Last week we looked at what the born-again experience does to me as a natural being. Sin separates us from the purpose of God – Rom 3:23, Christ killed our old man or nature when He died for our sins on Calvary. Jesus clearly states that we must be born-again to enter the Kingdom of God. So what happens when you get born-again.
Paul states that we are a new creation after we get born-again – 2 Cor 5:17. To understand the very act of being born-again, we must look at how God created in Genesis in the first place because it will give us insight into what happened with us.
Ge 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
This is the very purpose of God to start with. Heaven and earth were always supposed to be mirror images of each other. Heaven was the spiritual dimension, and the earth was the natural dimension. Jesus teaches us to pray: Thy kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. There are numerous examples in scripture that prove that God intended that earth would mirror heaven. Rom 8:29, we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Jesus as the Son is the exact image or imprint of the Father – Heb 1:3. This is also the image of Adam before the fall of man, a man in the image of God – Gen 1:26.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was void and without form, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
This is a picture of what sin did to a man. It made us void of God’s presence, and we no longer carried his image. The good news is that the Spirit of God is present. Jesus said that he would send us His Spirit and the Spirit will convict the world of sin – John 16:8. He is hovering over our chaos, loving on us, not condemning us but convicting us – John 3:16-17. What is important to see is that “Nothing” is happening even though the Spirit is present. God is waiting for the sinner to respond to the conviction of the Spirit. Just because He is convicting the world doesn’t mean they are saved. They must respond to his calling them.
Gen 1:3 And God said: Let there be light, and there was light!
Nothing happened in creation until God spoke. When God speaks, He creates. Not only did God say: Let there be light, but look at what the Psalmist says!
Psa. 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Psa. 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
When God speaks, His word creates light. In the creation, as we know it today, God gives us a pattern to understand what happens when we get born again. Is it possible that when you said yes to Jesus’s sacrifice and atoning blood, that God did the same thing to bring you forth as a new creation? I think scripture proofs that clearly. God created by speaking!
Why would Jesus tell us that we are now the light of the world? Why would we be a new creation created in His image, having the privilege to partake of His divine nature – 2 Pet 1:4? So what did God do when you said yes? Look at what James says:
Jam 1:18 Of His own will, He brought us forth by the WORD OF TRUTH, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
How did God create you a new being? He spoke it just like He did in creation. Not only did he speak something, but He also spoke TRUTH. We know who the Truth is? His name is Jesus – John 14:6. God looked at Jesus as what would be the standard for the new creation and spoke what He saw in Jesus over you. Eph 1:4 says that God chose us out of Him before the foundation of the world. In the first creation, God created man out of the dust, in His own image, in the borg-again experience God created man out of Spirit in His own image. Paul says that as we carried the image of the early man so now we will carry the image of the heavenly man 1 Cor 15:45-49.
1 Pet 1:23 We are born-again not of corruptible seed but an incorruptible seed, THROUGH THE WORD that lives and abides forever.
How does a woman give birth? She must receive seed to be able to produce a child. Jesus is the incorruptible seed of God that was planted in your spirit man so that you can experience the new birth as a new creation. How did God do that? He spoke the Word, who is Jesus.
John 1:1 In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The word for “Word” is “Logos.” Logos comes from the root word “Lego” which means: a conversation. Before God spoke you into existence in the new birth, the Godhead had a conversation about you. What did God say?
The first temptation Adam and Eve faced was not the fruit but the enemy asking them: “Is it so that God said?” The enemy will always attack the word of God. Words are like the seed that carries the potential to bring a great harvest. Daily we are bombarded with the enemy’s words of fear, doubt, unbelief, condemnation, and guilt. What will happen with you when you stop listening to his rhetoric and start finding out what God said about you when He gave birth to you?
John 1:12-14 All who have accepted Him He gave them the authority to become the children of God, who were born not by the will of man or the will of the flesh, but by the will of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst(in) us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
As a new creation, you have Him in you. As a new creation, He is the Word of God that brings light and life. When you said yes to Jesus, God created you a whole new being. You were born-again, having His Spirit living in you now. He who is the Word speaks and guides you all the days of your life – Rom 8:14.
