The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3.8God does it, so it stays done
New birth, or being ‘born again’, is one of the terms used to describe what God does to put a new life in you that cannot be snuffed out by death. The life from new birth is imperishable. 1 Peter 1.3,4 He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you. He (God) causes us to be born again and it results in an indestructible life.
New birth rescues us from death
People try to put a positive spin on the approach of death – calling it ‘part of the circle of life’ or ‘going to heaven’ or ‘resting in peace’ or ‘going to a better place’ – but God’s Word is clear about this: death is judgement. Death is God’s decision about the self-centred rebellion and unrighteousness of people. When death comes to a person, God has come to take away that life. Death is not some impersonal, accidental consequence. Death is God rejecting and closing down a source of pollution. Remember, during the original Gulf War in 1991, the Iraqi army deliberately set fire to Kuwaiti oil wells when they retreated from the Americans. These flaming oil wells poured black pollution into the atmosphere and left lakes of sticky oil. Each of these fires had to be put out to bring an end to the pollution. Each life burns in the world for a time – and God graciously and patiently provides opportunities to return to him – but soon each fire is put out.
But for those with spiritual life, the death of the body is just the shedding of the last vestiges of our old life – it is the entry into the exhilaration of eternal life.
The cicada does not mourn the loss of its outer skeleton! As it emerges from living in the soil it climbs up the tree and it moults because it has grown out of its exoskeleton. It splits open the back of its brown and brittle old body, wiggles out, and abandons the outer shape, empty and still clinging to the tree. It continues to climb to the treetops to begin its lively and loud new life.
“God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12). The new life we need is “in the Son”—Jesus is that life. If you have him, you have new spiritual, eternal life. Death cannot touch you. Death’s sting has been removed. You won’t see death or taste its bitterness.
God’s word instils life where there wasn’t any
Faith comes to us with new birth. Faith comes from God and it comes to our attention through hearing. And the capacity to hear comes through the word of Christ. Christ’s word (his teaching – the Bible – the gospel) breaks through our deafness. When calls to us, ‘Live!’ - the authority and confidence of his word creates faith to respond to him. This was never more clearly shown than when Jesus brought the dead man Lazarus back to life. He’d been dead four days and was already wrapped in cloths and laid in a cave tomb. But when Jesus called to that dead man, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ – the command of Christ galvanised life into Lazarus’s dead body. He heard a voice so insistent he couldn’t help but get up and stumble out into the sunlight. We cannot bring ourselves into new birth – just as Lazarus was powerless to raise himself. But we can respond to the life-giving call that comes to us through the Word of God. Jesus creates what he commands! Lazarus wasn’t lying there thinking “I really must get up and get back into life!” He was dead! But Jesus by speaking, creates what he commands. And he commanded life to Lazarus.
New birth is not a deal we negotiate with God (John 3)
Nicodemus came to negotiate with Jesus. But no one can negotiate with Jesus (or the Father, or the Spirit) about their life. God is not interested in ideas you might have about what you could do for him or about what you would like him to do to support your goals. You do not initiate new birth. This upsets a lot of people. They want to feel in charge, independent and the final decision-makers about their lives (and of course this was the first sin, committed by Eve and Adam). This is why people want to believe that it is up to them whether they ‘let Jesus in’ to their lives and when they might do it. Nicodemus came to negotiate with Jesus, but Jesus makes it very plain to him that there is nothing to negotiate.
Nicodemus had a status, reputation and some religious authority and so he approached Jesus as if to find a way to include Jesus within this system – because he could see that Jesus would be a good man to have on his team. Yu cannot include Jesus in your set-up. You don’t invite Jesus into your life – as if you were the one taking the initiative and doing him a favour by making room in your life for him.
Jesus’ first answer to Nicodemus was to tell him point blank that he will not be having a discussion on Nicodemus’s terms because he is blind to who Jesus is and to the nature of his mission. He told him: ‘Nicodemus, unless a person is born again, he can’t even SEE the
When Jesus spoke of a kingdom, he was referring to an authority that rules over everything. God is the supreme ruler of everything. His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom and spiritual trumps material every time. Everything that happens in the material world has first been decided in the spiritual world, where God is. And just as an earthly kingdom bears the stamp of the king’s nature and priorities, so it is with God’s kingdom. Hitler’s evil empire was stamped with his prejudices and all the images, architecture, strategies and speeches reflected his goals. So, it is with God’s kingdom. Everything reflects his glorious goodness, justice and wisdom.
Nicodemus had to understand that he had come to discuss things with Jesus that he knew nothing about. He was spiritually blind and couldn’t recognise the kingdom of God if it jumped up and bit him. He was a man of flesh and spiritual things were outside his experience.
Nicodemus seems a bit hurt by Jesus’ reply. He answers Jesus defensively, ridiculing his use of the term ‘born again’. How can a grown man climb back into the womb? Nicodemus wanted the conversation to come back to more pragmatic things. But Jesus insists that without new birth no person (not even a religious man like Nicodemus) can enter the
Jesus elaborated on what he meant by new birth, describing it as being ‘born of water and the Spirit’. ‘Born of water’ refers to the breaking of waters at birth, where the baby moves from a watery environment in his mother’s womb to a new life outside in the world of air. Being born of water and the Spirit, refers to the fact that another birth is needed before a person can enter God’s kingdom. At birth, we left one world behind, never to return to the world of amniotic fluid in our mother’s womb. There is no going back. But we must also be born into God’s kingdom and this is a spiritual birth from which there is also no going back.
What was born of the flesh (your parents) turns out to be flesh (you). To be born again is to be born of the Spirit and brings about God’s life in you. Without the second birth, you remain spiritually dead and excluded from God’s kingdom – and therefore eternal life.
Jesus appeals to Nicodemus not to be put off by his command that he must be born again (v7). He knew that while Nicodemus still had earth-centred thinking, he would marvel at the idea of spiritual rebirth and his scepticism would be an obstacle to him. He tells Nicodemus that the Spirit is like a wind blowing around and that although (like the wind) you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is heading to, you can hear him. He was telling Nicodemus to hear what the Spirit was bringing to him. The Spirit (like the wind) is not containable, controllable or predicable. This was hard for Nicodemus, because he was evidently a man who liked to feel that he had everything ordered, controlled and predictable. Jesus was telling him that the new birth that he so desperately needed would not come on his terms, but that he must be willing to respond as soon as the Spirit blew on him.
Has the Spirit blown on you? The Spirit has blown on you to bring new birth if you are receiving the teaching of Jesus Christ. If you are welcoming Jesus’ promise to free you from the futile life handed down to you by tradition, culture and your forebears, then you are spiritually alive. If your response is a strong ‘Yes’ to all that Jesus stands for and you would rather lose everything than miss out on him – then the Spirit is blowing on you.
