Creator, Father, King #167

I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.

QUIZ TIME!

In John 3:1-2, we read the following:

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.

So here’s the quiz: Why does Scripture make a point of telling us that Nicodemus came to Jesus “after dark”? Was it because Nicodemus

1. A. had worked a long day at the Pharisee legalism factory?
2. B. wanted to catch a 9 p.m. movie with Jesus at the Galilean Multiplex?
3. C. wanted to play oil lamp tag—the ancient precursor to flashlight tag?

Correct answer: None of the above!

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the seventy-one-member religious ruling body of the Jews. Most of the Sanhedrin vehemently opposed Jesus. But not Nicodemus. Jesus’ powerful teaching and miracles had stirred his soul. So he sought an audience with Jesus—but privately, so none of his peers would know.

“Rabbi,” Nicodemus said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

Jesus cut through the polite chitchat. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

“What do you mean?” Nicodemus replied, stunned. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” (See the full story in John 3:1-21.)

What’s It Mean?

Being “born again” has nothing to do with physical birth. To enter heaven (“the Kingdom of God”), we need a spiritual rebirth. The Bible also refers to being “born again” as “regeneration” (Titus 3:5, ESV). It’s a miraculous heart transformation every human desperately needs.

But we have a problem. Because of our inherited guilt from Adam and indwelling sin, Ephesians 2 says we were born spiritually “dead” (verse 1) and “subject to God’s anger” (verse 3). Dead people can’t resuscitate their own lifeless hearts. Only one person can help people in such spiritual destitution: God himself!

In his great love and mercy, God sends his Spirit to radically transform dead, sinful hearts, awakening in his chosen people a recognition of sin, a desire to repent, and a heart to believe in Christ for salvation.

Just like human birth, spiritual rebirth is a gift from God!

Now What?

The apostle John, who wrote today’s verse, had much to say about being born again. Read 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1; and 5:18.

Did You Know?

Scripture alludes to spiritual regeneration in the days of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, roughly six hundred years before Jesus’ earthly ministry. Check out Ezekiel 11:19-20 and 36:25-27.