Born Again and Belonging

A new baby being born is a significant event because a new person has come into the world.  This addition will have a huge impact on parents and family members for a lifetime.  The existence of one person has the power to make a difference in the lives of others long after their lives on earth are over.  Just yesterday I opened a book compiled of journals written in 1738 by John Wesley and I was positively affected by what I read.  Even when a child is conceived and sadly miscarried shortly thereafter, the parents will always remember what happened.

The teaching of Jesus to Nicodemus concerning the need of sinners to be born again to enter the kingdom of God is necessary and profound.  Being born again by faith in Jesus is a more incredible spiritual change as it is a physical change from a baby in utero to being a walking, talking adult.  Being born again is not gradual or progressive but in an instant going from being dead in sins to being raised to new life, made righteous by receiving the Gospel.  The Holy Spirit floods into our being, having been forgiven of all sin, deemed righteous by God's grace, and we are adopted into the family of God.  Our bodies retain the same flesh that is perishing, but our inward man is renewed daily by the presence of God within us.

Jesus addressed Jewish people in Jerusalem who were offended He claimed God was His Father, and they mocked Him as crazy and demon possessed.  Still, they wondered if Jesus actually believed He was the Messiah.  John 10:25-28 says, "Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. ²⁶ But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. ²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."  Jesus identified Himself previously as the Good Shepherd, and the refusal of His hearers to believe Him showed they were not His sheep.  Some would write-off these unregenerate people as doomed to destruction in hell, and indeed they were.  But they did not need to remain that way!  They also could be born again if they would humble themselves and believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God!

In the preceding passage Jesus said in John 10:16:  "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd."  Jesus is LORD of all and the Good Shepherd to Jew and Gentile alike.  Whosoever will receive Him is given the right to become a child of God according to His will (John 1:12-13).  There was hope by faith in Jesus even for those who rejected and crucified our LORD, for He died to atone for the sin of the world.  Every believer was once an unbeliever, and the end of the chapter illustrates well the power of Christ to change hearts and minds after He went beyond the Jordan in John 10:41-42:  "Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true." ⁴² And many believed in Him there."  People who took up stones to slay Jesus in Jerusalem later believed in Him beyond the Jordan.  These who previously were not His sheep were born again, accepted in the beloved and belonged in His fold (Eph. 1:6).  Praise God for the new birth provided by His grace!