There’s a marvellous scripture that speaks of being born again of God, and of the Spirit, that every living person needs to hear at least once in their lives.
It gives us a clear indication of the necessity of a correct pathway into the family of Almighty God. You may have heard at some time that we are all children of God, but this is not strictly true. We are only the genuine children of God through the new birth.
Imperitive
Jesus told us all through a conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, that we must be born again (John 3:3-5). It is an imperative, not something we can skirt around or ignore if we genuinely desire a relationship with God.
The Apostle Peter spells it out beautifully for us.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5
God the Father has ‘begotten us again.’ The koiné Greek word for this phrase is anagennaō, which literally means ‘to beget again,’ or ‘to bear again,’ as in bearing a child, as if we are born again, having been, first of all, born of our natural parents, and then, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, being born a second time, this time of the Father through the Holy Spirit. It can also mean ‘to be born from above.’
Living hope
We are born into this living hope, as Peter calls it. We cannot be born again once we have died. It has to take place now, in this life, whilst we have the opportunity. When we die it will be too late. Jesus made this clear (Luke 16:19-36). We must come to Him now, in this life.
It is through God’s abundant mercy that we are afforded this chance for change. It is a free gift offered through His grace, which is His undeserved favour.
Why would anyone refuse God’s generosity in this? He is offering a living hope, a new life, a fresh start. We will be recreated spiritually. Old things will pass away and things will become new, He tells us (2Cor5:17).
He is calling us to ‘an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away.’ The things of the earth will end. They will melt into meaninglessness. The important thing now must surely be our eternal destiny. Our living hope is that we will be accepted by God.
We can live in the temporal, the time-limited, the finite, or we can enter into the eternal, where ‘all good and perfect gifts come from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning (James 1:17).’ We have the option of dying in the temporal or living in the eternal.
This inheritance is reserved in heaven for us. This gives us an heavenly destiny and destination, when one day in the future the heaven and the earth will come together and God will open up the gates to the New Jerusalem which will be positioned between heaven and the earth.
Only those who are born again will be able to access the place. Only those who are sealed by God in the Spirit, will be permitted to enter the New Jerusalem. That is why Jesus said ‘you must be born again.’ The seal of the Spirit is our identifying mark in the spirit (Eph.1:13-14).
Kept
Those who are born again are kept by God the Father. We are kept by His mighty power through faith for salvation, which ready to be revealed in the last days.
This word for ‘kept’ means to be watched over. God literally mounts a guard over us, and provides a protecting watch over each person who is born again. If we have the seal of the Spirit we will be identified as born again.
We can’t see the seal with our natural eyes, but it is noted in the Spirit realm. We are set apart, having been bought with a price, the blood of Jesus at the cross, which opens the way for us to be born again. He was the firstborn from the dead. He died and rose so that we too could be resurrected with and in Him.
We are born of a woman and born of God. We qualify for eternal life. If you do not know for certain that you are born again, and yet you believe in the work of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus, you can be born again through asking Him into your life.
For more on this, please open the free ebook, ‘How to be saved from everything!” It will show you how to be born again.
