Last update 12/30/1999

I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot be in God's kingdom

There was a man who was an important Jewish leader, who came to talk to another man, whom he addressed as Rabbi (which means teacher). He acknowledged that he was sent from God, because no one could do the miracles he did unless God was with him.

He replied to this with another statement: "I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot be in God's kingdom." The Jewish leader asked, " But if a person is already old, how can he be born again ? He cannot enter his mother's body again. So how can a person be born a second time?"

But the teacher answered, "I tell you the truth, unless one is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God's kingdom. Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit. Don't be surprised when I tell you, 'You must all be born again.' " "The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit."

The Jewish leader asked another question, "How can this happen?"

The teacher replied, "You are an important teacher in Israel, and you don't understand these things? I tell you the truth, we talk about what we know, and we tell about what we have seen, but you don't accept what we tell you. I have told you about things here on earth, and you do not believe me. So you will not believe me if I tell you about things of heaven. The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the One who came down from heaven - the Son of Man."

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert," the Son of Man must also be lifted up. So that everyone who believes can have eternal life in him."

The story above is recorded in the Gospel of John in the third chapter. The Rabbi; the teacher was Jesus. The Jewish leader was Nicodemus who came to talk to Jesus at night.

In this little story, we can find the secret to eternal life. John wrote his second epistle , "I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God so you will know you have eternal life." The first step in understanding the secret to eternal life is to believe in the Son of God, Jesus the Christ. The second think is to understand what you must do, and we see from this story we must be born again.

Now, to understand what it means to be born again, we must understand what Jesus was talking about when he made the statement, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also be lifted up." To do this, we need to go to the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, chapter twenty-one. The story went like this:

"The Israelites left Mount Hor and went on the road toward the Red Sea, in order to go around the country of Edom. But the people became impatient on the way and grumbled at God and Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread and no water, and we hate this terrible food!"

So the Lord sent them poisonous snakes; they bit the people, and many of the Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned when we grumbled at you and the Lord. Pray that the Lord will take away these snakes." So Moses prayed for the people.

The Lord said to Moses, "Make a bronze snake, and put it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, that person will live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Then when a snake bit anyone, that person looked at the bronze snake and lived."

The Lord was so gracious when he refereed to this story, because he knew Nicodemus knew the Old Testament. The secret to eternal life can be found in this story.

People were being bit by poisonous snakes and were dying. The Lord had Moses make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. I am sure, that there were many people who were bit by these snakes. Some believed God and looked upon the bronze snake and lived, and some didn't believe and died. This is even true today. Jesus was referring to the Son of Man being lifted up on the Cross. God loves His people and provided a way for them to live even though they sinned against Him. In like manner He did the same for us. John wrote in this same chapter, "God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life."

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