Almost everyone knows about John 3. This is the famous conversation between Jesus and a leading rabbi, who ought to have known what born again or born from heaven meant, but did not (v. 9-11). Nicodemus, fearful about being seen by his friends associating with the “unorthodox” or “questionable” rabbi, Jesus had come by night. Nicodemus was honest enough to know that no one could have done the miracles Jesus did, unless the true God was with him and had commissioned him: “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher” (v. 2: “come from God,” that is, commissioned by God.
Jesus gave a most basic lesson. Unless we are born again or born from above, that is, from God’s creative activity, we cannot ever see or experience the Kingdom of God. We cannot be saved. We cannot understand the Kingdom now, and we will not gain immortality in the Kingdom when Jesus comes back. These are really big issues - the only ones that ultimately count!
Jesus made the rebirth from water and spirit a condition for tasting the power of the Kingdom now and gaining immortality in the future Kingdom. Israel’s Scripture (Nicodemus ought to have known this) spoke of an outpouring of spirit in Isaiah 32:15-20. He and Israel should have known about the renewing effect and power of the spirit. The Hebrew Bible is full of marvelous prophecies of a bright future after punishment. Isaiah had foreseen that “one day from the heights of heaven a spirit will breathe into us, till the downs grow like an orchard, and the orchard like a forest; then justice fills the very downs, and honesty the orchards, and justice brings us welfare; honesty renders us secure. My people will have homes of peace, resting in houses undisturbed. Ah, happy folk…” (Moffatt translation)
This was the promised rebirth from above, by spirit, which Jesus announced in advance of the worldwide appearance of the Kingdom of God. If we want to be in that Kingdom when it comes at the Second Coming, then we must be reborn now, receive the spirit of new life, and be fit to inherit the Kingdom of God when Jesus reappears. Regeneration, or rebirth, must happen to us now in advance of the great renewal of the world. Jesus spoke of this coming regeneration of the whole world in Matthew 19:28, and Paul in Titus 3:5 teaches our need for renewal through washing and rebirth through God’s Holy Spirit.
Jesus and Paul, of course, taught the same saving Gospel, and both knew of Isaiah 51:16 and 65:17-25, where we read of the great coming new society on earth, the new heavens and earth, a new world order with the capital at Zion - Jerusalem. All this is Kingdom Gospel material to be believed in response to the command that we are “to repent and believe God’s Gospel of the Kingdom” (Mark 1:14-15).
Jesus and Paul were intensely conscious of an accompanying text in Isaiah 32:1: “One day a King will reign in justice, with princes who rule uprightly.” Our destiny, as a mass of Scripture says, is to assist Jesus is in the organizing and administration of the coming new society on earth.
Christianity is never about going to heaven as a disembodied spirit when you die. It is always about inheriting and possessing the renewed land and earth (Matt. 5:5; Rev. 5:10; 20:1-6), with Jesus and all the faithful of all the ages, when the Messiah returns.
To make your point, ask your friend, “Where are you hoping to be in the future?” “I hope to be with Jesus in heaven,” she will predictably say. Then counter with this: “Why do you want to go to heaven, when Jesus won’t be there?!”
Many churchgoers are very far from having the Bible’s view of the future! Much less do they grasp the Christian destiny, the point of our present training and tribulation in view of our election to royal office in the future Kingdom. Do you frequently meditate on Revelation 2:26-27 and 5:10: Jesus has constituted the true believers “a kingdom of priests” (Rev. 1:6) and they “will rule as kings upon the earth” (Rev. 5:10).
Daniel 7:18, 22, 27 is a key passage for presenting the Gospel. The time will come when “the saints will possess the Kingdom, and all nations and people will obey them” (Dan. 7:27). I will repeat this since so little is known of these amazing propositions: “The kingship and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the holy ones [saints] of the Most High; their kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey them” (Dan. 7:27).
For participation in immortality and rulership in the coming, peaceful Kingdom of God on earth, we must be born again, born from above, Jesus said. Is John the only writer to have dealt with this very basic theme?
Certainly not. Matthew, Mark, and Luke were just as impressed with the all-important issue of rebirth, and they record how Jesus treated the same subject by speaking of the seed that must lodge in our hearts for new birth to occur. This is an agricultural picture, well known to us all. Jesus speaking to Nicodemus used the biological idea of rebirth by seed, gaining a new parentage.
God’s Gospel about the Kingdom
Many of your friends have been told that being born again involves “accepting Jesus in your heart.” This concept is very vague. It’s open to all sorts of imaginative guesses. It lacks clarity entirely, the clarity and specificity of the Kingdom Gospel teaching of Jesus. Jesus, you see, begins his ministry by calling on all to “Repent because the Kingdom of God is approaching” (Mark 1:14-15). More than that, Mark calls this Gospel preaching of Jesus the announcing of God’s Gospel (Mark 1:14). There is no higher authority than that! People in the days of Jesus knew what the Kingdom of God meant. It signified the great time coming when God would install His elected Messiah on the restored throne of David in Jerusalem, resulting in world peace and disarmament (Luke 1:33; Isa. 2:1-4; Luke 2:25; Acts 1:6, etc.).
“The Gospel of God” or “God’s Gospel” is a wonderfully unifying key phrase and title in the New Covenant (8 times). Jesus announced, “God’s Gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). He commanded belief in that Gospel of the Kingdom. Paul framed his whole teaching in Romans by calling it “God’s Gospel” (Rom. 1:1; 15:16). Paul often preached God’s Gospel without financial charge (2 Cor. 11:7). In 1 Thessalonians 2:2, 8, 9, and 1 Peter 4:17, “God’s Gospel” is the most dramatic piece of information for all mankind. Jesus announced this Kingdom and then followed with these imperative words: “Repent [change your mind and your life radically] and believe that Gospel about the Kingdom.” The command is clear - we are ordered by the Messiah to believe in the Gospel of the Kingdom. We are to believe, in other words, in God’s great world plan for us and everyone else. That is where the faith (belief) begins. That is where “the obedience of faith” starts (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Heb. 5:9). It includes, as we know now, belief in the sin-offering sacrificial, substitutionary death of Jesus to atone for sins, and of course his resurrection on the third day. In addition, of course, is belief in Jesus’ current position at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Ps. 110:1, etc.). The Messiah at the right hand is “my lord,” not “my Lord,” as wrongly rendered in many versions. Jesus is the “my lord” Messiah, the Messiah-lord of Luke 2:11 and 1:43: “my lord” (cp. John 20:13).
The simple truth about the Gospel of salvation is well encapsulated by Hebrews 2:3. This teaches us that Jesus was the first preacher of the Gospel of salvation. Hebrews 5:9 makes this simple proposition: “Salvation is based on obeying Jesus.” Jesus said the same in John 3:36. He lays out the stark choices before us: either to believe in the Son or to disobey him. To believe Jesus is to have “the life of the age to come.” To disobey Jesus is to be under the wrath of God (John 3:36). That is exactly why Paul defines true faith as “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26. Faith is not real faith if it does not go hand in hand with obedience), and obedience without faith and belief in the Gospel as Jesus and Paul preached it is not obedience. The command that we all be baptized in water to demonstrate our commitment to the one God and Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:12, etc.) is also one of the non-negotiable requirements of the NT.
Think about how Bible writers make things doubly clear and emphatic. They frame their writing with the same key concept. In other words, they begin and end what they have to say by repeating the same idea. This is an excellent way to teach systematically and effectively. Note how Jesus in the Beatitudes begins with a reference to the Kingdom and completes a series of parallel sayings by referring to the Kingdom (Matt. 5:3-10). No wonder then that Jesus uttered these marvelous purpose statement Gospel words: “Seek above all the Kingdom of God and all its ways of doing right, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). So also, with the Lord’s prayer. The Kingdom is at the beginning and the end. Jesus announced his own fundamental, eye-opening career statement by saying, “I must announce [I am divinely compelled to announce] the Gospel of the Kingdom to the other cities also: that is why God commissioned me” (Luke 4:43). That is our Christian commission too (Matt. 28:19-20).
THE SEED: The Gospel of the Kingdom
In the parable (illustrative story) of the Sower and the seed, Jesus drew on an Old Testament idea, just as he did when speaking of being born of the spirit (cp. Isa. 32). Jesus was very familiar with the tremendously hopeful words of Jeremiah 30 and 31, chapters brimming over with the prospect of national joy and restoration for Israel, following a future time of Great Tribulation, the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7). In Jeremiah 31:27-31 Jesus read these words: “The days are coming, says the LORD God, when I will sow Israel and Judah with the seed of people and of animals. In the past, I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished, and brought disaster. But now [at that future time] I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. Indeed, a time is coming when I will establish a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.”
Sowing is the symbol of prosperity and progeny.
Now observe Hosea 2:23: “I will sow her [Israel] as My own in the land; and I will love her who was not loved and will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” Jesus knew these words well, and he saw it as his task as Messiah, using the saving Gospel of the Kingdom, the sowing and planting of the international people of God in advance of the yet future recovery of Israel and Judah. Jesus went out to sow the seed of rebirth and conversion, the germ of future immortality. He sought to bring about the rebirth and change of mind among people, the same challenge being made first to Jews and then to the whole world.
Via the Great Commission, Jesus was creating the new international people of God, the saints (Gal. 6:16). The process requires a rebirth under the influence of the creative spirit of God working through the Gospel of the Kingdom. Sowing and planting of kings and rulers was a biblical notion (Isa. 40:23-24).
The matter of being born again through spirit and seed is developed in Jesus’ famous parable of the Sower and the seed. The seed which must be sown in our hearts and minds is identified and defined as the “word [Gospel] about the Kingdom” (Matt 13:19). Luke abbreviates this to simply “the word of God” (Luke 8:11) and Mark shortens it to “the word” (Mark 4:14). Wrongly defining this Gospel/word is the source of all deception. “The word” or “the word of God” is certainly not just a synonym for the Bible, which is called in the Bible “the Scriptures.”
Observe with the greatest attention the amazing teaching of Jesus in Luke 8:12: “The seed on the path represents those who hear the word [Gospel of the Kingdom, Matt. 13:19], but then the Devil comes and carries off the word [Gospel] from their minds for fear that they should believe it and be saved.” This text, I used to say to the students, ought to be preached several times every Sunday! It is a brilliant summary of the saving Gospel, the message which determines whether or not we eventually gain immortality in the Kingdom!
Yes, immortality! The biggest issue in our lives - by far. The Gospel is something to be obeyed! “Those who refuse to obey the Gospel of our lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:8) are the unconverted, the unsaved. The Gospel must be defined, of course, before it can be intelligently obeyed. Precision in defining the Gospel is essential.
Through Much Tribulation
For Jesus, the recipients of rebirth were and are being trained and groomed for royal office in the coming Kingdom. That process of gaining a place in the future Kingdom is to be “through much tribulation” (Acts 14:22). Navy Seals are trained and tested under severe conditions. The rulers of the future world government must also be tested and tried in various ways. Jesus and God are watching their people with “X-ray” eyes, testing the hearts and minds, an activity which Jesus now shares with Yehovah (Ps. 7:9; Jer. 17:10; Rev. 2:23). God is “seeking men and women to worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). He wants people for His government who will give up everything for discipleship to His Son. Jesus said that if we are not willing to give up all for him, we cannot even be his disciples (Luke 14:26).
He urged us on with these warning words: “Struggle to enter [the Kingdom] through the narrow door” (Luke 13:24). “Small is the entrance and narrow is the way which leads to Life, and only a few find it.
Beware of false prophets [fake preachers] who come to you dressed up as sheep while underneath they are vicious wolves…Not everyone who says to me, ‘lord, lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven Kingdom of God]; rather, it is those who do the will of my Father in heaven. When that day comes, many will say to me, ‘lord, lord, did we not preach for you, drive out demons in your name, and perform many miracles with your authority?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Out of my sight, your deeds are evil!’” (Matt.7:14-23).
Once again, we see the need for the “obedience of faith for salvation” (see Heb. 5:9). We are first to obey God’s Gospel about the Kingdom (Mark 1:14-15). Let no one mislead you by saying that there is a different Gospel for us! Paul always preached the same Gospel of the Kingdom as had Jesus (Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23: to Jews; 28:30-31: to everyone else; cp. Philip in Acts 8:12). Paul called his saving Gospel by the same title as given to the Gospel of the Kingdom preached by Jesus in Mark 1:14-15. He called it “God’s Gospel” (Rom. 1:1; 15:16). Observe that Paul made no distinction at all between the Gospel of the grace of God and preaching the Gospel about the Kingdom (Acts 20:24-25). To preach or fall for a Gospel other than the one Gospel of the Kingdom is to put oneself under a curse (Gal. 1:8-9).
The Same Seed and Rebirth in Peter
Not many seem to realize that Peter, who had listened for hours to the Gospel teaching and preaching of his master-teacher Jesus, repeated the whole account of the parable of the seed and the Sower. We can read it in 1 Peter 1:22-25. He begins like this: “Since you have purified yourselves in obedience to the truth [you have believed and obeyed the Gospel of the Kingdom, Acts 8:12], producing a sincere affection towards your fellow Christians, love one another wholeheartedly with all your strength. You have been born again, not of perishable but of an imperishable seed - the Gospel-word of God, which is living and lasting. For ‘All humanity is like grass, and all of their glory like wildflowers. Grass withers and flowers fall, but the word of the Lord [the Gospel] endures forever.’ And this ‘word’ is the Gospel [of the Kingdom, Matt. 13:19] which was preached to you.”
Peter was an excellent student of Jesus. He is listed in a leadership position among the twelve (Matt. 10:2). He had heard the Messiah preach the Kingdom Gospel/parable of the Sower over and over, even from a boat to folk standing on the beach! Peter here combines the idea of “having been born again” - pause here to note that anyone who says you cannot be born again until the future resurrection is very much astray! - “born again not from perishable seed, but from the seed of immortality” (1 Pet. 1:23). Ponder that amazing truth. Our physical lives derive from the seed of our fathers. Our immortality derives from the seed of immortality provided by the Creator God, the God and Father of Israel and of Jesus.
No
wonder then that “you must be born again” if you hope to live forever (John
3:7). And “having been born again,” we are commanded to seek the milk of the Gospel-word
(that is not an unborn fetus!): “Like the newborn infants you are, you should
be craving for the pure spiritual Gospel milk, so that you may thrive on it and
grow up to salvation. For surely you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet.
2:2-3).
Peter
then goes on to give the people of God a clear idea of their true identity as
believers: “So come to Jesus, to the living stone who was rejected by
people, but chosen by God and of great value to Him. You also, like living
stones [like those of a temple building], must be built up into a temple and
form a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Messiah
Jesus…You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
claimed by God for His own to announce the excellence of Him who called you out
of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all, but
now you are God’s people. Once you were outside His mercy, but now you are
outside no longer” (1 Pet. 2:4-10).
Peter
has here taken the identity markers of the ancient people of Israel and applied
them to the international true called-out Assembly. The people of Israel were designated
to be priests and kings for God (Exod. 19:6).
Now
it is the international called-out Assembly who assume that privilege. That is
not all: Israel was to be the special treasure belonging to God. And that
impressive status is now given to the called-out Assembly in Galatians 6:16,
Titus 2:14, and 1 Peter 2:9.
The
one nation which was Israel is now the one holy nation, the called-out Assembly
(1 Pet. 2:9). To these people Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock: It is your Father’s
good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32). The Kingdom was removed
from Jews hostile to Jesus and given to the little flock who bear fruit from
the seed of the Kingdom (Matt. 21:43).
There
is, of course, also a future recovery for now blinded and hardened ethnic
Israelites (see Rom. 9-11 and much prophecy in the Hebrew Bible).
Peter
is thrilled, too, with the destiny of the faithful who, according to Paul in
Romans 2:7, are commanded to “seek for glory and honor and immortality.” Peter described
our being “born again into a living hope [of the future Kingdom]” (1 Pet. 1:3).
Peter balances the present trials and tribulations which come to all believers
with the greatness of Christian’s future destiny: “Much more precious than
perishable gold is faith which stands the test. These trials come to you so that
your faith may result in praise, glory, and honor for you when Messiah Jesus is
revealed” (1 Pet. 1:7). Yes, “for you”!
In
James
James,
Jesus’ half-brother, was equally impressed with the fundamental teaching about
how to gain immortality in the Kingdom. He gave us a similar picture of
rebirth, speaking instead of birth from a mother:
“Do
not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every perfect gift is from
above [cp. ‘born from above’ in John 3:5], and comes down from the Father of
lights. With Him there is no variation, no play of passing shadows. He gave
birth to us through the Gospel-word of Truth, according to His own plan, so
that we would be the first fruits of His new creation.” (James 1:16-18).
James
had in mind no doubt the destiny of the Christians prophesied by Daniel: “Many of
those who are asleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to the life of
the age to come [‘everlasting,’ ‘eternal life,’ some 40 times in the NT] and
some to the reproach of eternal abhorrence
[annihilation
in the lake of fire]. The wise leaders will shine like the bright vault of
heaven, and those who have guided the people in the true path will be like the stars
forever and ever” (Dan. 12:2-3). Yes, God has His stars, not to be compared to
the world’s version!
1
John
John,
in 1 John 3:9, speaks with equal passion of the seed of God in the Christian
believer. The parable of the Sower is his reference point, of course. God is
the parent of all true believers through the transmission of the seed of the
immortal God, which is placed in the believer via the Gospel of the Kingdom of
God, God’s Gospel. 1 John 5:1 says that we have been fathered by God, born
again through the Gospel. Jesus in 1 John 5:18 is the unique Son who was
begotten, brought into existence, and as God’s Son by miracle begetting, he now
protects the believers who have been fathered by God, i.e., regenerated (don’t read the KJV
here, which is corrupted in this verse).
Paul
and the Seed/Gospel
Paul
spoke often of salvation as springing from the same Gospel promise. “You,
brothers and sisters, are children [i.e., born again] of the promise” (Gal.
4:28).
The
promise in this context was the promise made to Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant,
which is the basis of the NT Gospel (“the Gospel was preached ahead of time to
Abraham,” Gal 3:8). The promise to Abraham
was
of property (land, Kingdom), progeny (seed, the Messiah), and prosperity (every
possible blessing). The promise to Abraham, said Paul, was that “he will
inherit the world” (Rom. 4:13). Here is the same Gospel teaching in Ephesians 1:13:
In Messiah, “when you heard the word of the truth - the Gospel of your
salvation - you believed it [cp. Mark 1:14-15: ‘Repent and believe the Gospel
of the Kingdom’] and were sealed in him with the holy spirit of the promise
[that is, of your future inheritance of the
Kingdom.”
Again, in Ephesians 2:12: “Remember that you were at that time separate from
Messiah, aliens from the community of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of
the promise, without hope and without God [Greek: atheists!] in the world.” He
goes on to say that now, as believers in the Kingdom, they are part of the
community of true Israel, the true people of God, fellow citizens with the
saints (Gal. 6:16).
Paul
repeats the same theme over and over. In Galatians 3:1-5, Paul urges them to
understand that the spirit is received in response to intelligent “hearing with
faith” - intelligent reception of the one Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus must
never be separated from his Kingdom Gospel preaching (1 Tim. 6:3; 2 John 9).
The
spirit, as Peter said so well, is “given to those who obey God” (Acts 5:32).
And “the spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:6) since the words of Jesus “are spirit
and truth” (John 6:63).
The
Importance of This Topic
Many
churchgoers think of Jesus as only the one who died and rose. Those facts are,
of course, central to the Gospel, but they are not the whole Gospel. The death
and resurrection are picked out as among the vital
elements
of the Gospel, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 (en protois: “among things
of first importance”).
But
the Gospel was first preached by Jesus, and for a long time Jesus said nothing
about his death and resurrection (see Matt. 16:21: he began to speak of his
death). He preached the Kingdom Gospel constantly. Jesus laid the foundation of
the entire Gospel by announcing the Gospel of the Kingdom, which Mark defines
as “God’s Gospel.” Jesus’ first command was that we are to believe in the
Kingdom Gospel. That is where obedient faith begins (Rom. 1:5; 16:26).
Jesus
unpacked the great saving truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom in the parable of
the seed and the Sower. Jesus noted that none of his parables could be grasped
unless the key parable of the Sower was first understood (Mark 4:13).
Repentance, conversion, and new life in preparation for immortality in the
coming Kingdom are the product of that seed message of the Kingdom. In Mark
4:11-12, Jesus uttered these astonishing words: “The revealed secret of the
kingdom of God has been given to you to understand, but those who are on the
outside get everything in parables [in
that
case inscrutable enigmas and puzzles!], so that [quoting Isaiah 6:9-10], even
though they see they do not perceive, and even though they hear they do not understand.
Otherwise, if they did understand, they would be able to repent and be forgiven
by God.”
This
is staggering preaching, echoing Jesus’ first words in Mark 1:14-15: “Repent
and believe God’s Gospel about the Kingdom of God.” In the absence of a clear
understanding of the Kingdom Gospel, repentance and forgiveness are not
possible! Luke 8:12 is equally a riveting teaching from Messiah Jesus. The Devil
knows very well what is at stake in the matter of
responding
intelligently and believing the Gospel of the Kingdom as preached by Jesus and
all the NT writers: “When anyone hears the word of God [the Kingdom of God
Gospel, Matt. 13:19; Mark 1:14, 15], the Devil comes and snatches away the
message from his heart, so that he cannot believe it and be saved” (Luke 8:12).
The
NT called-out Assembly faithfully preached that same Gospel of the Kingdom and
required belief in the Kingdom Gospel message before men and women were ready
to be obediently baptized in water and become part of the body of the Messiah.
This is the whole point of Acts 8:12, easy to remember in view of Luke 8:12
just discussed!
Once
the Gospel of the Kingdom has been grasped, believers must persist in obedient
faith until the end. “Some people,” Jesus taught, “believe for a while and then
fall away” (Luke 8:13). The seed message of the Gospel of the Kingdom must be
retained and produce the necessary fruit, which results in a successful
entrance into, inheritance of, the Kingdom of God when it comes at Jesus’
future return (his Parousia).
After
a presidential election in the USA, the President-elect chooses his cabinet,
seeking the most qualified and talented personnel for the various jobs in government.
An exact parallel is found in the Biblical teaching and preaching of the
Kingdom. Jesus the Messiah and King of the Kingdom was “about his Father’s
business” (Luke 2:49) - and still is to this day,
selecting
those who will be honored with governmental positions in the first ever really successful
world government (Dan. 7:18, 22, 27; 1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10;
20:1-6; Luke 19:17: “Excellent servant, you are to be in charge of 10 towns”).
“May
your Kingdom come!” (Matt. 6:10). The Kingdom of God frames the Lord’s prayer
as the central and most important topic in God’s great world
plan.
Daniel 7:27 is an astonishing vision of the world and its societies as they
will be when the seventh trumpet announcing the return of the Messiah sounds
(Rev. 11:15-18). Use Luke 23:42-43 as a gift of light to your Christianity.
This should be your prayer and hope: “Remember me when you come into your
Kingdom!” “Truly I tell you today, [note where the comma goes!] You will be
with me in paradise.”
Written by Anthony Buzzard and edited by Bruce Lyon
