spirit’. First, the cleansing, sanctifying power of the water of truth occurs—living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; being built up by the Word of his grace. (Acts 20:32) Secondly, the Holy Spirit begins its operation, quickening our mortal bodies in the work of sacrificing the flesh, renewing and transforming our minds that they may become more and more like the mind of Christ. (I Cor. 2:16) In this way we are prepared to be born as spirit beings in the resurrection.

Jesus here tells us that there is more than one kind of begetting and birth. As the begetting and birth of the flesh is a real thing, so the begetting and birth of the spirit being is just as real and necessary to be understood if one would see and enter the heavenly phase of Messiah’s kingdom. However, as the record suggests, Nicodemus continued to marvel, and failed to grasp our Lord’s meaning.

In verse 8, Jesus seems to say that the work of the Holy Spirit is not visible to the natural eye. He is saying, let me give you an illustration of the Spirit: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born [or begotten] of the Spirit.” From this we gather that the operation of the Holy Spirit is like the wind—invisible and yet powerful.

Many inquirers, like Nicodemus, are perplexed at the things written in the Bible, being unable to ascertain their spiritual significance. How thankful we should be that because of faith in the Redeemer and a consecration to God through him, we are able to lay aside the natural mind and, by being begotten from above, ‘see’ the kingdom of God—appreciate the things of the kingdom—the conditions for membership in that kingdom, and the work of the kingdom, now and in the future.

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