Born Again

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'" -John 3.3-6

As I was laying in bed last night I started thinking about yesterday's post, and then these verses from John 3 came to my mind. This is a thought I am still working through, and I am not saying with complete certainty that this is what Jesus meant, but after writing and thinking I'm wondering if it could have been what He might have been referring to.

Without being born again, we cannot see the Kingdom of God. We must first die, and then be born into life as it was meant to be. A life with no ending, that exists in perfection before the throne of God. Everyone who has come to faith in Jesus, has been spiritually conceived. Those who faithfully endure to the end grow and develop in the spiritual pregnancy. And those who die in the faith, are born again in Heaven.

Not everyone who begins this journey will finish. Just as there are miscarriages and still born babies physically, there are those who spiritually begin, but don't endure. They don't finish and cannot enter the presence of God. Tertullian said, "Do we test the faith by persons or persons by the faith? No one is wise, no one is faithful, no one worthy of honor unless he is a Christian, and no one is a Christian unless he perseveres to the end."

To be born again, we must endure to the end. We must come to salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. And we must grow and mature in holiness until it is time to enter eternity.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you

Death=Birth

And we're back with another thought on death. In one of my previous posts on the subject I said that people fear death because they see it as an end, rather than a new beginning. This is a continuation of that thought.

I've been thinking about the birth of a baby for some time now, I have several friends who are expecting children, and as I've thought about the process of birth, I've noted many similarities between this life and the next. Jesus came to give us eternal life. We've somehow arrived at the conclusion that this is life that is only available to us once we reach the other side. It is life that goes on forever as believers spend eternity before the Throne of God. But this is an incorrect conclusion.

Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10.10). He came to give life, not just eternally, but presently. Around Christmas I wrote about how we need to see Christmas as the beginning of Jesus' life, a life lived to show us how to live as God would, and then He died on a cross so that we could live the way He modeled.

And so eternal life begins here and now. And so with that being said, death is not the end, but the beginning. Death=Birth.

Think of it this way. The moment you come to faith in Christ and experience the forgiveness of your sins, you have begun a new life. This would compare to the moment of conception. At that moment a baby is living being, with a soul and eternal destiny. But at this moment, a baby is not ready to enter the world.

Over the next nine months, give or take a few weeks, the baby grows and develops. Arms and legs form with hands and feet, fingers and toes. The heart begins to beat and pump blood. The brain forms as well as the other organs. The baby begins to move and stretch. It develops a personality that is unique. But it takes this time to develop before it is ready to enter the world.

As believers, we begin life with salvation, but we grow in holiness and mature so that we are ready to enter the next world. And then at the moment of death, we are born to real life, life as it was meant to be lived. It takes time for us to grow and develop in holiness, into Christlikeness. But at the end of the process we are ready to be born.

Hebrews 12.14 says, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." Without holiness, no one will see God. We must be holy, we must grow in holiness. The journey to heaven is marked by growth in Christlikeness. The more we walk with Christ, the more holy we are to become. If we would see God, and be born into real life, we must grow and mature in holiness.

For the holy one, death is not the end, but a new beginning. Death=Birth.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you

God Will Provide the Lamb

Life has been more hectic than I thought it would be, and so my blogging here has been less than I thought it would be as a result.  But recently I've had a couple thoughts I really want to share, and so hopefully I can write over the next few days.

In our group Bible study a few weeks ago we read about Abraham sacrificing Isaac, and I noticed some things that I haven't before.  Abraham places the wood on his son, who carries it to the place where the sacrifice would be offered.  Then Isaac is laid on the wood to be killed.  God spares him, and then provides a ram to be sacrificed.  Abraham told his son the God would provide, and He did.

Now look ahead to the New Testament.  Jesus has a wooden cross placed on Him, and He carries it to the place where the He would be offered as a sacrifice.  There He lays down on the cross and is sacrificed as the Lamd God provided.

It is important to note the attitude of both men.  Isaac was probably in his late teens or early twenties at this point.  He could have easily over powered his father and not have almost been killed.  But he doesn't, and in him we see a willingness to do the will of God.   And in the same way Jesus, who could have easily overcome those who crucified Him, willingly lays down on the cross and is nailed to it to fulfill the will of God.

Finally, Abraham came out of a society where child sacrifice was common.  It would not have been unheard of in his mind for God to ask for his son.  But in this God shows more of His character.  He shows Abraham, this is not how we do things in my Kingdom.

With Jesus we see God again showing us His character.  We deserved the cross because of our sin.  But Gid says, "No, in My Kingdom, I will sacrifice my Son to save you."  He cannot over look sin, but He will not leave us to deal with it on our own.

God has provided the Lamb.

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you