Due to human culture and the Jewish religion, Nicodemus thought that man needed to behave. Since man must have good conduct and worship God in a proper way, man needs much teaching. Nicodemus considered Christ to be a teacher come from God. This indicates that he might have thought that he needed better teachings to improve himself. But the Lord’s answer in the following verse unveiled to him that his need was to be born anew. To be born anew is to be regenerated with the divine life, a life other than the human life received by natural birth. Hence, his real need was not better teachings, but the divine life. Nicodemus was seeking for teachings, which belong to the tree of knowledge, but the Lord’s answer turned him to the need of life, which belongs to the tree of life (cf. Gen. 2:9-17). The Lord told Nicodemus very emphatically that what he needed was to be born again. Thus, man’s real need is to be regenerated with another life. All of us must realize that what we need is not religion or teaching to regulate and correct us, but another life, the life of God, to regenerate us. Man needs regeneration because he needs the divine life. Regardless of how good you are, you still do not have the life of God. You need another birth in order to receive the life of God with His divine nature. Although you may feel that you are good, you must admit that you do not have the life of God with His divine nature. Another birth, regeneration, is necessary that you may receive another life, the divine life of God.
The Lord’s answer to Nicodemus cut across his human, traditional, religious concept. The Lord seemed to be telling Nicodemus, “Nicodemus, what you need is not teaching, but another life. Regardless of how good you are, you have only the human life. You need the divine life. Nicodemus, don’t you realize that by seeking knowledge you are on the line of the tree of knowledge? You are not on the line of the tree of life.” Nicodemus was not on the line that would lead him to the New Jerusalem, but on the line that would take him to the lake of fire. Nicodemus, however, did not know that he was partaking of the wrong tree.
When Nicodemus heard that he had to be born anew, he thought that this meant that he had to go back to his mother’s womb and come out again. His answer proves that he did not know how to exercise his spirit. He misunderstood the Lord’s word. Then the Lord Jesus said that that which is born of the flesh is flesh. He seemed to be saying to Nicodemus, “Regardless of the number of times you go back into your mother’s womb and come out again, you still will be flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Nicodemus, there is no need for you to say that you can’t go back to your mother’s womb and be born a second time, for even if you could do it, you would still be the same. Even if you could be born anew in that way and be young again, after another sixty or seventy years you would be the same as you are now. You do not need that kind of rebirth.” Nicodemus did not need another birth in time, but another birth in nature.
“Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Water is the central sign of the ministry of John the Baptist, that is, to bury and terminate people of the old creation. In his ministry, John the Baptist came to baptize with water. He told people that they had to repent and realize that they were fallen and good for nothing except burial. Everyone who heard John’s preaching and repented was baptized in water. This means that, as fallen men of the old creation, they were being terminated. That was John’s ministry. Furthermore, John told people that his ministry was for the ministry of the Lord Jesus. As water is the central sign in the ministry of John the Baptist, Spirit is the central significance of the ministry of Jesus, that is, to germinate people in the new creation. These two main concepts, water and Spirit, when put together, are the whole concept of the matter of regeneration. Regeneration, to be born anew, is the termination of the people of the old creation with all their deeds, and their germination in the new creation with the divine life. What does it mean to be born again? It means to be terminated by John’s ministry through water and to be germinated by Jesus’ ministry through the Spirit.
How can we have the ministry of John the Baptist today? We have it by repentance. Whenever a person repents, confessing that he is a fallen being who is good for nothing, that is the acceptance of John’s ministry. There is no need, of course, for John literally to be present, for his ministry is in the New Testament already. When we preach the gospel, we firstly preach the ministry of John. That is why we preach very much about sin and repentance. Whoever accepts this ministry, in one sense, is terminated, and, in another sense, is born of water. Following repentance, everyone must believe in the Lord Jesus and accept His ministry of life in order to be germinated. In order to accept salvation, we need both repentance and faith. To repent is to receive John’s ministry, and to believe is to accept the ministry of the Lord Jesus. This is regeneration. Now we understand what it means to be born of water and of the Spirit.
The Lord made Nicodemus’s situation very clear to him. Everyone, whether he is good or bad, needs to be terminated through water and then germinated with the divine life. This is the second birth, a birth not of the mother’s womb, but of water and of the Spirit.3
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