By being regenerated we have become the children of God (John 1:12-13). Since to be regenerated is to be born of God and to obtain God’s life, regeneration automatically causes us to become the children of God, bringing us into a relationship with God in life and nature. The life we receive from God through regeneration enables us to become the children of God, and this life is also our authority to be His children. As God’s children, who have God’s life and nature, we can be like God, live God, and express God, thus fulfilling the purpose of God’s creation of man.
We have been regenerated to become the firstfruit of God’s new creation among His creatures. James 1:18 tells us that God has regenerated us by the word of truth according to His own purpose. The word of truth is the word of the divine reality, of what the Triune God is (John 1:14, 17), which word is the seed of life (1 Pet. 1:23). Through this seed of life, God’s word of life, God imparts the divine life into us, regenerating us to be the firstfruit of the new creation to participate in His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), that we may be filled with the vigorous life that matures first for the realization of His eternal purpose.
We have been regenerated unto a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3). Through regeneration God enlivens us with His life, bringing us into a relationship of life and nature, an organic union, with Him. Hence, regeneration issues and results in a living hope, a hope of life. This hope in our pilgrimage today is for the future. It is not a hope of objective things, but a hope of life, even the eternal life, with all the endless divine blessings. Formerly, in Adam we all were dead. Our destination was the tomb, and our destiny was death. We were born to die. Everything related to us, in particular, any expectation for the future, was dead. Furthermore, we had no hope and were without God in the world. But because of His mercy, God has regenerated us through the resurrection of Christ, so that we all have been made alive in Christ unto the hope of life. Now the resurrected Christ has become our life within to completely swallow up death, that every aspect of our being may become living and every part may be “lifted.” Thus, we have the hope that everything related to us will be living and will be “lifted.” Regeneration therefore results in a living hope, a hope of life.
The living hope, the hope of life, which is brought to the regenerated believers through regeneration, may be likened to the various expectations for the future brought to the parents through the birth of a newborn babe. Expectations such as the child’s growing up, obtaining an education, entering into a career, getting married, and raising a family all are hinged on the life of the newborn child. Likewise, the life which we have received through regeneration also enables us to have a hope with numerous aspects for this age, for the coming age, and for eternity. In this age we have the hope of growing in life, of maturing, of manifesting our gifts, of exercising our functions, of being transformed, of overcoming, of being redeemed in our body, and of entering into glory. In the coming age we have the hope of entering into the kingdom, of reigning with the Lord, and of enjoying the blessings of the eternal life in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. In eternity we have the hope of being in the New Jerusalem for the full participation in the consummated blessings of the eternal life in its ultimate manifestation in eternity. This living hope, the hope of life, is hinged on the eternal life which we have received through regeneration. Only this divine life can enable us to grow in life until we enter into the reality of the hope to which we were brought. Thus we will obtain the various blessings mentioned earlier as our inheritance, an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, kept for eternity (1 Pet. 1:3-4).
Through God’s salvation we not only obtain an outward position that is acceptable to God, but we also are regenerated within to receive a life that is pleasing to God and to become His new creation. Man needs regeneration because man is born of the flesh and is of the flesh, which is desperately wicked, incurable, and unchangeable. Even if man had not been corrupted, the life that he possesses still is not the divine life that God desires. Therefore, man must be regenerated to receive the divine life. Only then can he correspond to God’s nature and enter into the kingdom that matches God’s nature, that is, the kingdom of God. To be regenerated is to be born of God to receive the divine life in addition to our human life, to be born from above to receive the heavenly life of God, and to be born of water and the Spirit, that the believers may leave all the old things and enter into the kingdom of God to live by God’s eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom. To be regenerated is also to be begotten of the Spirit in our spirit, that is, to be regenerated in our human spirit by the Holy Spirit with the divine life. Regeneration is accomplished in us according to God’s purpose and mercy, through the resurrection of Christ from among the dead, through the work of the Holy Spirit, which causes man to repent and believe, and by God’s living and abiding word of life. Regeneration first results in our receiving the eternal life of God and participating in all that God is, in all that is in God, in God’s nature, and in God’s capabilities and functions. Hence, we can be as He is and do what He does, that is, we can be like Him and live Him out. Furthermore, regeneration causes us to have the authority to be the children of God, and it also enables us to become the firstfruit of His new creation, full of the vigorous life that matures first. Finally, regeneration issues in a living hope, even the eternal life, with all the endless divine blessings. This hope is a hope with many aspects for this age, for the coming age, and for eternity. It includes the hope of growing in life, of maturing, of entering into glory, of reigning with the Lord, and of participating fully in the consummated blessings of the eternal life in its ultimate manifestation in eternity, which blessings will be an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, kept for eternity for us.