John 3:5-6  Born of water and spirit_

Jesus answered–Verily, verily, I say unto thee: Except one be born of water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which hath been born of the flesh, is, flesh, and, that which hath been born of the spirit, is, spirit. John 3:5-6 (The Emphasized Bible)

I love the way the Message Bible translated these verses:

“Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.” John‬ ‭3:5-6‬ ‭MSG‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Being born of water and spirit. First comes the water, then comes the spirit. Many will debate about what water means, but based on the context, Jesus was speaking of a course a man must take. First death or cleansing, then life or spirit. First John the Baptist coming to immerse in water, then Jesus coming to immerse in the Holy Spirit. First the earthly, then the heavenly. A child has no say in the act of being born. The baby is a victim of many events that he or she had no control over. Yet Jesus is proposing something to Nicodemus that he could choose to participate in, or not. He had a stake in it, as do I.

Earlier John wrote:

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. ‭‭John‬ ‭1:12-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The nature I was born with is incapable of seeing the kingdom, or enjoying its benefits. It must be exchanged. And since self-will, self-interest, self-absorption…self is at the root of that nature, wouldn’t it make sense that Me, Myself, and I must voluntarily give it up? Trade it for something better? When the Baptist came preaching repentance, he immersed in water. In the book of Romans, Paul made it clear what that immersion meant:

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Romans‬ ‭6:4‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Water means death.

The act of immersion is a headlong fall into an abandoned new life in the spirit. And it’s a choice to make this trade. The old nature for the new. Death means giving up this corpse, my blindness, my deafness, my failures and the current trajectory of my life and redirect it. Death is the loss of control. But it would be sad if death was the end of the matter, but it’s not.

Spirit means life.

This life is birthed in a belief. At the core of the thing we believe is that Jesus is the acceptable sacrifice for our sins. The Messiah. The Redeemer. This is what Nicodemus was struggling with. Is he really the one? To believe in this— means something. Whether or not I understand what it means for Jesus to die for my sins, the thing I may understand is that God accepts me. He deeply loves me. He’s my advocate. My friend. And if you allow it to go further and are willing to expend some effort and leap some barriers, my lover. Jesus walked through Israel demonstrating affection, relationship, compassion. And daily, God walks through our earth showing the same in us who are similarly born of the spirit.

So when does the new birth happen? At the point when I choose to discard the self man, the earth man and the value system of this planet and believe that I am accepted in the kingdom of heaven, loved and washed. Truly accept it. No more fighting it. Being born of water. The core of my old nature and motivation is… dead. Christ did something for me that qualifies me to become a child of God and receive the DNA of heaven. Being born of water is only part of the equation. It is the first step. But the process is not complete until I permit the new life to exist — and this is when I am born of the spirit. When the supernatural presence of God takes up residence in this mortal body. This is life! The new birth! The Holy Spirit had not been given (as experienced on the day of Pentecost and thereafter) when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, but later, that day came like a “rushing mighty wind” and made a new home in those who believed. They finally “saw” the kingdom of heaven! Nicodemus had to first heed John’s message before he’d ever understand Jesus’.

Physical death is a one time event. Once it occurs, there’s no undoing it. Yet it seems strange and incredible that Jesus allows us to physically live out death in symbol in baptism. It’s similar to buying a car on credit. I sign the paperwork and promise to pay. Monthly I move toward that goal. And one day the car fully belongs to me – even though on the first day I consider it mine since it is in my possession. In the same way we make a promise to death in baptism. It’s a choice to lay my life down, as real as really dying. Yet, I still live in this body. But daily I must make good on my commitment to death until eventually it is a reality — and old things have passed away. It’s really an incredible transaction if you think about it – enjoying the benefits of death without yet having crossed that threshold. To an observer, nothing is different. Yet inside, I know differently. When I make that resolve of death, it should end there. Unfortunately it doesn’t. It’s a process I must go through every day, picking up my cross, so to speak, when old lovers come knocking. Being filled and saturated with his presence makes that easy. Similarly, the filling of the Spirit is also an incremental transaction. It’s measured. The Father makes us co-heirs with Christ and promises us the kingdom. The Spirit is that deposit within us as a foretaste of what is to come. Paul says:

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. ‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:13-14‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬

The Greek word for deposit is a legal term, defined by Strong: an earnest, earnest-money, a large part of the payment, given in advance as a security that the whole will be paid afterwards.

There is great promise awaiting us with the redemption of our physical bodies and the coming new earth. Just like we can enjoy life after death without experiencing physical death, we may also enjoy the inheritance of the kingdom before it is actually transferred to us. Faith is an amazing thing. One can only assume that the level of death we live out while in these bodies, marks out the room available for the Spirit to infill and the level of new life coursing through our veins.

Being born of the water and the spirit, now we may see the kingdom!