Have you ever heard the phrase, “you must be born again”?
For many years, I heard from various unrelated individuals that “you must be born again” and blew off each person who dared to expound my understanding of spiritual necessities. I honestly had no clue what they were all talking about and they didn’t seem to be able to even explain themselves apart from the rhetoric. I was a run-a-way. I left the Lord after seeking as a young child and became a heathen who was no longer in tune with the Almighty. Like a good shepherd, He came after me; bombarding my conscience with the reminder, “you must be born again” from a host of people I encountered.
Then one day, the scriptures were opened to me at a time when I was willing to investigate the meaning behind the statement that perplexed me for years. It was during a life trial when the Lord opened my eyes through scripture to understand and fully grasp what is meant by “you must be born again.”
What did the King of kings say?
In John 3, the commandment of Yeshua (Jesus) finally came to light in my being. Whenever it is recorded that He made a must statement, it is received as a commandment. There is no maybe in a must statement. In John 3 verse 3:
“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.” (KJV)
“Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (CJB)
Except a man be born again is as a simple absolute, a must statement, and in this case, consider it means that except you are born again, the kingdom of God cannot be your eye’s destiny. When something is not your eye’s destiny, you obviously cannot ‘see’ it; thus, you are blind to it. If you are blind to something, how then can it be your focus? So what Yeshua is saying is simple. Unless you are born again, you will not focus on the kingdom of God because you are still blind and cannot see it. We cannot know what we do not know. If you are not born again, your blindness will prohibit you from even knowing that you are missing the kingdom of God.
Twice more, Yeshua makes a strong point in John 3:5-7: “Except a man be 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. Marvel not that I have said unto thee, ye must be born again.” (KJV)
As a noted point, the phrase “kingdom of God” is stated in the New Testament (NT) more than twice that of the phrase “kingdom of heaven.” The book of John exclusively uses the phrase whereas Matthew only uses “kingdom of God” 4 times and uses “kingdom of heaven” 32 times and no other book of the bible refers to the “kingdom of heaven”. Mark and Luke use the phrase “kingdom of God” where Matthew used the phrase “kingdom of heaven” in similar narratives. Yeshua used both phrases synonymously as recorded in Matthew 19:23 and 24. “…a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (KJV)
Thus, Star 7 accepts these phrases to be synonymous and representative of an eternal realm (a spiritual invisible dimension) that is ruled by a sovereign, holy Almighty God. So when Yeshua said you “cannot see the kingdom of God”, you “cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, “rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven”, and “a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” can all be accepted as Yeshua stating that there’s a heavenly, eternal consequence to not being born again. Why? Because we remain blind unless we are born again, thus, we will not enter heaven. Remember the song, Amazing Grace? Does the verse, “I once was blind, but now I see,” now take on a new depth of meaning?
Were you ever taught to pray an “Our Father” prayer?
The “Our Father” prayer begins the same in both Matthew and Luke: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done…” (KJV)
· Matt 6:10 continues: “in earth as in heaven.” (minus the italicized words added by translators)
· Luke 11:2 continues: “as in heaven, so in earth.”
The point is that our Father’s will and his kingdom of heaven, be the same on earth. Unless we are born again, our focus will be not be on God’s kingdom or God’s will. No, because we are blind, our focus will be only on our will here on earth. We won’t be heaven bound or heavenly minded no matter how many “Our Father” prayers we religiously recite because we are not ‘spiritually connected’. Our spirit is not born of His Spirit until we are born again.
John 3:5&6 states “Except a man be 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.” (KJV). Yeshua is speaking about having a spiritual connection. It took 30 years to understand that “born of water” and “born of the flesh is flesh’ means that when a baby is born, it naturally comes forth through the birth canal from the mother once her water breaks. A child is flesh, born of the mother’s flesh. The Strong’s number association for flesh in this verse is 4561; meaning the body (as opposed to the soul or spirit).
John provided us the two part requirement Yeshua taught regarding that we must be born again to see or enter God’s kingdom in heaven, which is intended to also be known on earth.
· Part 1 is being “born of water/flesh,” which occurs at the time a baby is naturally born into this world from the womb of the mother
· Part 2 is being “born of the Spirit is spirit,” which occurs when our spirit is born of HIS Spirit
When that concept becomes a lightbulb turning on in the deepest part of your consciousness; the inevitable question remains: “How?”
How can my spirit be born of His Spirit? It was the question that perplexed me deeply on April 25th, 1993 because I was still blind. I didn’t understand spiritual concepts. So I asked the elder of the church for which I was attending, “How do you know you are born again?” His answer left me more perplexed. He simply said, “You just know that you know that you know.”
He then answered the basic question of “how?” by sharing scriptures that the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:8-10. “…the word is nigh (near) thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (KJV)
Thus, I needed to speak out my heartfelt belief in the resurrection, that Father God raised His son, Yeshua from the dead. I want to stop for a moment and point out that Yeshua also said that we must repent of our sins. Some of the scriptures to support this are found in:
· Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (KJV)
· Mark 1:15 “…the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (KJV)
· Luke 13:3&5 “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (KJV)
It is not a matter of just stating a simple belief. We must mean what we say. We must believe what the disciples said Yeshua taught, that we must repent for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is available to us, if we will only repent and confess a sincere belief, we will be saved (delivered). Only through true repentance can we show ourselves sincere and believing what the disciples preached. Repentance involves desiring to turn away from wrong doing (you cannot clean yourself up without God) and seeking God for help to live a spiritually connected life. It includes deciding we want God’s way over our own desires; over our own way. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That, my friend, even for the kindest of person, means not putting our desires ahead of God which breaches the first commandment plain and simple; there shall be no other gods (our desires) before our God.
Admitting we made a lot of decisions without any regard for what God is a celebrated by God’s angels. In Luke 15:10, Yeshua says, “…there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” (KJV). His will must mean more to us than our will. His plan for our lives must be more important than our plan. His desire is only for our good and His will is perfect for our lives, so why would we want to aimlessly wander in selfishness and not have the abundance of life that He offers?
So it is a matter of repenting and then confessing our heartfelt belief. John 14:6, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (KVJ). Admit it. Seek God (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) by confessing out loud for the whole spiritual realm to witness, that Yeshua was raised from the dead by His/our Father God for the forgiveness of our sin. Then, Father God unites His Spirit with our spirit, and our spirit is born again of the Spirit of the living God. Our spirit is birth anew in the realm of the kingdom of God, we are saved, and then the kingdom of heaven is within us.