Category Prophecy

“Born Again” – and a Woman in Travail

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“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 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? 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. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.“

John 3:3-7

What does it mean to be “born again?” Is it talking about Israel only, or is there a sense in which we (who are not Israel) can be and need to be “born again” too? It, of course, depends on the context and to whom the writer is writing to. Here in John 3, the Apostle John is in fact writing to the nation of Israel, not Gentiles. John is reporting what Jesus says to Nicodemus; and the response that Jesus gives him is in connection with the earthly Kingdom program. Their need to be “born of water” is connected to John’s (John the Baptist) baptism for the remission of sins (Mk 1:4). Their need to be “born again” or this time to be “born of the Spirit” is in connection to the new covenant, where Christ will baptize them with the Spirit and put the law in their hearts (Ezek. 36; Mt 3:11).

This passage also says that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” While this passage is talking about Israel needing to be “born again,” the Apostle Paul in writing to the Gentiles also makes several statements about the difference between the flesh and the Spirit. For example, Galatians 4:29 says “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” While Paul doesn’t ever use the phrase “born again,” he does still speak about being born. Another thing is that Paul doesn’t speak of being “born of water,” but only of the flesh and Spirit. Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be followers of God as dear children. Ephesians 2:19 says that we are of the “household of God.” So, God sees us (His saints) as part of His family, his household. We are His children. We are born into the family of God. We are born after the Spirit. We do “walk after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1). The purpose of this is to show both the similarities and differences between what John and Paul wrote.

We can look at this in two different ways. First, we can look at it in a redemptive or spiritual way. Secondly, we can also look at it dispensationally (which we have already started to do in John 3). Lets look first at it redemptively.

Redemptively

Every person is of the race of Adam. We are all human beings. Romans 5:12 tells us that “as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Since the fall of man, every person (excluding Christ) born into this world is born as a sinner. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). And most of the world are Gentiles, which means we were never God’s chosen people. Gentiles, or the uncircumcision, were without God and Christ, and were strangers of the covenants of promise (Eph. 2:11-12). Even though God didn’t make a covenant with us we still are guilty of breaking His law (Rom. 1:14; 3:19-20). Therefore, we have need to be saved or “born again.” Not into Adam again, but this time into Christ. “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Rom. 5:15). When we are in Christ, we are dead to sin, but alive unto God (Rom. 6:11). We now are “chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). We are saved or “born again” as a new creature or as one new man, not as Israel (not as a nation). Christ made in Himself one new man (the Body of Christ) (Eph. 2:15). After we believe, we are joined to Christ, to His own body. Everyone does need to get out of Adam and into Christ.

Dispensationally

But what about dispensationally? Dispensationally, it is true that only Israel will be born again. While Jews are of the human race or the race of Adam, they are also of the race of Abraham. God called out one man from among the nations to form a new nation to be a light unto the world. They have sinned against God too, but they at least were God’s people. Exodus 4:22 says “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn.” They had been born as a nation before when God brought them out of the land of Egypt. He called them His firstborn. God made a covenant with them. Israel had the “oracles of God” and the “covenants of promise” (Rom. 3:2; 9:4). They were God’s people, but they broke His covenant. God considers them even to this day “Lo-ammi,” which means “not God’s people.” God has concluded them in unbelief (Rom. 11:32). Therefore, they need to be “born again.” They need to be “born again,” as a nation, but this time under a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). One that they won’t have to worry about breaking, because they will have the Spirit in them to cause them to walk after His statutes and commandments. And God will be their God and they will be His people once again. But, first they have to go through the Tribulation. They have to go through that day of wrath, just as travail comes upon a woman in labor. Then, in the end a nation will be born in a day, or at once (Isa. 66:8).

“…pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth…Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger.“

Isaiah 13:8-9

According to prophecy, the nation of Israel has to still “accept of the punishment of their iniquity” (Lev. 26:41). They have to go through the Tribulation. That time is described for us in scripture as a woman in travail (woman in labor). In verse nine of Isaiah 13, it is called the day of the LORD. Jeremiah 6:2, Israel is likened to a delicate woman. Then the rest of the chapter is about God preparing Israel for war. Jeremiah 30:6-7 describes the time as the time of Jacob’s trouble. At the end of the tribulation period their sorrow will be turned to joy (John 16:20-21). In a day will a nation be born. All Israel will be saved and “born again.” They will be God’s people once again.

The good news for us is that we are not appointed unto wrath (1 Thess. 5:9). The last reference of the woman in travail is 1 Thessalonians 5:3. It says that it will come upon those that say “Peace and safety!” But, we are children of the light, not of darkness. We are “chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). In other words, because we believed the truth of the gospel we were then sanctified (set apart) of the Spirit; and therefore, we are chosen to salvation. When we believe today, we become crucified and buried with Him. And since He rose again the third day, we also are raised with Him and seated with Him at the right hand of God. We obtain our salvation the moment we believe. Israel, on the other hand, will be saved at the end of the Tribulation.

In summary, the phrase “born again” can be used of Israel and the Body of Christ. However, there is a difference. Dispensationally, only Israel will be “born again,” according to prophecy. They were God’s chosen nation before, and they will be His people once again. Redemptively (or spiritually), those who believe that Christ died on the cross their sins, was buried, and rose again the third day will be “born again” into Christ. Ultimately, it is Christ who is God’s firstborn. Colossians calls Him the “the firstborn of every creature…the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:15,18). He is also the “firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). We are crucified, buried, and risen with Christ Jesus our Lord. We are joined to His Body. We are the firstborn today, because He is.

If you haven’t believed yet, do so now! Believe that Jesus Christ our Lord died for your sins, was buried, and has risen again the third day for your justification. Believe and you will be saved.

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.“

1 Cor. 15:3-4

Prophecy Overview

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Prophecy can be broken down into two main components. That is, the Old Covenant (or Testament) and the New Covenant (or Testament). The old starting at Exodus 19 with the giving of the law; and, the new starting with the death of Christ. It can also be divided between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. Yet another way is to divide it between the “acceptable year of the Lord” and the “day of vengeance of our God.” But, that’s not all! I’ll give you one more way. There is the teachings of Moses and the teachings of Christ.

“For the law was given by Moses,…“

John 1:17a

The old covenant is also called the law of Moses (or Mosaic Covenant). In Exodus 19, God gives to Moses the law to give to the people of Israel. He says in Exodus 19:5-6, “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” Then, in verse 8 the people said they would do all that the LORD had spoken. God entered into a covenant relationship with Israel, and it was a conditional one. If Israel would obey His commandments, then they would be blessed. If they did not, then they would be cursed. As we go through the Scriptures, we see that they broke that covenant over and over again. This is why we go on to read of the captivities of Israel and the coming day of wrath (time of Jacob’s trouble, the Tribulation).

Leviticus 26 goes on to describe what is known as the 5 courses of chastisement. God would chastise His people, because they broke His covenant. Leviticus 26:15-16a says, “And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror…” But, God did provide for Israel a way for them to have fellowship with Him again, where He would then remember His covenant that He made with their fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). In the same chapter (Lev. 26), it says in verse 40-42, “If they (Israel) shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers,…if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob…and I will remember the land.” The old covenant had to do with the promise of “remembering the land” that God promised to Abraham. Compare that to 2 Chronicles 7:14 (still speaking to and about Israel). “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The solution under the old covenant was for them to repent by confessing that they broke the covenant and turn back to God away from their wicked ways. Fast forward now to the time when John the Baptist arrives on the scene. What did He preach? Mark 1:4 says, “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Matthew 3:6 says of them that were baptized of John that they came “confessing their sins.” But, did this (repenting and being baptized, or even the animal sacrifices) ultimately solve their sin problem? It did not. Throughout Israel’s history, we learn that when they sinned again, God would pluck them out of their land again (2 Chron. 7:20). They then would also need to repent again, confess their sins again, cleanse (baptize) themselves again, and bring another sacrifice again. It was a never ending cycle of repenting and confessing of their sins every year. Nevertheless, this is what the Law commanded them to do every time they walked contrary to God. They could never be justified by the law of Moses. We today can’t be justified by the law of Moses either (Acts 13:38-39). So, then how could they be justified? How could they have their sins remembered no more? That’s where the New Covenant comes in (How? by Jesus Christ. When? historically when Christ comes back).

“but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.“

John 1:17b

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.“

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The book of Hebrews says of the new covenant that it is a better covenant. “But now hath he [Christ] obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Heb. 8:6). God said “I will remember their sin no more” (also Heb. 8:12). In chapter 10 of Hebrews and verse 3, it says “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.” Under the first covenant or the old covenant, they had to perform sacrifices every year and it was a remembrance of their sins. But, God promised to make a new covenant with them to remember their sin no more. Christ Jesus our Lord was sent from the Father in Heaven to manifest Himself (the Life, 1 John 1:1-2;John 1:1-9) to Israel in order to establish that new covenant with them. It is His blood that was shed for their sins, as well as the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). In the Gospel of John, Christ says “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:33-34). Christ had a new commandment to teach Israel. God had Moses deliver to the nation the first covenant. Then, He sent His own Son (who was with God and came down from Heaven) to teach them the second covenant or the new covenant. What did the Jews have to do to receive eternal life? Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (John 3:16-17, 36; 1 John 5:10-11). But, most of them did not believe as represented by the religious leaders of that day. Christ said to the scribes and the Pharisees, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:46-47) In John 9:28-29, the leaders thought they were Moses’ disciples (they weren’t), but they admit that they knew not the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn’t know who He was, who sent Him, or why He came. Even though Christ had told them multiple times who He was and who sent Him (John 8:16, 28-29). What God gave to Moses (the law) was simply a shadow, a pattern, and a figure of heavenly things (Heb. 8:5; 9:9-10,19-24; 10:1). But God gave to His Son to give to them “the real deal.” “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with [human] hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24).

Christ appearing in the presence of God for them as their Advocate (1 John 2:1) would help them endure to the end of the Tribulation. In 1 John 1:9, they were to confess their sins and cleanse themselves from all unrighteousness. That’s in connection with the old covenant. But, then they had to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. 1 John 1:10, says “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” Compare that to 1 John 5:10, where it says “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” If they believed, they would be anointed with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost would comfort them as they go through that time of trouble, because they will know the Lord. And they will be able to tell who is not of God as well. If they will endure to the end, they shall have eternal life. God will grant them the right to eat of the tree of life (Rev. 2:7).

In conclusion, God made the first covenant with Israel and told them to keep His commandments, if they wanted to stay in the land that God promised to them. But, they sinned over and over again. As the Apostle Paul writes concerning the law, “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death” (Rom. 7:10). Also, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). The law was given to show that we (both Jews and Gentiles) are all sinners. Under that first covenant, they were told to repent and be baptized. They had to partake of John’s baptism. Once they did that, then they were to believe the words that Christ came to teach them concerning the new covenant. And it is through that new covenant, or more specifically the blood of the new covenant (Christ’s blood), that they could achieve eternal life. They just had to believe that Jesus Christ is the Christ, the Son of God, that was promised to come to them to give them life. But, before Christ will come back to the earth, Israel will have to go through the Tribulation. They have to “accept the punishment of their iniquity.” But, before that day of wrath comes, God instead ushered in a day of salvation, which is the current Dispensation of Grace that we live in.

Preview for next week: the Day of Salvation

For today, under the Dispensation of Grace, while the first and second covenant was made directly with Israel, and not us Gentiles, we do still partake of the new covenant. We partake of it, not by promise, but by God’s grace. Instead of God continuing on with Israel right into the day of wrath or day of the Lord, God ushered in a day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:1-2) instead (God will still pick up where He left off with Israel in the future. They will enter that future Tribulation and be saved. But right now, God has set them aside as a nation temporarily). “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon all” (Rom. 11:32). When Paul was preaching to the Jews and Gentiles in Acts 13, the Jews judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life. The Gentiles, on the other hand, wanted to hear more. Therefore, Paul turned to the Gentiles. When we believe that Jesus Christ our Lord died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, then are we justified from all things. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). We don’t become a part of Israel, instead we become a member of Christ’s own body (the Body of Christ). And there is no “enduring to the end” for us. For we have already received eternal life in full and are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14). For we are already complete in Christ. “We are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37).