When Adam fell, sin entered the world and brought death to the spirit of man, and at the right time, Jesus was sent to redeem us. Our redemption meant that we had to be born again--born once more in the image of God--exchanging our corrupted spirit for one alive with the life and nature of God.
In John 3:1-8, Jesus explained this redemption process that once again allowed mankind to become the sons and daughters of God:
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, 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.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, He said, "What's born of flesh is flesh, and what's born of Spirit is spirit. You must be born again." A better interpretation of this last phrase is "born from above."
Our first birth happened when our spirit came into existence from our parents--through "flesh producing flesh." At that moment, we inherited a sin nature--spiritual death--that was passed down to us from the lineage of the first man Adam. But, since then, when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior and our sin nature was put to death with Christ, we have been born again. We have risen to newness of life with Him and received a nature like His.
Jesus told Nicodemus, "Look, you've already been born of the flesh. To be born again, you don't enter your mother's womb a second time. I'm talking about a birth that's from above. You must be born from above. What's born of flesh is flesh. What's born of Spirit is spirit."
The part of us that must be born from above is our human spirit. Of course, we have an earthly father of our flesh from our first birth, wherein we can say that we were created, but it is more accurate to say we were born. Why? Because we were born of a life that always existed on the inside of our Father God.
You see, when God created Adam's body and held him up, Adam was nothing but a shell. Then God breathed into him the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul.
Genesis 2:7 says that God breathed into [Adam's] nostrils the breath of life. But God wasn't breathing oxygen into Adam. In fact, God doesn't breathe. He created air. He is not dependent on it. This verse is simply letting us know that God reached on the inside of Himself where that life lives, and He transferred into Adam the life from within Himself, and Adam's spirit was born.
Now, when an unsaved person bows his knee--gives his life to the Lord--the same thing that happened in Adam when God breathed life into him is going to happen in the person's unregenerated spirit, and he is going to be born again. But this time, he will be born from above.
The third chapter of Luke traces the bloodline of Adam all the way down to Joseph, Mary's husband. But Joseph was no more the father of Jesus than our earthly father is the father of our born-again spirit--because what is born of the flesh is flesh, but what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit, being the first Man since Adam to be born from above--free of the sin nature--and the Firstborn of many brethren.
This is what Jesus says of our redemption in John 5:25,26:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead [those with an unregenerated spirit] shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live [be born again with the life of God].
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
The life that Jesus was born with is the same life you were born again with, but your spirit is as unique to you as is your natural body. You are not like any other person who has ever lived on this planet. If you performed DNA testing on every human being, you would not find two people who were identically the same, not even identical twins, because they still have variations in their DNA.
Since we are this unique in the natural, don't you think we remain unique individuals when we are born again? And now that we have been born from above in the image of God, we can fellowship with Him Spirit to spirit. More and more I'm beginning to realize that it's our individuality that God is after in our fellowship.
As believers, we tend to group ourselves as a corporate Body, thinking that God is sitting in Heaven looking at a large mass of people, not paying much attention to us individually. But we are wrong. God always is and was and will be, so how can we think He doesn't have time to fellowship with us personally?
Consider your own family for a moment, or a family that you know. How many kids do you have? Isn't each one different? Don't you make a point to spend individual time with each child? When you stop to think about it, you'll recognize that you get something different from each child and enjoy different aspects of their personalities. In other words, one child does not give you the same fellowship as the next, but one thing is for sure: Each one fills your life with something unique.
God has millions of children on the earth, but we can each rest assured that He desires to spend one-on-one time with us. He has always had family in the forefront of His mind, and when we were separated from Him, just as quick as He could, He brought us back.
The moment you surrendered your life to Jesus, you became a child of God, able to fellowship personally with your Heavenly Father. The time you spend with Him is just as important to Him as your individual fellowship with your children is to you.
So now your whole being can overflow with the love and joy that comes from a lifestyle of fellowship with God. Not just the kind of worship that you offer out of your adoration for Him, but a life of walking with Him as your Father and demonstrating His life within you to a world that is lost and heading for hell. God sought you out for this kind of fellowship, and you're giving it to Him every time you worship Him and trust Him as your Father.
This is what God desires from us--our personal fellowship with Him as our Father. We have been born of the Spirit, born from above, and He is our Father now.
This month I have included with my letter excerpts from the Present-Day Speaking of the Lord (prophecies) that have come forth over the last year and a half. These excerpts focus on times the Lord said "I am . . ." I believe His words to us will not only encourage you in your individual fellowship with Him but will also help you understand more and more how He sees you and the great love He has for you. I know you will be blessed!
No comments:
Post a Comment