Command 43 : Be Born Again | Day 295

Be Born Again!

He had outstanding character and credentials. He was a respected spiritual leader in the nation. He was a wise man who carefully searched out important matters. He discerned that Jesus was a man who came from God and Who had supernatural powers. In spite of all these outstanding qualities, when Nicodemus sought counsel from Jesus regarding his own life, Jesus said to him:

Command Forty-Three: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

In the mind of Nicodemus, this was a strange requirement. He immediately assumed that Jesus was talking about a physical rebirth and asked: “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?” (John 3:4).

Jesus explained that He was talking about a rebirth of the spirit--a new birth from above, not of flesh from the earth. This rebirth of spirit is necessary, because Adam's sin caused each of us to become dead in spirit. (See I Corinthians 15:21-22.) Then Jesus further explained the requirement: “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" (John 3:5).

This only increased the questions in the mind of Nicodemus, and he exclaimed, “How can these things be?” (John 3:9). The Jews supposed that every Gentile who was baptized into the Jewish religion was like a newborn child. This was a birth of water from below. Yet, Jesus was talking about a birth from above. “... That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:6-7).

Recorded in the next chapter of John is Jesus's explanation of the water of rebirth to a Samaritan woman who was drawing water at a well. Jesus said to her: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

We know that a person is born again by the work of the Holy Spirit, because no man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Spirit of God (see I Corinthians 12:3). We also know that we are saved by grace through faith and that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (see Romans 10:17).

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

Thus, when we put our faith in Jesus and are born again, our salvation is made possible through the work of the Spirit of God, the living water of God's Word, and the blood of Jesus Christ, “and these three agree in one” (see I John 5:8). A spiritual birth, like a physical one, takes place at a particular point in time. Is there a specific point in time when you were born again? If not, I urge you to make this the time by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation.