01.05. Why do we need to be born again?
Why do we need to be born again? In being born again we enter into salvation. Through the process of salvation, GOD changes and transforms us so that we can be positioned to function in His Kingdom.
Salvation opens us to an eternal future in the Kingdom that transcends death. And, through salvation, we are enabled to function as citizens of the Kingdom of GOD.
Salvation is the spiritual process that comes into being in us, as GOD brings into being a new born spirit and a new born heart into our inward being.
We are born again when we believe in our heart that we are saved through Jesus Christ, when we receive His Testimony and acknowledge Him as our Lord and Savior. [Romans 10:9-10] In being born again, GOD begins to deal with the sin that destroys our soul. GOD deals with sin as we receive His Word and, as we respond to His Word. [Romans 3:21-26] The Bible declares that Jesus Christ took upon Himself the sins of the world – by sacrificing Himself, through His death on the cross, overcoming sin and death on behalf of all mankind – as evidenced by His resurrection from the dead. In John 3:16, it is written: < For GOD so loved the world that He gave His Son (by sacrifice through the cross) that whosoever should believe in Him (based on His Testimony) will have eternal life. >
Salvation is the result of all that Jesus Christ achieved by Testimony through His sacrifice – for man - on the cross. The meaning and reality of Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah more that 700 years before Jesus Christ’s coming into human history. The prophet Isaiah wrote [Isaiah 53:5-6; Isaiah 53:11]: “He was pierced through for our transgressions (deliberate sin), He was crushed for our iniquities (habitual sin); the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. …. By His knowledge (expressed in His faith and love for man before GOD) the Righteous One will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.”
GOD validates the meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – attesting to the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets - by raising Him from the dead.
And, transformed lives and fulfilled Scripture attest to the ongoing reality of salvation that comes – into being in us - in the Witness and Testimony of JESUS. In speaking about Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, 1000 years before His coming, King David wrote [Psalms 22:29]: “All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, even he who cannot keep his soul alive. Posterity will serve Him.”
Salvation gives expression to the faith and love of Jesus Christ for us - expressed and tested through the cross [1 Timothy 1:14(15) 1 Timothy 1:14]. Being sinless, being GOD in human form [John 1:14; Colossians 2:9], Jesus Christ willingly chose to pay the price of our sin – death. [Luke 23:34; Romans 5:6; Romans 5:8; Romans 6:23]
Jesus Christ willingly chose to subject Himself to actual physical death, confident that GOD would vindicate His sacrifice on behalf of man – in accordance with all that was written (and predicted) in the Law and the Prophets. By overcoming death Jesus would fulfill the Law and the Prophets. This is why salvation is based on everything that the Testimony of Jesus Christ will bring into being – in us - in our inward man of spirit, soul and heart. [2 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 4:6-7]
Through salvation, the realities of Jesus Christ’s faith and love – expressed in the actualities of His nature and character demonstrated through the cross - bring actual change into our inward being.
GOD has vindicated the reality of Jesus sacrifice – for man’s sin - on the cross, by raising Him from the dead. The Bible declares that Jesus Christ having risen from the dead was seen by more than 500 men and women [1 Corinthians 15:1-8]. The Bible also declares that the risen Christ was witnessed by many on several occasions. The Bible also attests to the fact that Jesus Christ taught and instructed His disciples several times after His resurrection. He also fellowshipped and ate with them on several occasions after His resurrection. All this happened over a 40 day period after His resurrection. His ascension into heaven was also witnessed by many [Acts 1:9-11]. Finally, Jesus Christ was witnessed to, by the willingness of His disciples to suffer and die, in upholding the Testament of His death and resurrection as the basis for man’s salvation.
Entry into every blessing and promise in salvation opens to us when we are born again.