To Be Born Again, Or To Be Borne From Above? The scriptural reference for this is “John 3.1-12”
To Be Born again? Or Borne from above? These two words have more in common than just the pronunciation. Then you may ask, isn’t this just a play on words. To which we say yes. It is a parable and a play on words and play means to put on an act or a show for explanation purposes only, be it by words or putting on a play.
In this case like all of scripture, it is to make known the invisible things of God “in Christ” to where we are “The Called and The Elect”. That we are delivered and “borne by the Spirit”. Like all carnally visual things, they have their Eternal counterparts for fulfillment when you learn what the picture play is all about. That when you understand the comparisons in contrasts, you can receive the re-presentation as of something un-tangible and invisible to the carnal senses, but immensely more substantial in the spirit of your mind. The Spirit becomes your new reality. The reason for the comparisons, is to draw upon the contrasts for the conclusion and the fulfillment of that demonstration to have and to own as the new you!
And here to be “born again” is NOT like Nicodemus who rudely said “what are we suppose to do? Go back into our mothers womb to try again? He was being facetious. For you see to be born is to be brought out, but to be “borne from above”, is to be carried about, presumably from one place to another like “far above all principalities, seated in Heavenly places”! Ephesians 2
We see this again here even in the Old Testament in Exodus 19.4 where The I AM said “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.” You didn’t see that one coming did you?
We see here from the dictionary, Both born and borne are forms of bear. Born is commonly used with the sense of bear meaning “to give birth.” Borne is used in reference to carrying something (physically or figuratively), as a combining form with words like air, and, occasionally, in the “give birth to” sense.
And the context of “born again” is also correctly used with birth because as scripture says that “we are begotten (born, borne and brought forth) by a Word of Truth to be a (same) kind of first fruits of His (Gods new) creation.” And again from John of those “borne of the Spirit”. Meaning that we are born again, brought forth, carried about, lifted up and raised up, however different by way of contrasts. Those like all from Adam die and return to the dust and fear such, but we who are borne and carried about by the Spirit we never depart, and “we have past from death to life” the moment we are re-spirited, and “born again” meaning “borne from above”. Death no longer has dominion over us and fear for us is dead because “fear involves torment” and is the dominant product of being dead to the Spirit and the invisible things of God, and “His Kingdom at hand” that the disciples were instructed to proclaim first.
Like all who are born from Adam and Eve, are born by coming out, but of Christ “The New Creation “ we are borne into (for recognizing the contrasts as) the family of God to be “in Christ” and not out of Eve who came out of Adam. We are borne into the family of God.
In a human way a baby is slapped on the bottom to then cry to jump start its breathing (spirit) to sustain that life. However in contrast God says “So shall My word be that goes forth (borne) from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 12 “For you shall go out (and be borne)with joy, And be led forth with peace; No spanking involved.
This all happens before your physical body expires and returns to the dust. Primarily because your carnal senses and reasoning skills are required to interact with these presentations, parables and plays on words and made knowable by tutorial of The Holy Spirit so that you can respond in kind, being His kind of spirit and truth. “16 Therefore, from now on, we (who are borne of the Spirit) regard no one according to the flesh (and human endeavor). Even though we have known Christ in the likeness of the flesh (and His physical descriptions), yet from now on we know Him that way NO MORE. 17 Therefore, if anyone is (borne) in Christ, they are (already) a new creation; old things have (ALREADY) passed away; behold, all things have (ALREADY) become new. 18 Now all things are (ALREADY) from God, in contrast of what you had from Adam and Eve. And this has to happen before your body expires and returns to the dust, For out of dust you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” But we are born of the Spirit.
Your limited term here is to acquire this extraordinary gift because without human factors, senses and reasoning skills, with what then shall you use to interact with, process and learn something about the invisible to transfigure to? For what purpose then we’re you given this life other than for this discovery? And if you do not have the contrasts of creation to compare with, how could you know cold from hot, light from dark, right from wrong, earthen verses Heavenly? And since you are called to be born again and from above, how then can you respond with out the sensors and reasoning skills to do so? And how can you be held accountable to do something you had no body to do it with? And so we plead with you, be reconciled with Christ!!
You may think here that to experience Gods things while we are in a flesh body is an impossible notion. But remember, Christ spoke John 3 as you just read, while He was a man like us, for it is also written that “The (invisible) Word became (born into the) flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His Glory”. Showing us that it is the re-spirited mind of faith that is to reside in a flesh body that can also possess “the fullness of the Godhead body”. Where it’s also said “and of His fullness we have received, grace upon grace” of heaping helpings of Promises coming true in the composition that endures for Etrernal Life, being Spirit and Truth.
The truth be told, Gods image was given to Adam first but he lost it, and why those who remain “in Adam” and unchanged, they don’t get it either. You are accounted “in Christ”, “in Adam”, “in Satan” or in the middle. You are better off to be in the middle than to reject this Gospel, however when your reasoning skills expire, so do your opportunities to cross over.
Your time frame for discovery is your life span. For the Elect, “we (already) have this treasure in earthen vessel’s (our human vessel) that the Glory and the excellency may be of God (that is in us) and not from ourselves”. (2 Corinthians 4.17)
Even as The Father said through Isaiah “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.“ And as 1 John 4.17 says that as He is (now), so are we in this world”. Who also said “the wind blows wherever it wishes, you can hear the sound of it but you cannot see where it comes from of where it goes, so is everyone borne (brought forth and carried about) by the spirit”. So that we can learn to interact with the things we have of “His Kingdom at hand” as attainable and useable while we have our reasoning factors.
So then the practical application for us is the answer to this question from Psalms 11.1“ How can you say to my soul like a bird, flea to My mountain “ unless we can be “borne by the Spirit” for this task.
And for those who acquire this gift, then like the Christ man who paid for our entrance fee into “The Kingdom of God at hand” by taking our old person by carrying away (and borne) our weaknesses, sin and feebleness to the cross as assimilated in the scapegoat parable. And from Psalms 103.12 who wrote “As far as the east is from the west, So far has Our God removed our transgressions from us“ so that we can not only see The kingdom of God, we can also rise up and enter it and interact therein, as we read in John 3 by being borne of The Spirit as scripture offers. Amen! (John 3. 3-5)
And what about Christ talking with the Samaritan woman at the well who contended with Him about Samaria or Jerusalem as being the approved place to worship God? He told her ”the hour (you think) is (yet)coming, now is, when the true (bona fide) worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (This is the game changer) 24 For God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.” (apart from the proof your flesh demands) 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah who is (going to) coming”. “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” In others words, she was looking at the One whom she expected to COME later. And if she was willing to accept the word at face value, she would not have needed to see Christ that way for Him to save her. And it is likely that because she saw the man Jesus, she still did not see the Messiah because even the man was just a parable to launch her to the other side.
Remember that just as a caterpillar can NOT understand the life and flight of a butterfly because it is ground bound looking down, so too the un-generated mind of faith whose focus is on a Scriptural fulfillment on Earth as the completion of Gods word, just cannot get this. They cannot enter “The Kingdom of God at hand” that we espouse, because they just cannot see what we are talking about. Even as they asked in Christ’s day “are you the coming One (who is suppose to save us) or should we seek another (one to do so)?” As many do today.
Warning; If your looking for another Jesus for another saving to have another go at another Jerusalem, you are going to be sorely disappointed. You are ground bound and looking down too like the proverbial caterpillar who is missing out on its transfiguration (from the Greek word metamorphosis) into a butterfly. Since “the Kingdom of God is at hand” even now according to the gospel and our testimony, what then should appear here next that you expect to become a reality later? That we are talking about “The Kingdom prepared from the foundations of the world” as a pre-existing Eternal place that precedes and supercedes the ground you walk on. (Matthew 25.34) That “those who are borne from above can enter the Kingdom”? Is that you? And of “Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever”? (Hebrews 13.8)
It was as Paul said to those in 2 Thessalonians 2. who were caught up (borne) in the deception of another coming (type of) Christ in a carnal fashion “with all lying signs and wonders if possible to deceive the Elect” whose coming one “shall be consumed by The Breath of His mouth and The Brightness of His coming”, and “the coming whose according to Satan” who is the god of this age.
Even as Christ said when He was chided by the Jews about His kingdom “Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now (and still true today) My kingdom is not from here.”
Here then is the 2 Thessalonians 2 riddle explained. The Breath of His mouth is not oxygen but The Holy Spirit, and The Brightness of His coming is NOT like the sun but 7 times brighter, being the same bright light who blinded Paul at his conversion ( Acts 26.13). Paul was of the “brood of vipers” and “sons of Satan”, because he defended the physical Jerusalem (think old wine skins) and even put some to death for leaving it. However later Pauls testimony to the Thessalonians of (The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, in order to be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong (physical) delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Was because they rejected The Kingdom of God at Hand for one being built.
Gods one time saving act was the cross, meaning any other such hope of being saved in a different way or a different time is an insult to Christ’s saving of the cross, that amounts to blasphemy. Because (God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but for the world to be saved through Him”. So you have to go back to the cross. To this you may say, well yah He saved back then but what about not? To which we say, forever people are not on a timeframe. Meaning He had to perform His saving once and it is beneficial in that age and any age including our age because He in truth is “The Lamb Slain from before the foundations of the world”. Meaning He’s got you covered, if you can receive it. This is what righteousness means. He did it right the first and only time to be appropriated by you by faith, your first invisible tool. (Hebrews 11.1-3)
If you remember Christ told the disciples, do not depart from Jerusalem but wait until you have heard from Me”. Who also told them that they would preach the Gospel of “The Kingdom of God at hand” to all the nations after they were filled with the Holy Spirit. That then they could depart from Jerusalem to do so. And it was at Pentecost where people from all languages, nations and tongues were speaking the Glories of God because a stewardship change had taken place (Genesis 49.10-11), and a first promise that was made was now being played out that Abraham would be the Father of many nations and not just the Jews who amounted to 1/12 of the 12 tribes.
So you see Paul was not talking about a physical cataclysmic event or the end of the world at all with “the breath of His mouth and the brightness of His coming or he would not have described Christ’s coming with what he had already encountered at his conversion.
Maybe this is your time for your conversion as such and your opportunity “being Born above” to see and enter (the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Galatians 4.26). This is the Heavenly Jerusalem in the way Christ was trying to convey to the religiously hardened heart of Nicodemus who came to Him at night, showing us the contrast between Testaments and Kingdoms.
Fortunately for Paul he saw the bright light 7 times brighter than humanly possible on the road to Damascus. The question here is, can you see this too? Can you receive Christ in is natural habitat, because that is your inheritance if can receive it.
And again from Isaiah “How can you say to my soul like a bird to flee ( to be air born) to your mountain? If you cannot answer this question, DO NOT move forward until you get this because if these truths pass you by and you don’t advance, you will be judged as such, for how will you answer the Judge? But more importantly, if you cannot grasp this reality of being borne into the life in the Spirit, how can you ever hear the same voice that may say to you “come My people and enter your chambers, for God is coming out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth” if you don’t know how to do it? He is our Good Shepard and we can “go in and out and find pasture.” We just need to grasp how to do it.
In the same way, “The Kingdom of God is at hand”. Enter into the Joy of God who promised us He’d never leave us or forsake us, just so we know what He looks like. Even as He told the Israelites “remember when I instructed you, you saw nobody and I took on no form”. So Don’t insult Him and His saving ability for even as the Son said “they will say look here and look there, but DO NOT follow them because The Kingdom of God is within you.
So we, like the apostles and as Paul saw, not the man but the blinding light, have seen Christ after His resurrection in accordance with 1 Corinthians 15.5 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that (after His resurrection) he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born (borne) in my own time.
Is this your time to be “borne and carried about by the spirit”? Not as a one time act but a lifestyle in your “own time”? At this time? And on time? To “see The Kingdom? To “enter The Kingdom”. The “Kingdom of God At Hand”? Well that is a lesson from John 3.