To See Heaven, Ypu Must Be Born Again (J11)

Jesus knows what is in ev’ry one’s heart;
When Nicodemus came to Him at night,
He meant both to receive and impart;
But ere he asked, Jesus answered with light!
“To see heaven, you must be born again.” 1
He declared at once to the Pharisee;
“Must one’s mother re-suffer labor pain?” 2
Asked the teacher, failing the truth to see!
“Born of flesh, then born of grace from above; 3
Dead in sin, the Spirit new life bestows; 4
Not by human will, but a gift of love, 5
A God-adopted child to heaven goes!
Nicodemus went away believing,
The old dullness gone, new life receiving!

1 “ ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God
unless he is born again.’ “ (John 3:3)
2 “ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked.
‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s
womb to be born?’ “ (John 3:4)
3 “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:18)
4 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the
old has gone, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
5 “ ‘Yet to all who received him, to them who believes in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God—
children born not of … nor human will …” (John
1:12-13) (The complete text of this poem and
commentary is John 3:1-8)

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. Had a majority of that ruling council accepted Jesus as he did, He would not have been rejected and crucified. A very few of the other Pharisees accepted Him, also, but they kept their beliefs to themselves for fear of the scorn of the others. Jesus had continued performing healing miracles in Jerusalem, and Nicodemus had become a believer on account of the signs performed by Jesus. He was anxious to talk with the Savior face to face, but he came to Him at night for fear of becoming known as a follower. Nicodemus had hardly begun his conversation with Jesus when the Savior suddenly stated the thing that the Pharisee most wanted to ask. Out of the blue, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Because of the dullness placed upon all the Jews (especially their leaders like Nicodemus), he did not understand what “born again” meant. He heard the words literally, when Jesus meant them to be understood spiritually.

Being “born again” is a spiritual expression describing a person who has been “saved”; being “saved” is also spiritual; it means a person has believed in the name of Jesus and decided to follow His teaching. Another explanation of being born again is being “born from above”—the person is reconciled to God by receiving a gift of grace from above through Jesus Christ; to believe in Him is to change from one kind of life—being “dead” in sin—to a new life, living in love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, and self-control; living in the Spirit. Being saved by belief in Jesus is being adopted as an actual child of God, which means you are a spiritual brother of the Lord Himself. The Jews were caused to be dull to these spiritual truths because of their obstinate sins toward God; Gentiles were not dulled spiritually; they accepted these invisible truths much more readily than did the Jews.

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9)