Consider this true statement – Born once, you die twice; Born twice, you die once. The Book of Revelation, speaking of the person who is born again says, “Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power,…” (Revelation 20:6). Wouldn’t you rather have the 2 birth?
To understand this truth, one needs to know the premises which show why a 2nd birth is needed-
- The soul of man is eternal, meaning, there is life after death. If so, what future awaits us in the next life? (John 11:25-26)
- There is a resurrection of the dead and a judgment that will follow. Will the judgment on us be favorable? (Daniel 12:2)
- In the judgment, the dead will be judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. (Revelation 20:12) With the works we have done, where will we end up, in heaven or in hell? (Daniel 12:2)
Understanding this truth will help us avoid getting the horrible verdict of spending eternity in hell?
Truth, previously not commonly known, revealed
The Lord Jesus said this to Nicodemus in John 3:3, “Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” To him and to many, this is a new doctrine. So, it is important to carefully study the discussion the Lord had with Nicodemus in John 3:1-17. Notice how emphatic and to the point is the Lord’s statement. He made clear that new birth, spiritual birth is a mandatory, indispensable requirement to gain entrance to his kingdom.
What does this new birth mean?
To answer this question, we have to first understand what disqualifies men from heaven and why failure to meet God’s requirements, will cause one to end up in hell. What disqualifies man from heaven is SIN. Sin and a Holy God cannot dwell together. Heaven is the dwelling place of God, it is His home. By His grace, He allowed men the undeserved access to live with Him. Consider this. Any landlord has a standard that he requires from his renter. Since heaven belongs to Him and it is His space, it is natural that He can define the requirements for His guests.
The bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). If that is the case, then, as sinners, we are all bound for hell unless we break away from the downward spiral and avail ourselves of this gift from God which the bible refers to as “salvation”.
How sin is atoned for
It is a common belief that if your good deeds exceed your evil deeds, you can go to heaven. Many religions teach that. Sadly, it is not true. As stated earlier, the Creator of heaven (and earth), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has the say as to who He will welcome in heaven. We said earlier that sin disqualifies a man from entering heaven, so sin needs to be taken care of if we are to see heaven. The Lord Himself prescribed the way by which sin is atoned for. Consider this timeless principle on how sin can be atoned for. It is written in Hebrews 9:22, “without shedding of blood there is no remission (of sin)”.
Atoning for sin in the Old Covenant
Sin is a serious business for the Lord. It is not a light thing like how our culture portrays it. In the Old Testament, the Lord taught His people, the Jews, how to get their sins covered. It required the shedding of the blood of an acceptable animal as an offering for sin. To illustrate, the word scapegoat is a saying we use in our modern times. It refers to a person who is blamed for the wrongdoing of another. It originated in the sacrificial system that the Lord established to address sin. You can read about it in Leviticus 16. In summary, to atone for the sin of the people, a scapegoat is needed so the punishment for the guilty is passed on to another, in this case, the scapegoat. To atone for the sins of the people, the blood of bulls, sheep or goats (not any animal but specific acceptable animals) needed to be offered.
If you ever killed an animal by shedding its blood, you know it is gruesome and most people would be horrified to do it. But, since it is the only way prescribed by God to atone for sin, it was and is done for thousands of years. Because of this, the Jews at the time understand that sin is not a light thing. It is a serious matter.
The new birth is a spiritual transformation
The Lord explained to Nicodemus, that “what is born of the flesh, is flesh”; (This is the birth that we all experience, by water. We know that the baby in the womb is immersed in amniotic fluid which is basically water and which goes out ahead of the baby at birth.) And, “what is born of Spirit is spirit”. (This means the spiritual birth can happen only by the work of the Holy Spirit, not by the will of man, but by the will of God.) Upon being born again, God forgives one’s sin and imparts eternal life to the person who believes by faith. From then on, that person is reckoned by God to be His child and the Holy Spirit begins to indwell him.
The New Birth happens through faith
If the flesh is flesh and spirit is spirit, how can anyone transcend or cross over from flesh into the spirit? The answer is “by faith”. Faith is the bridge that connects these two realms. Let us see the role that faith plays in the example that the Lord cited below:
The Lord told Nicodemus, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15) The account quoted by the Lord here is when the Israelites were in the wilderness traveling from Egypt to the promised land. They complained and murmured before Moses about having no food, no water, and that their souls loathe the manna that God has provided them. So, the LORD sent fiery serpents into their camp to bite them and many died. In fear, they asked Moses to pray to God for deliverance. The LORD then told Moses to make a bronze serpent, set it on a pole and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it, shall live. So, they survived the serpents.
The parallel cannot be more obvious. To be saved from the poisonous bite of the serpents, all that was required was to gaze (look) at the bronze serpent and be saved. Please note that to gaze at the bronze serpent, you have to first believe (that looking will save you) and obey the instructions to look. Consider this obvious statement – if you do not believe, you will not look. If you do not look, you die from the snake bite. The working of faith and obedience is all that is required.
Nicodemus must have had difficulty understanding what the Lord meant by “the Son of Man (Himself) be lifted up”. However, we do not have that difficulty because we know He was speaking about Him being lifted up (elevated) from the ground to the cross in death. Fast forward to our day, there is no physical cross to look at but the same principles apply. What is required is – Faith, believing that His death and resurrection paid for our sins, and obedience to “follow Him”, living a life consistent with that faith.
Conclusion
The manner in which Abraham was justified (declared righteous) confirms our point. Romans 4:3 says “Abraham believed God and it (his believing) was accounted to him for righteousness.” Abraham was an idol worshipper, a liar, and a doubter. But God did not hold him accountable for his sins but declared him righteous on account of his faith. The new birth, which is tantamount to salvation is received as a gift by faith, not from doing good works or animal sacrifice or penance or prayers but by believing in God.
How Sin atoned for in the New Testament
Under the New Covenant, in the fullness of time, the perfect sacrifice came into the world to fulfill the role of being the final sacrifice for sin. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. By shedding His own blood, the Lord Jesus, Himself paid for our sin. He is the end of the animal sacrifice. All that is needed for a repentant sinner to be born again and see heaven is to believe, by faith, that the Lord’s death paid for his (sinner’s) own sin and live his life consistent with that belief. Notice that believing is not a one-time assent but continuing faith. Then, God, who sees the heart, will grant to him the new birth.
