There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
John 3:1-3 (NKJV)
What does it mean to be born again and what does it do? Perhaps, those questions are best answered by observing the before and after lives of people who have been truly born again.
From Christianity in the Apostolic Age: “Practical Christianity is the manifestation of a new life (of one born again); a spiritual life (as distinct from intellectual and moral); a supernatural life (as distinct from natural); it is a life of holiness and peace; a life of union and communion with God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; it is eternal life, beginning with regeneration and culminating in the resurrection. It lays hold of the inmost center of man’s personality, emancipates him from the dominion of sin, and brings him into vital union with God in Christ; from this center it acts as a purifying, ennobling, and regulating force upon all the faculties of man—the emotions, the will, and the intellect—and transforms even the body into a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
How can this be, seeing we are mere flesh? It happens because God changes us. “The character of Christ from the manger to the cross is without spot or blemish; he is above reproach or suspicion, and acknowledged by friend and foe to be the purest as well as the wisest being that ever appeared on earth. He is the nearest approach which God can make to man, and which man can make to God. He is the head of the church and even though the Christian church may degenerate in the hands of sinful men, the doctrine and life of her Founder are a never-failing fountain of purification when there is true repentance. The perfect life of harmony with God and devotion to the welfare of the human race, is to pass from Christ to his followers. The “born again” life is an imitation of the life of Christ.”
When Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again it was beyond the man to comprehend even as it is to modern man. Nicodemus would later come to understand and would become a follower of Christ. If you don’t know Christ in the full pardon of your sins; just watch those who truly believe. Observe the change wrought in their lives after they are “born again.” Ask Christ to come into your life. He will change your heart and you will be blessed beyond your imagination. Amen and amen.
