Someone expressed this thought: "He who is born twice will die only once or will not see death at all." God arranged the Universe according to the type of a large family, where all His intelligent creation at birth falls into a society of beings like themselves. All heavenly beings were created by the Lord for Eternal life, and God's plans did not include dividing the heavenly family into two warring camps.
But God foresaw such a situation, and He had a special plan for saving those who would choose the Creator and want to be with Him always, accepting into their heart the fullness of truth. This plan is called "birth from above for Eternal life."
Any intelligent creation of God was born into this world to live, whether angels, heavenly beings or people. But due to the appearance of sin in the Universe all this creation faced a choice that offered two paths. The first path is birth from above and receiving the right to Eternal life. The second path is life in sin and receiving the right to eternal death. Every intelligent being was given freedom of choice of one of these paths and respect for the decision that was made. In each case the Lord sows His seed of truth in the form of light and abundance of God's grace and love, so that it would exist, sprout and give a chance to each being to make a choice between one path or another. If this seed is rejected by free will, then the soul can no longer experience birth from above, and it is doomed to certain destruction, although for some time it can still live and perform some deeds. In case of accepting God the seed of the Holy Spirit begins to develop in the heart and prepares it for birth from above to receive the right to Eternal Life. Then the person becomes a son or daughter of God. This Plan of Salvation was offered to the entire Universe when sin originated in it, and was subsequently transferred to the fallen Earth, where people created by the Creator fell and lost the status of holy beings.
We don't know how God's plan was implemented in the life of angels. One can only guess about this, but we know that the Lord yesterday, today and forever is the same, and His law is constant and relevant at all times, and the Sacrifice offered at Golgotha was perhaps paid not only for fallen humanity, but extends much further than we imagine.
Birth from above or, as Jesus calls it in John 3:5, birth from water and Spirit is a spiritual event in which human will and Divinity participate. Man without God will not be able to accomplish this process, and the Holy Spirit without man will not do this. Here harmony and agreement are needed.
In Luke 8:11 we read: "The seed is the word of God," in another place the Lord teaches: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom..." Matt 13:37-38. Further we read in Rom 9:8: "That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed."
Birth from above is a process in which God's Word, having entered the heart of the listener or reader, begins to sprout and take root, changing consciousness in accordance with God's will and God's plan. The will agrees that God's Word is pure and beneficial for the soul, and begins to adjust to God's requirements, establishing itself on this foundation. And then it becomes so firmly rooted in truth that it no longer wants and cannot live otherwise. When it is asked whether it agrees to live for God, follow Jesus, be obedient to His Spirit, then it no longer conceives another path for itself. It is born for life in the presence of Divinity. And water baptism registers this birth from above, which can occur either before it or after.
At the creation of the earth God put into water the power to produce a living soul. Gen.1:20. And during water baptism a special mystery of the manifestation of God's power in the birth of a new person occurs.
Without God's sown seed and its establishment in man's heart, baptism with water becomes ordinary washing, which changes nothing in life, although in some cases it can serve as motivation for deeper study and acceptance of truth.
People not born from above are God's creations, whom the Lord cares for, whom He loves and desires to save. But they are not His children, and therefore the world has full right to their life, and the enemy of the soul can work his arbitrariness over them as he is permitted. But Jesus came to save this world, and He tirelessly works, sowing the seed of truth through His messengers.
A person born from above, although he receives power for independent development, still needs a family of his own kind, in which he can develop comprehensively and grow spiritually. For this the Lord created the church.
God doesn't abandon His children after their birth from above, but receives full right to their upbringing, instruction and guidance through life, paying no attention to the claims of the enemy of the soul, who seeks opportunities to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
The enemy of the soul knows that if God's person gets into bad company, his good morals will be corrupted, so he tries to bring unconverted people into God's church, convincing them that their salvation depends on belonging to this organization. But this doesn't save.
The Lord gave the definition that the visible indicator of the life of a person born from above is the presence of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which manifests itself not in its individual properties, but in all fullness, and love is the greatest of them, which gives taste and meaning to everything. Love is the blood in the body of a person born from above, which carries to every corner of his soul those nutritious truths that it dissolves in itself, in order to then enrich the entire nature of man with them.
As food, having entered the baby's womb, nourishes his entire body, giving him strength to grow and get stronger, so love contributes to faster growth and development of the spiritual person.
How to distinguish a living person from a dead one? In a living one there is breath, he wants to eat, and he is physically active. Prayer spirit, thirst for knowledge of truth, walking in it and missionary activity are simple determiners that this person is born for God and that he is alive.
Wise upbringing, proper nutrition and active missionary activity form from a newly converted baby an adult Christian who can already be a teacher and educator of other children himself. Therefore the Lord not only teaches us good things, but also desires to use us as those through whom He will sow His seed and teach those born from above. In His family no one will remain without work.
Can you imagine what Heaven experiences, observing how instead of showing love for each other God's children begin to bite, envy, be haughty and beat those who are not like them? What should God do when instead of good seed His children sow tares and teach to live according to the flesh? What to do with those in whom love grows cold because of the multiplication of lawlessness? But God has a way out of this condition too. In Rev. 3:18 He gives advice to those who desire not only somehow to be saved, but also to be victorious in the last events of history. This way out is offered not to those dead in sins, but to the living, those who are born twice. But only those who have spiritual ears can hear this message, to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Gal.3:29; Heb.2:16; 2Cor.9:10-11; Job.14:4; John.3:3-8; 8:33-35,38,44; 1John.2:1; 3:7-11; Rom.8:14-17 in light of this lesson. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind? What did you understand from this lesson? What is birth from above? Can a person not born from above be called a son or daughter of God? How do you understand the process of birth from above? Why is it impossible to unambiguously determine the time of spiritual birth? What similarities do you see in spiritual and physical birth? What is the difference between a carnal Christian and one who is born from above? How can I determine whether I am born from above? Why does the enemy of the soul attack more those who are born for God? What should those do who want to become a son or daughter of God, but don't know how? Can a person born from above think that he is still dead because of his sinful nature? What is the difference between a son of God and creation? Does God give birth to us in order to kill us for mistakes?