How Is One Born Again?
In the Gospel of John, chapter 3 we read the following:
There 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.”
3Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
And in verse 5 Jesus said this:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
These phrases stump so many people. Can you blame them? Even Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, was stumped. Born Again? What does it mean to be “born again” and how does this happen? Well, these are very good questions and let us see if we can talk about this in basic every day language.
In Ephesians we read the following:
Ephesians 2:1
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins
Basically, because of our sin nature we are spiritually dead towards God. All of us were born this way. In fact everyone down through the ages was born with a sin nature and spiritually are dead towards God. It is for this reason that we can read the results of being dead in trespasses and sins in this passage from Romans:
Romans 3:10-12
10 As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
Being spiritually dead in our sins separates us from God and unless we are “born again” in the spirit we will never see God, we will never want God and we will never enter Heaven. So, the need to “born again” is very important and that is the reason why Jesus started from this point with Nicodemus and to impress upon him the need for being so.
Knowing about the need for being “born again” is one thing and it can happen without knowing how it happens. In fact, it always happens without the knowledge of it actually happening until after it happens. A very good example of how this works actually comes from the Bible and it is something that Jesus did in front of many people, and this one time occurrence by Jesus is a specific and quite plain way of how being “born again” happens according to the Reformed view of salvation.
This one event by Jesus shows that He not only has power over life but life in a spiritual way as well. Both physical and spiritual life comes only by way of Jesus. Maybe that is why He said that “no one comes to the Father except by me”.
In John 11 we read the story about Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, about he became sick and died. Then after he had been in the grave for four days Jesus finally came by to visit the sisters of Lazarus named Mary and Martha, and He had them lead Him to his tomb. Upon His arrival we read the following:
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Now where Lazarus lay dead there were also other dead people in their graves around him. So, the first thing that Jesus did was to call out the name of Lazarus and command him to “come forth”. Had He not done so, everyone would have come forth out of the graves. But Jesus specifically called forth Lazarus; He chose Lazarus and no one else.
Now stop and think about this for a moment. When Jesus called out the name of Lazarus and commanded him to come forth was there anything within the body of Lazarus to allow him to respond? Of course not! For he was dead and there was no life within that dead body. Before Lazarus could respond in any way, shape or form he “first” had to have been given life in order to hear the command of Jesus and to obey that command to come forth.
The same is for anyone who needs to be spiritually “born again”. In John 8 you can read where Jesus tells the Pharisees that they cannot understand what He says, nor can they listen to Him as He speaks spiritual things and because of that they cannot “hear” Him, and the reason they cannot do any of this is that they are spiritually dead. They first need to be made spiritually alive to be able to respond at all.
In John 10 where Jesus is talking to the people about His sheep and how they hear His voice and obey Him to follow Him we read we read this about “why” they believe:
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Lazarus was a sheep of Jesus. Just like all of us who are truly “born again” by the Spirit of God. Unless Jesus first gives us life, that is, unless we are “first” Born Again we cannot hear His voice and follow the command to “come forth”, we cannot understand what He is saying, since we cannot hear Him, and we cannot, and will not, believe in Him as Lord and Savior of all who will be “born again” because we are “dead in trespasses and sins and, in that state, we do not want God nor desire Him.
Being spiritually dead in our spiritual grave the first thing that must be done to us is to be given life, and that is the act of being “born again”. Once Jesus calls us by name, gives us life, then, and only then, can we hear Him, believe in Him and become willing to obey the command to “come forth”, and we do obey and we come forth gladly.
In short, faith in Jesus is the action of the heart, having first been quickened (born again) by the sovereign grace of God. That is why Jesus was so adamant about being “born again”. Without it you will not hear, understand, and obey the command to “come forth” and be given the right to enter into Heaven. How about you? Has Jesus specifically called you by name to “come forth”? Have you truly been “born again” by the Spirit of God?
As Jesus impressed upon Nicodemus about the need to be “born again”, I do the same to you. You must be “born again” if you want to enter Heaven.
I pray that today, even right now, that this wonderful phenomenon will happen to you in a most personal, knowing and loving way, and that you will “come forth” to be with Jesus.
Riff's Christian Journal 