Why do we need to be born again? (2018-01-18)

Nicodemus, as a ruler of the Jews and a man of the Pharisees, thought he lived a righteous life. He was an upstanding person likely much respected by the people around him. Whether he has a secret life contrary to his public image, the Bible does not say. But Jesus told him what he needed was to be born again. He needed to be born of God. “That wish is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6). That which is born of a man is human, and that which is born of God is divine. It is a difference in natures, transferring us from our human nature to God’s divine nature. After Adam’s fall, we had no participation in the divine life. But the Son of Man descended from heaven (John 3:13), dying for us, dealing with our sins, restoring us so we can receive the divine life again. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14). Moses lifted a brass serpent on a cross and whoever looked at it was saved from the bite of venomous snakes. The divine God came to us in the form of a sinful man but without sin, as foreshadowed by Moses, in the form of a brass serpent but without its poison. He died for us on the cross, for our sins that had separated God and man, and resurrected and ascended to heaven, being lifted up, so whoever believes in him, or looks to the brass serpent, will have eternal life. This eternal life is God’s life, the divine life which lives eternally, not our human lives. When we have the divine life in us, that life will manifest the divine nature through us. So no matter how righteous we are, as a man, we are bound to slip. In fact, most of us cannot follow our own conscience. That is why we need God’s divine life. That is why we need to be born again. That is why we are the sons of God. This is the gift that God has given us.