24 Dec, 2012, by Robin Piong CM-
Tomorrow will be 25th December and we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ more than 2000 years ago. We know that this is not his exact birth date but we do this in remembrance of him because his birth comes with a purpose and a mission; we need to be reminded of it and also to be reminded of who we are in Christ.
Indeed, it was God the Father’s mission because the birth of Jesus was not ordinary and not of the flesh but of the Spirit. We read in Matthew 1:20 that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that breathed into the nostrils the breath of life during the creation of the first man, Adam, from dust as found in Genesis 2:7.
Matthew 1:20b
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”.
God created mankind according to his image and that image is the image in the spirit. It is not the image of the physical body. The things God wanted to bring to mankind were funneled through one man, Adam. Man resisted the divine plan of God and fell to the temptation of Satan. Thus, sin and death came into humanity and Satan’s darkness entered God’s creation. Creation’s patterns were out of God’s divine order.
Mankind multiplied over the years and God chose Abraham to make him and his offspring a great race and a great nation, thus the birth of the Jewish race and the nation Israel. This is why we read in Matthew 1:1 to 17, the genealogy of Jesus Christ began from Abraham. Abraham believed in the promises of God and God credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 12:2,3 & Genesis 15:5.6).
God made a covenant between Him and Abraham and promise to increase Abraham's descendants into nations. He will established His covenant as everlasting, and will be Abraham and his descendents' God. They in return will have to keep the covenant, beginning with the circumcision of every male (Genesis 17:1 to 22).
Through out the centuries, the law of Moses and the old covenant were implemented by the prophets by God’s divine order. This order and law if obeyed kept the Jews in God’s presence and allow them to receive eternal life in the spirit, after physical death.
Then, there was the law to sacrifice an unblemished lamb, so that when God sees it, he will forgive and will remember their sins no more.
But even that, not every Jew obeys it and throughout the Old Testament. Time and time again, we read that laws were not kept and the Jews were constantly bickering, disobedient and of little faith.
Yet God, from age to age, kept his everlasting covenant. His ultimate love for mankind was to save us all, once and for all, whether Jews or Gentiles (the world’s other races) this time.
Thus the perennial verse from John 3:16-17:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life, for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
The term Son of God in reference to Jesus is a title that means God Almighty humanized himself into the form of a man.
But before we take this verse out of context, let us look at John 3:1 ONWARDS.
Jesus was teaching to Nicodemus:
V3, I tell the truth no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
In V4, we see that Nicodemus could not comprehend what Jesus was talking, thinking that to be born again, it is confined to the physical body. Birth by nature happens in the physical realm but Jesus was referring to birth in the spiritual realm. There is no need for Jesus to be born again because even though he was born in the physical realm, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, thus he was born of the Holy Spirit.
For the first time in the history of mankind since Adam, a human being was born without sin and without blemish thus meeting the criteria of God, if he was to be sacrificed just like an unblemished lamb, God is able and ready to forgive the sins of the world to those who are willing to ask for it.
But to be born as a Son of God is one thing and to be obedient to death as a sacrifice for the sins of both Jews and Gentiles is another matter. Jesus was obedient to the point of sacrificing his life.
V6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
V7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Still Nicodemus, a learned Pharisee, an expert in the law was perplexed despite Jesus explaining to him.
V9 ‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.
Dear brother and sister in Christ, just as Jesus birth was conceived by the Holy Spirit, the spirit that is in us need to be conceived too by the Holy Spirit. That is the essence of being born again.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
In a nutshell, when we are born in nature, we are born with nature DNA and our human body will only rot and die. But when we are born again in the Spirit, we are born with the Holy Spirit DNA, and the Holy Spirit DNA is the incorruptible seed and our spirit will never die but live eternally with God in his kingdom.
Through the Incorruptible Seed in you which is the Christ in You, the Word of God, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
God’s mission to the world is to allow those who believe and respond to his love a chance to receive eternal life.
John 3:16b, that whosoever believes in me shall not die but have eternal life.
When we are born again, our spirit are no longer bound by the law of nature which is the law of sin and death but is now governed by the Spirit of life which can only happen when we believe and accept Jesus Christ as Lord of our life.
Romans 8:2, because through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Jesus came with a plan and an objective. That is to set us free from all bondages and to give us life and life abundantly. And to plant his incorruptible seed in us to grow to be more like him, just as God is please to have all his fullness dwell in him, we too will experience the fullness of Christ in our life journey in him.
Colossians 1:19 FOR GOD WAS PLEASED TO HAVE ALL HIS FULLNESS DWELL IN HIM.
Dear friends, if today you are not sure whether you are born again in your spirit. Say this prayer loud and clear;
Dear Father in heaven,
I believe that you have sent your Son, Jesus to die on the cross as a sacrifice for me. Please forgive me of all my sins even as I forgive those who have sinned against me.
I ask you to receive me as your son even as I receive your Son Jesus into my life as Lord and Savior.
I ask the Holy Spirit to renew my spirit even as I believe that through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life has set me free now from the law of sin and death.
With this new life in me and your Grace so abounding, I repent from all my wrongdoings to live this new life with you.
Thank you God my Father.
Thank Jesus my Savior.
Thank you Holy Spirit my Comforter.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Dear Viewers in Christ, if you find this article edifying to you, please share with your friends or loved ones by using the social media plugs (Share, Email to this article). The Lord will surely bless you as you bless others. May the Lord’s peace and love be with you. Amen.
References for pictures:
http://thestonescryout.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/Abraham_Departs.203195126_std.jpg
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/files/2012/12/baby-jesus-mary-joseph-by-dewey.jpg
http://freechristimages.org/images_Christ_life/Christ_Instructing_Nicodemus_Crijn_Hendricksz.jpg
http://z.hubpages.com/u/207350_f496.jpg
http://agapegeek.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/dove_fire.jpg
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001298569/Meeting_Jesus_in_Heaven_xlarge.jpeg
http://phillipstempletoledo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Jesus+Walking+on+Water.jpg
http://www.cocorioko.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jesus-on-the-cross.jpg
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