“After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.””
John 3:2-3 NLT
In a recent post (“Child of God“) we considered the apparently contentious concept of being “born again”. John mentioned it in John 1:13, “They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God“. But here we have a late night conversation between a Pharisee called Nicodemus and Jesus. Nicodemus starts off with a complement, but Jesus cuts through the fluffiness with a response that blows Nicodemus away. Jesus said that there was only one way to “see the Kingdom of God” and that was by being born again.
The concept of the Kingdom of God was something very familiar to the Jewish nation. They were waiting for the arrival of the Messiah who they expected would establish a Jewish kingdom on earth with God as their King. They had read the prophecies in the Old Testament. We too can read them, for example, Daniel 2:44, “During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever“. Such prophecy fuelled the expectation of the Jews but here they were under the yoke of a cruel occupying nation, the Romans. Their expectation of a physical Kingdom of God seemed a long way off, and we know that Jesus came to bring a different Kingdom, a spiritual Kingdom, membership of which entailed the process of being “born again”. We know that the state of Israel was finally established in 1948, a physical kingdom at last, but one day it will be the centre of the spiritual Kingdom of God.
So we fast forward to 21st Century Planet Earth. What does this “Kingdom of God” mean to us pilgrims? Although we would love to see God rule and reign over His creation in a physical way, it is the spiritual Kingdom that we have the opportunity to be a part of. This is a Kingdom where God rules and reigns over the people who are within it – including us pilgrims. So the implication is that all those who have rejected God, (the default position of mankind), will not be able to be a part of this God-Kingdom. But we who have read to the end of the Book know that Jesus came the first time to establish the spiritual Kingdom, and will come a second time to establish the physical Kingdom.
As we follow the discourse between Nicodemus and Jesus, we find some time-honoured truths that are life changing. Truths that have divided the church. But right at the heart of the issue of citizenship of the Kingdom of God is being “born again”. God cannot have anyone in His Kingdom who does not want that spiritual relationship with Him. So we reach out to our Heavenly Father today, assured of our salvation, basking in His love and grace. There is no better place to be.
Heavenly Father. We worship You this day and every day. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 