Message Four

The Divine Birth and the Children of God

Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:29; 3:1-2, 9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18

1. The writings of John on the mysteries of the divine life emphasize the divine birth, which is our regeneration—John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5-6; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18:
   1. The divine birth is the basis of our Christian life—John 3:3, 5; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23.
   2. The divine birth, which brings in the divine life, is the basic factor of all the mysteries of the divine life—1 John 1:1-2.
   3. The Father is the source of the divine life, the One of whom we have been born with this life—3:1.
   4. The divine birth—regeneration—enlivens us with God’s life and brings us into a relationship of life, an organic union, with God—Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17.
   5. To be regenerated simply means to receive the divine life in addition to our human life; through the divine birth eternal life has come into us—John 3:15-16; 1 John 2:25; 5:11-13.
   6. Regeneration causes us to become a new creation, something which has the element of God within it—Gal. 6:15:
      1. Through the divine birth we have the divine life and the divine element, thereby becoming a new creation—2 Cor. 5:17.
      2. When we were born again, God’s life in Christ entered into us; this life, with the divine element, has been mingled with our spirit to become the new man within us—Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10.
   7. To be regenerated is to receive the tree of life—Gen. 2:9; Rev. 22:2, 14:
      1. When we received the Lord Jesus, we received the life of the tree of life—John 11:25; 15:1.
      2. We have passed out of the death of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil into the life of the tree of life—5:24; 1 John 3:14.
   8. To be regenerated is to be born of the Spirit in our spirit—John 3:6, 8:
      1. Regeneration takes place in the realm of the human spirit by the Spirit of God with the divine life—vv. 6, 15-16:
         1. The divine birth has taken place organically in our spirit—v. 6.
         2. In regeneration, God in Christ as the life-giving Spirit comes into our spirit to regenerate us with His life and nature—1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
         3. The divine Spirit regenerates the human spirit with the divine life—Rom. 8:2, 10, 16.
      2. That which is born of the Spirit of God is our regenerated spirit—John 3:6.
      3. In 1 John 5:4 everything refers to every person who has been begotten of God; such an expression should refer especially to the part that has been regenerated with the divine life—the spirit of the regenerated believer.
   9. In Christ’s resurrection He imparted the divine life into us and made us the same as He is in life and nature; this is the basic factor of our regeneration—1 Pet. 1:3; John 3:15-16.
2. By the mysterious divine birth with the divine life, we have become children of God—1:12-13; 1 John 3:1:
   1. It is the greatest wonder in the universe that human beings could be begotten of God and sinners could be made children of God—2:29—3:1; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18.
   2. God’s purpose in creating man was not simply to have a sinless man but to have a God-man, one who has the life and nature of God for the corporate expression of God—Gen. 2:9; John 10:10b; 2 Pet. 1:4.
   3. The expression children of God in 1 John 3:1 is very rich in its implications; it implies that God has been born into us and that we possess His life and nature:
      1. To be a child of God means that God has been conceived within us.
      2. When we were born of God in our spirit, we were mingled with Him—1 Cor. 6:17.
   4. By being regenerated, we have become children of God—John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5-6; 1 John 2:29—3:1:
      1. We have been begotten of the Father to be children of God—v. 1.
      2. For human beings to become children of God is for them to be born of God to have the divine life and nature—John 1:12-13; 3:15-16; 2 Pet. 1:4.
      3. Since to be regenerated is to be born of God and to obtain God’s life, regeneration automatically causes us to become children of God—John 3:6; Rom. 8:16.
      4. The life we receive through regeneration enables us to be and is our authority to be God’s children—John 1:12-13.
      5. As the children of God with the life and nature of God, we can live God and be the same as God in life, nature, and expression, thus fulfilling the purpose of God’s creation of man—Gen. 1:26.
   5. The children of God have been regenerated of God the Spirit to be God-men, belonging to the species of God to see and enter into the kingdom of God—John 3:3, 5-6:
      1. God has a good pleasure to make us, His children, the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead—Eph. 1:5, 9; 5:1.
      2. Because we have been born of God, we are the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead—Rom. 8:2, 10, 16; 2 Pet. 1:4.
      3. All the children of God are in the divine realm of the divine species.
      4. We should never forget that, as children of God, we are God-men, born of God and belonging to the species of God—John 1:12-13; 3:3, 5.
   6. The children of God have a great future with a splendid blessing—1 John 3:2:
      1. The children of God will be like Him in the maturity of life when He is manifested—vv. 1-2.
      2. The right of the God-men to participate in God’s divinity includes the right to bear God’s likeness—2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29.
      3. By seeing Him, we will reflect His likeness; this will cause us to be as He is—1 John 3:2.
      4. To partake of the divine nature is already a great blessing and enjoyment, yet to be like God, bearing His likeness, will be a greater blessing and enjoyment—Rev. 4:2-3; 21:11.