Unless a man is born again

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

" – John 3.3, 7

Nicodemus was quite an interesting character. He was a religious leader. He was one of those who had heard Jesus’ teachings. Most of them were opposed to His teachings and tried to shut Him down.

But something about Jesus intrigued him. One night he came to Jesus and confronted Him. ‘We know that you are from God because no one can do these things unless is.’

Jesus did not waste time or words ‘Unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ After a few questions about what it meant to be born again Jesus said ‘Don’t be surprised when I tell you that you must be born again.’

‘Born again’ is a strange concept when we first hear it. Nicodemus asked the question anyone might ask ‘Can I go back into my mother’s womb and be born all over again?’

Jesus explained that two births are required to go to heaven. One is physical, the other is spiritual.

Our physical birth took place at a moment in time. It was an event marked down and recorded with a time and date.

Our spiritual birth also takes place at a moment in time. It is also a specific event of when we finally put our full trust in Christ.

The only difference is that with we have a physical birth cert we don’t normally get a spiritual birth cert so we may not always know the day or time when we were reborn, but it is an event.

I am lucky in that I know both of my birthdays. My first birth was on Tuesday, 5 July, 1955. My second birth was on Tuesday, 12 February, 1974. My first birth placed me in a physical family. My second birth put me in God’s family.

Here a ‘born again’ can often be a term of derision. However it is a name we ought to readily accept for unless a man is indeed born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.