We are Family
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." - John 3:6
When Jesus said these words to Nicodemus, He was unveiling the Father's plan of creating afresh a family of His own. [His initial plan for a family through Adam had been thwarted by sin and the descendants of Adam had joined with the devil]. "... that which is born of the Spirit is spirit". Just as human beings reproduce human beings, of similar characteristics and heredity, so God's children are to be of the spirit. As born-again children of God, we are spirit and not flesh. We bear God's nature, His heredity, and share His characteristics.
1 Peter 1:23; "... having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and
abides forever". In Genesis, God established a law when He said, "Every seed reproduces after its own kind". Therefore when man puts his faith in the redemptive work of Christ, God puts within Him His God-seed. The New English Bible says "you have been born anew, not of mortal parentage but of immortal ..." The j.B. Phillips Bible says, "For you are sons of God now; the live permanent Word of the living God has given you His own indestructible heredity."
This God-seed that was placed in our human spirit at the new birth is now reproducing after its own kind. This is why as His children we are ever being changed into the likeness of Christ, because He's the Word-seed in us by the Holy Spirit.
With a new spirit, a mind undergoing renewal and a promise of an incorruptible body, God's grace is coming into perfection in our lives. Listen to the gratitude and wonderment that burst out of the heart of John when he contemplated what God has done for us; "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1). It is no wonder then that Paul viewed our present sufferings in this world as nothing compared to our future glory; "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).
Now, through His divinely conceived genetic process known as the new birth, we can share in His nature, life and heredity. We are bona fide, legitimate children of God. Both redeemed humanity and Jesus now have the same Father. We are next of kin to the Trinity, we are now part of the extended family of the Godhead. Hebrews 2:11-12 NIV says, "Both the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." Ephesians 1:4 in the L.B. says, "Long ago, even before He made the world, God chose us to be his very own, through what Christ should do for us." And Romans 8:29 L.B. says, "For from the beginning God decided that those who came to him – and all along he knew who would – became like his Son, so that his Son would be the first, with many brothers."
The new birth is God's way of creating us after the likeness of His Son, our Prototype. We are family, now let's enjoy our Father from inside the veil rather than from the outside.
Father thank You for Your matchless grace that has begotten us again. Thank You for the privilege of sonship. What a glory that we are now sons of God! Give us the grace to live in the consciousness of who we are in Christ. Thank You Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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