God
appointed, ordained, decreed, ordered, commanded,
any
way you wish to state it,
that
ALL of his sons should be born in the flesh
and
die and return to Him again as spirit beings before the Millennium
and
before He conducts the final judgment.
Reminder from previous studies: After He created His sons (you and me) as spirit beings, God then created the heaven and earth of Gen. 1:1, to be inhabited by (us) His sons Isa. 45:18.Then at the rebellion of Lucifer, He destroyed that prehistoric earth age and brought (us) His sons back to their "first habitation" where they were before God created the earth for us. We read that certain of those sons (our brethren) of God left that first habitation after God created Adam and Eve and they came here without being BORN of water! That is a NO NO! Therefore, they WILL NOT not see the kingdom of God. That is what Jesus is talking about here.
Nicodemus is struggling with the concept of these two births, because he can only see two FLESH births in his mind's eye.
John 3:4
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?[5] 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.
John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
A son of God, a man, must come down "anothen", from above, and be born of woman, from the bag of water, AND later be born (back) into spirit, else he cannot enter into the kingdom.
By now the pupils of Nicodemus' eyes are fully dilated and he must have a look of incredulity on his face.
Jesus notices his look of wonderment and says:
Let's read it correctly as Dr. Moffat has it:[7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
This next verse is a detailed explanation of one who has ALREADY been born of water, i.e. of the flesh, and is NOW born of the spirit.[7] Do not wonder at me telling you, 'You must be born from above'. (Moffat)
John 3:8
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.
They are just like the wind.
You cannot SEE THEM WHEN THEY COME nor can you SEE THEM WHEN THEY GO.
So the analogy of the invisible wind is that you cannot SEE a man who comes down from above and is placed in the bag of water and you cannot SEE the man when he departs from the flesh, i.e. is born into spirit, and ascends back into heaven (vs. 13).
[9] Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
So what else is new.
There are many who claim to be teachers of His Word today and they don't understand either.
I can just about hear you say, "Oh,
but you don't understand.
Nicodemus was a teacher of the
Old Testament and we are talking about being begotten by the Holy Spirit."
WRONG!
Jesus told Nicodemus he should have known exactly what He was talking about, because it is recorded in the Old Testament!
[10] Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
We covered it in our previous study.
Nicodemus should have known what happens at the separation of the water (flesh) and the spirit.
Here it is again:
Eccles. 12:6
Or ever the silver cord be loosed...
Since it is figurative I like to read it as "when that itty bitty silver cord which our tender loving Father uses to tie the soul of one of His sons into an embryo is cut loose"...
[7] Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
You can't see it happening, but it does!
Again, Nicodemus was a teacher of the Book of Ecclesiastes and Jesus said he should have known this!
John 3:11
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
Question: If Jesus was talking about "begetting" instead of "birth" do you not think He would have used more visible and understandable example such as "SEED" to illustrate it?
[12] If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
The next verse gives a summary of what Jesus has been talking about, the process of coming down from heaven and being born of woman and then dying, which is when your spirit, YOU, return to God who sent you, as we read even in the Old Testament.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).
[13] And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Editors note: This verse is telling us that we were spirit beings, just as Christ was a spirit being, in the beginning before coming to earth in human form. I didn't say we were Gods, as HE is God, but we were spirit beings since before the age of dinosaurs.
All He is saying is that NO ONE has ASCENDED (back) to heaven except those of us who have DESCENDED from heaven (from above and have been born of water and then spirit).
The sons of God (our brethren) in Gen. 6 who came here and did not go through this process are now in jail and will NOT enter into the kingdom.
He goes on to explain in the last part of verse 13 that EVEN JESUS CHRIST came down from heaven and WAS BORN OF WATER, of flesh.
He will go on in this chapter to explain WHY He came to this earth and WENT THROUGH THE SAME PROCESS that everyone else must go through!
It is because God loves His children, ALL OF THEM!
NOW we get to the salvation message!
The reason is stated in John 3:16; so that we might believe in Him and live eternally and escape the same "death sentence" Satan received at his judgment, which is to PERISH in the lake of fire.
That is the second and final death (Rev. 21:8).
Remember we read in 2 Peter 3:9 that it is God's will that no one should perish, but that all should come to repentance?
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Remember we read that in Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
They must come down from above and be born of water and then through death, be born back into their spiritual bodies and return to Him.
In His love for His children, God Himself also went through the same process.
He didn't ask us to do anything He wasn't willing to do also.
So Jesus came down from heaven and experienced DEATH!
He died too!
Hebrews 2:9
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.[10] For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits;
to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, you accomplish both.
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