"Metamorphosis: A Look at the New Birth" by Justin Zehr

The one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Strength is Strength. It's wonderful to see you, those of you who have decided to join us here early on a Saturday morning.

Um, as nice as it is to have technology like this where we can get a message out to a global audience, our vision here at Strength is Strength is that we would each find ourselves in a flourishing community of followers of Jesus Christ, and our hope is to inspire you to, um, find believers and fellowship with them in person. Um, today we have Justin Zehr from Southwestern Ontario, Canada, fellow Canadian, joining us here to discuss Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus.

Um, Justin's also part of the admin team here at Strength is Strength and does a lot of the tech work and, um, behind-the-scenes activity here. We appreciate everything that he does, um, all the hard work that he puts in here. And after our talk, we'll have an open, we'll open it up for discussion and for questions. So I have something prepared for that. Um, before we begin, let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Father eternal, we come to you this morning, um, with grateful hearts that you are alive and reigning in the heavens and seeing all things. We thank you, Lord, that you have called us and you've given us hope with that calling. Thank you that you have not left us destitute in the places that we were, but have called us out into new life in Jesus Christ. We look forward to hearing about this, um, transformation this morning in this talk. Just be with Brother Justin as he shares what you have laid on his heart, and maybe we be inspired anew when we remember the new birth that we've experienced, but also inspired to share the gospel with those around us so that they too can, um, experience transformation of life.

We just pray, Lord, that your name would be praised in this and be with each one who hears this, and may it be a blessing and encouragement to them. I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Go ahead, Justin.

All right, well, good morning, everyone, and, uh, it's good to be here again this morning with you to look into the Word of God and see what we can learn from John 3 and, and also take a look at a little creature in God's creation.

Um, so like was introduced, uh, in this talk, we'll be looking at the miracle of new birth and, uh, the metamorphosis of one who is transformed into the likeness of Christ. The miracle of one who is dead in sin and trapped in a state of fallen humanity, then becoming a new creature through Christ, through, in Christ, through the new birth.

So we're going to, this morning, let a little creature teach us big things about our awesome Creator and his renewal or redemption plan for all of us. And something to note or listen for when we talk about a subject like this is that in English, we use a lot of words that start with the, with the, uh, prefix R-E. So we are renewed, we are redeemed, and so forth. And that has the idea of bringing us back to what we once were. So God created us as, as perfect human beings without sin, and we as humanity have fallen into sin and now are being restored, redeemed back from that place to the original plan. And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning.

I'll just, uh, share my screen here.

Okay, so here's the, uh, little slideshow I have about the, uh, monarch butterfly and the metamorphosis that it experiences. And then we're going to go, uh, take a deeper look at the passage in John 3 after that. So metamorphosis has, um, a couple meanings. We'll look at that.

I just have to figure out how to. There we go. Okay, so the meanings of metamorphosis, I thought were, uh, fascinating just from a dictionary I grabbed online. Um, 1A is change of physical form, structure, or substance, especially by supernatural means. That word supernatural in just a modern-day dictionary, um, yeah, hit a chord with me. I like that, that they're admitting it's supernatural. It's, it's beyond what science can even really explain. It's sort of like they're saying it's a miracle. And the miracle of new birth in Christ is also, uh, just as outstanding, if not more.

So the next one talks about a striking alteration in appearance, character, or circumstances, like a company has gone through a series of metamorphosis. So it's talking about change. And then the second meaning is talking about, uh, the what happens in these little creatures, like a butterfly or a frog, in how they go from an egg to a worm and so forth, a caterpillar into a butterfly.

All right, so this morning we're looking at the monarch, um, because it is such a beautiful creature. There's other creatures, other butterflies, of course, and moths that go through the same cycle, and frogs do as well when they go from an egg to swimming tadpole to growing their legs and dropping their tails. That's another fascinating metamorphosis, but this morning we're going to be looking at the monarch butterfly.

This is a creature that is not as plentiful as it used to be when I was young, or at least that's how I kind of remember it. I think they say there was more milkweed around, and so you'd see more of them. And, uh, it's my favorite butterfly by far. So here is a picture of them congregating at a place called Point Peely. It's a national park in Canada. It's our most southern part of mainland Canada.

Um, it's where the land formation goes into a point reaching down into Lake Erie directly above the city of Cleveland, Ohio. So as these butterflies are migrating south in the fall, September, they all, the land formation sort of funnels them here to this point, and then they rest before they make the long journey across the lake. Butterflies don't fly as, as far and, uh, as hard as birds, so they need to really recharge for this flight across the lake. And, uh, if you go to Point Peely in September, it, uh, especially, uh, I think it's the third week of September is when they start to hit. It is really fascinating to see these clusters of monarchs as they, uh, rest together before making that journey.

So here we have the, uh, metamorphosis stage. Um, we start with the egg, and then the egg hatches, and then a worm appears that we call the caterpillar. The caterpillar goes through a very aggressive growing stage and eats a lot of leaves to prepare for its chrysalis stage. And as it's in its chrysalis stage, um, it's hanging there and, uh, and it appears dead and appears like there's nothing alive. And then out of that cocoon, an adult emerges, and we have this beautiful butterfly unfolding its wings, letting them dry and taking its first flight within hours of crawling out of its cocoon.

Very fascinating, um, to watch. So when I was in school, I think it was about grade one, yeah, would have been grade one, my teacher was able to find a caterpillar that she recognized as a monarch caterpillar. She brought it into school in a jar, and we fed it leaves, uh, milkweed. Milkweed leaves is what they love to live on. That's the plant there in the upper, um, left corner there.

And, uh, we watched it eat, and then we, with fascination, watched it, um, make its own cocoon. And, uh, it hung there for a while on a stick that we had in the jar, and then, um, eventually broke free. And we were afraid that it's going to happen at night or on a weekend when we weren't there, but we did get to see it, um, come free and start to wiggle inside of that thin, uh, cocoon skin. You can see as it goes from the green stage of the early stages, it starts to really thin out, and you can actually see the actual butterfly right through this, uh, clear, um, window, clear skin, and the butterfly is about to be hatched.

So we got to watch this, and the butterfly emerged, and we took the stick outside, and it was a matter of within an hour or an hour and a half, I think it was, the butterfly took its first flight and flew off. It was very, uh, fascinating to watch, and it left a deep impression on me.

So we're going to look at a couple types that these stages could be. And, uh, the egg, first of all, could be a type of our, our physical life. The early stages were, were young. Um, we're sort of planted here by our parents, and even we're, um, affected by even the parents of our parents and beyond. Um, it sort of sets us on a course, and we're here, um, affected by their culture, by their ways of life, by their ideologies, and we're kind of helpless in that, uh, effect where we can't really choose for ourselves where we're planted and what culture we're in. But, uh, we're put here for a purpose, you know, and God planted us here.

Um, and, and we're sort of like an egg where we're not here by choice, but we're here in the middle of maybe a pasture on a milkweed plant, and, uh, we go from there. And that's how our life begins. We're impacted by our predecessors in a significant way and set on a course for life in ways of ideology and culture. So then this could also typify early stages of spiritual life. So we're kind of looking at both physical and spiritual here. And we're also planted in a way spiritually. It could be that we grew up in a church environment where we were taught things about God and Christianity from a young age, or, um, we are planted elsewhere where we have very little.

And, and yet God uses things and people to point us to himself, um, no matter where we're planted.

And then it could typify being exposed to the good news for the very first time at any age. It's sort of like a seed is planted.

And we're introduced to the, maybe we're introduced to a nation of God, to the nation of God or communities of followers. Um, so whether we're born into this or whether we're an observer from the outside, both we're kind of exposed to it and kind of introduced to it. Um, when we're born in, in a community of followers, we have a heavy-duty, um, influence and, uh, it's all around us. And so we're taught more than anyone who would be just an outside observer.

And that way we have an advantage. It's like we're, we're not, um, on a plant that we're going to barely survive on somewhere out in the boonies, but we're in a pasture of many milkweed plants and, uh, it's easier to thrive there.

And we, uh, do this. We are exposed to communities by observing care and love for each other. So then we, we move on into the larva stage. And this is a type of our fallen nature. And we're crawling on our bellies and, uh, we're a worm. And the Bible likens us to worms when we're without Christ.

This could also typify the early adolescent stage where they grow and they eat. We have a teenager now. So it lines up with that as well. And there's not a lot of purpose or maturity there. They just tend to, um, take life in what's there in front of them and eat it, eat it up. There's a lot of eating happening and they're growing exponentially. Um, they're possibly also struggling with sin and harmful habits and not sure how to handle it. And so that is why it's so important that we as Christian parents guide them through this stage.

It also in the spiritual world could be a type of someone who's processing the newfound beliefs of the gospel, the kingdom, and they're digesting what they hear, both good and bad. Sometimes when we're being exposed to the teachings of Christianity, we're going to drink in from all around us. We're going to take in sermons or books or media, and we're sorting through what we hear because not everything is maybe quite the same message, and it's maybe not all authentic or, uh, truthful. So we're digesting everything, good and bad, and we're trying to learn more about what we're hearing. And we're growing in the knowledge of this wonderful story of Jesus and what it means to us.

But we're still a worm crawling in the ways of self. We're still, we're still that person that isn't, um, redeemed fully yet. We're, we're sort of turned towards God in a way. We're learning, but we haven't, um, been actually born again. That new creature in Christ is still about to happen.

It's impossible to fly or get out of sin on our own when we're in this stage. We are stuck in it. We are, um, often dealing with addiction when we're, when we're not in Christ, um, in some form or another, because we all have hurts and pains from the past, and then we try to medicate them with, uh, pleasure and with things we enjoy, and then they become addictions.

So then we move on to the chrysalis, uh, stage. This is a type of, of coming to the end of oneself. So you've, you've started on this journey of discovering God and the story of Jesus, the gospel message. And, uh, we're realizing that there's something that needs to take place in order for us to fully engage and fully, um, have a realization of Christianity in one's life and to be part of the kingdom of Christ and have Christ as Lord of our life. We're going to have to come to the end of ourself and see that we are weak apart from him, and there's nothing we can do. We're trapped in sin. And so we end up hanging by this little thread like the chrysalis, and it seems like there's not much between us and falling to the abyss.

We're recognizing our helplessness, and then we're realizing there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. So chrysalis is the type of death. They go in here to die. It's like a little, uh, mummified, um, um, corpse, like the Egyptians would have done back in the day, all wrapped up tight. So it's like they put themselves to death and they, they wrap up and, uh, they die hoping for new life.

So it's letting go of our freedom. Our old man wants to do what it wants and not have to submit our will to the will of Christ and the will of the Father. And so to be able to let go of this takes a bit of a process to get to this point.

We're dying to the old ways of life and to oneself. We begin realizing that the way we've walked has not been a good way, and there hasn't been good fruit coming out of it. And so we start coming to that end, that realization. And so we start dying. We start starving that old way and life to oneself. And so this creature is no longer, uh, eating all it can eat, but it's, it's there, um, sort of dying to itself.

And it's also a type of being buried with him in baptism, like the Bible teaches. We're, we're submerged, we're inside, and we're about to break forth a new life.

So the chrysalis is a type of being buried, and we're placed in this condition of helplessness to wait for a miracle to take place. And this, the skin is starting to thin, and we're starting to see hope of new life about to take place. And just as a seed is pushed into the cold earth and its outer shell dies, so must our outer shell die. Our, our physical, our physical form in a way dies because it can't do what it wants anymore. It is no longer king in our life. Now Christ is king, and our body is servant to him.

So must our outer shell die to allow new life to spring within and make us new creatures from the inside out. That's what I love about the work of Christ, that it, it, it changes us from inside out. No part is untouched. So we have the mature adult coming out, unfolding its wings, letting them dry, and we have a fresh start. We're a new creature. We're resurrected in Christ Jesus. We have freedom from the confinement, the confinement not only of being an egg that's helped us on the plant, but then also the freedom from being in the stage of a larva who had a little bit more movement, but still was very confined to the plant, basically.

And then the confinement, of course, of being trapped in that, uh, time of, of dying to oneself. You know, Christ's will is that we die to ourself and that we put to death the deeds of the old man. But he doesn't want us to stay there. He wants us to emerge from that and experience freedom, freedom to be able to do the endless possibilities that are in front of us. We have wide open skies. So now we're able to fly, to actually rise above the trials of life and doing that because we know whose hands we are in.

And we're, we're doing this all in the power of Christ. None of this is of our own. And, and, and that's what's, uh, what was fascinating, or it's fascinating to me how the Jews had a difficulty grasping this, that it's a miracle of Christ within because they were so used to being accepted of God by just following the Torah. Um, we're, we're, we're saved in essentially in their minds by, by following the law.

And so now to realize that the law does not save us, but it's the power of Christ within was something they had to work through. And, and Paul was, um, teaching that to them in the book of Romans.

So, um, we also have see fruitfulness. Our old unproductive dead man is shed and left behind. We are now creatures of number one, productivity, number two, creativity, and three, health and growth. Our creator wants us to be a creator as well, to create spaces where there is growth for others, to, to, um, create, um, beauty around us, whether it's through our actions or, or however we do this, but to leave this world a better place as we, uh, journey through it. He wants us to, um, be productive and produce fruit for him, produce, um, actions and disciplines in our life that, that, uh, affect others to draw them into the kingdom and to encourage them on their journey and also to glorify God.

Those are two main fruits we need to produce. So wrapping this slideshow up here, um, with this verse, Second Corinthians 5:17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And that is the story of the monarch butterfly.

So we're going to move on here and look at the, uh, interaction with Jesus and Nicodemus. So in John 3, verses 1 to 21, we have this interaction that Jesus had here with Nicodemus, who was a, uh, leader and a spiritual leader in, in Israel. And, uh, he had questions for Jesus. So he came by night. He didn't really want to be seen with Christ because his peers were very opposed to Christ and had no use for him. What he was saying and teaching was going against what they thought and taught. So he came to Jesus by night. And I'm just going to read John 3:1 to 21 because there is so much about the beginning of the Christian journey that we get from this passage that, um, really isn't talked a whole lot about in other parts of the New Testament.

Um, this, this thing of new birth, we, we see it referred to and we see that, um, as they, um, wrote the epistles that it was a very known thing. And they, and they, uh, they did talk a little bit about it, but not as extensively as Jesus did here to Nicodemus in the cover of darkness. This wasn't being preached to a crowd. This was a very, um, personal interaction here.

All right, John 3:1 to 21. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus saith unto him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst tell whence it cometh or whether it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered and said unto him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said unto him, "Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?

And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son unto the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

Well, how do you think Nicodemus felt when Jesus gave this rather clear, um, teaching here? And, uh, almost I'm wondering if he even felt reproved for coming to Christ at night, because he, he talks about here, uh, men loving darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. And, uh, I wonder if Jesus said this on purpose here in this context. But anyway, it does show how, um, mankind is, uh, by nature. We, we do not like to be exposed. We'd rather, uh, hide in the shadows to do our deeds because our deeds are evil. And, uh, the light, the light of God's truth and his glory exposes this for what it is. And, and that's what the Pharisees were really pushing back on, was because there was a lot of darkness in their way of life and their way of teaching and, uh, controlling the people of Israel.

And so when Christ came and he shone that light, um, it made a lot of what they were doing look really, um, bad. And they were discovering that they were evil. But not only, um, was it for that sake, but it was to show that, that all of Israel needed to be born again, even if they were following the law to the T. And, uh, that even if they loved God, there was, there was a repentance that needed to happen to accept this, this kingdom of Christ, this new way of, of living to be born again into the kingdom of God, the spiritual kingdom out of the physical kingdom of Israel. So here Jesus lays out that the only way to be part of the kingdom of God is by being born into it.

So we can't join this nation by simply hanging around and, and just being part of it, um, by given a passport or a green card after a while, that kind of thing. We're not given recognition into the kingdom of God until we're born into it. We have to start from the very beginning as babes in Christ and be born through the water and the Spirit into this marvelous nation of God.

So we're born the first time of our natural mother, and we're a descendant of the first Adam. We are born the second time of our spiritual father and now heirs with the second Adam. First, a descendant of the first Adam now heirs with the second Adam. So it's like we're leaving the old family behind in a sense and becoming part of a new family, a family that lives eternally. Um, the family of the first Adam faces mortality and death. There is, there's just no other way. And so now we become part of the new family of God, which is spiritual and lives on for eternity. So we need to be born into this family.

So why was Nicodemus seemingly so rattled by this idea? He says, how can a man, when he is old, be born again? And was this new birth such a jolting new idea to him?

Well, Jesus goes on to say, are you a teacher of Israel and you do not know these things? And then he seems to sort of drop some more hints at, uh, some things that should have brought some ideas or the stories from the past to his mind. He talks about being born of the water and of the Spirit.

And I think he was indirectly, um, in code language, so to speak, referring to that crossing of the Red Sea. They were born through the water and the wind was there to hold back the water. So both of these elements were present and they were born as a nation again out of the nation of, of, of Egypt. And I, I think that's what Jesus was trying to bring to his mind. And, and Nicodemus should have had this story very clear in his mind, but he didn't seem to connect it to what Jesus was saying here at this time. God clearly left the Israelites as a foreshadow of the new birth in the story of them coming out of the land of Egypt.

And it, it's, it's a lot easier for us to say today now that we can experience new birth and then look back on what they experienced in that time. Uh, we can see a lot of parallels and connections there. Um, but Jesus seems to think that Nicodemus should have seen this as well, being a teacher of Israel, being very familiar with that story and with how God worked through them. So I think that is why Jesus is saying, are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things?

So these people were born the first time in Egypt and then, and then they became part of a new nation, the children of Israel, following God as their guide. Before that, they didn't really know God that well. He was very distant.

Um, it seemed like the, the faith in God had been very weak at that time. And so they were born again as a new nation, as followers of God, and they had their, his presence with them through the cloud as they, um, walked out of that experience and they left the old behind. And literally there was death of the old man, of the old nation, um, dying in that, uh, that sea, just like it is when we are, are baptized. So there's a couple types of the, the experience of the Red Sea. I think we see here, we see also the, uh, type that the people were born the first time through the Red Sea experience and then a new nation of the, of people of God.

And also there's the type that, um, they were born in Egypt, physical beings, just like we're born in wherever we're born, and then we're born again through the water and the Spirit. And so then they experienced that as well, the born again.

And they were led by the foreshadow type of Christ, who is Moses, who led them as children learning to know their God and who is their God, like I said, with the, uh, the presence, visible presence through the cloud, which is a type of the Spirit of God with us today.

And they had to develop, they had to grow in their maturity. And a lot of times that faith was tested as they journeyed. The new Moses is Jesus, who came to lead the children of Israel again into the promised land of his kingdom. So in, in some ways that was their, um, their first birth. And now they needed to be born again into the kingdom of heaven, an everlasting kingdom, a kingdom that is without borders and without being restricted to, to time. It lived on eternally. So it, it, it was a kingdom that rose above the restrictions of the physical world, both in border and in time.

So this to me is a fascinating type of Israel coming out of the land of Egypt, which typifies the old life being left behind and now being baptized into a new birth and becoming a new nation whose God is the Lord. And we can learn from the experience of the children of Israel to, um, know what's happening in our own life when we become part of the kingdom of God and, and to use that whole experience of God working with the children of Israel and, and to see his patience and long suffering as he works with us, as we journey, uh, towards him. You know, even as babes in Christ and when we're born again, we're baptized, there's often so much growing and maturing we need to do from that point on.

And God has the patience for that. Another thing that is interesting to note about Jesus teaching here is that he uses the Greek word hemos for where we have translated you, you must be born again. And this is the plural form of you. He's not saying singular you must be born again, but you as a people, as plural form, um, must be born again. You as a nation of Israel must all enter into this kingdom of heaven by one way, and that is by being born again, by being a new creature in Christ.

And this was not to appeal to Nicodemus's personal salvation solely, but to the whole nation of Israel. That was Christ's, um, work that he came to do was to redeem Israel and to draw them into this kingdom, this new kingdom. Um, and so he was, he was telling a leader of Israel that you as plural form must join.

And it sort of goes against, uh, what we hear a lot in modern day language and in evangelical world, especially is that it's all about a personal salvation. It's about personally being saved. And, and I, I had some neighbors across the road from us when we lived in the village of Dashwood, who the, uh, he was, he was a, uh, um, well, I forget the church denomination, what they call themselves, but a very, uh, Calvinistic view and, and very important to them was the day, the actual day that you became a Christian. So personal salvation was extremely important to them. And it is, it is important because through us personally experiencing this, we together as a body are born again.

But it's interesting to note that Jesus is appealing to a larger group and that salvation always is about a community of believers. It's not about us individually. It's not us and God. It's we as a body and God.

Salvation, while it affects us personally, is largely about becoming part of a nation. And this is, it helps us to put to death self a little more. I think when we teach salvation in the gospel in this way, that we are part of a bigger and broader picture and we're part of a nation of many believers who have maybe diversity in views and, and ideas, but we come together and we learn from each other and, and we're part of this kingdom of God together. We are not in this alone. And therefore we don't have to be elevated above others and, and try to have a following, but rather we're all following Christ together. We're all part of the, the bigger picture.

So looking at this a little more again, um, the crossing of the Red Sea does typify us personally coming to Christ, um, as well. So we're personally making that decision to follow Christ and we're ready to commit our lives to him. And so we're baptized, we're brought through the sea, um, and then from then on we cross through the perilous wilderness of the Christian journey. And we're all in that journey while we're on earth. We're, we're learning more about God and we're glorifying his name through sometimes very hard experiences. And we sometimes feel like we're starving and, and short of what it takes. And yet God always provides what we need in that day and in that moment.

And then we finally arrive at the promised land after conquering the enemy. And I think heaven is going to mean a lot more to us because we've walked this journey through the wilderness and we've learned how to conquer the enemy and live above him with the power of Christ. And, and, uh, heaven and being with Christ in eternity is going to mean so much more to us.

So in this way, these people were also born again, first as Hebrews in a strange land, then crossed the Red Sea, severed their ties with their past and their birthplace, the land of bondage, and then born again as a nation led by God, the children of Israel.

Another thing that Nicodemus should have been familiar with that, um, maybe is why Jesus said, are you a teacher in Israel and don't understand this concept of new birth is the, uh, miracle of a seed. So we place a dead seed into the dirt and it dies there in the dirt. It is buried and comes to life again. It is reborn. So I'm thinking that Jesus also maybe was thinking of this and that he should have thought of this type. A seed is born again. A plant is born again. And Peter ties this thought of new birth to the thought of a seed. In First Peter 1:22 to 23, he says, since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

So this new birth, this new plant that emerges abides forever. It doesn't die again. Nicodemus would have also been familiar, I would think, with this concept of metamorphosis that we looked at earlier of the butterfly changing from an egg and worm into a butterfly. It's a new creature. It's not even recognizable from what it was before. And he should have been familiar with that, uh, natural phenomenon that would have happened around him in Israel. I'm sure there is another story that we have that should have, um, maybe came to his mind as well with this idea of new birth. And that's the story of Naaman.

Naaman was contaminated by sin, uh, sorry, disease, which is a type and connected to the idea of sin. They're sort of two things. One is in the physical form of our bodies and one is in the spiritual, but they're both part of the fall and part of sin. And so they're very connected. And so Naaman was contaminated with leprosy and he was looking for a solution. And he came to the land of Israel looking for healing because he had this, um, maid girl working for them. And she taught them of a man who knew God and who could work miracles and could heal people with this condition because of his access to the power of God.

So he went to see, um, now I can't even remember if it was Elisha, I think it was Elisha, um, and he was told he needed to go and wash in the Jordan seven times and then he would be healed. And, and he could hardly stand the thought of this, of submitting himself to the waters of a strange land when he had plenty of rivers back in his own land. Maybe it was because it was a muddy river. I'm not sure, but he could not understand how this simple act would free him of disease, of this disease, of this terrible disease. But, and he was going to ignore it and just go back home and, and die, I guess, with his leprosy.

But his servant pled for him to try it at least. You can at least try it. What if it does work? Then you would, you would regret that you didn't try it. So he had to humble himself and come to the end of himself and submerge into the Jordan with humility, not once, but seven times the number of completion and perfection. And when he did this, this act of obedience, this clearly typifies baptism, an act of obedience, he was then freed at last from his old body, which was contaminated by disease, and he was given a new body, a new start. And it says he had skin like a baby's skin.

So here he had a new start, free of disease. And this was pointing forward to this time of the coming of the miracle of new birth and cleansing from all sin and disease. So surely Nicodemus was familiar with this story as well.

So why did he have a hard time grasping what Jesus meant? Could it be that it was rather jolting to find out he himself may not already be resting securely in this kingdom of God, this everlasting kingdom like he thought he was? Was there a lot of ideology and maybe theology that he had built up over the years in his mind that now had to crumble at the feet of Jesus? Was he struggling to be ready to do this completely? And, and to experience new birth, we have to come to the end of ourself and just be hanging by a thread, so to speak, and be ready to just place our life into the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

And it seemed like he was hesitating to do this. Maybe he was thinking about his peers and how difficult that's going to be to explain to them that he's a different person now. His allegiance now is to this foolish man they called, um, Jesus and, uh, no longer to their ideas and their teachings. So Jesus teaches here that only by baptism of water and the Spirit can we enter in this kingdom. Again, this, the idea of baptism probably wouldn't have been a brand new idea to Nicodemus either, as John the Baptist had been already baptizing folks who were repenting and renewing their walk with God. And also from the time of the Babylonian captivity, they, as a Jewish people, baptized those who joined, who joined them from the outside as a way to give them a clean and uncontaminated start.

Um, I found this fascinating. I don't know a lot about it and there's not a lot of history to say how this was done, but it does seem it did happen. And also before this, they engaged in ritual cleansings or washings, like after touching a dead body to remove the contamination of death. So when they would handle a dead body, they would wash themselves thoroughly from their whole body. And so, um, they would, in a sense, baptize themselves to cleanse themselves in a ritual, uh, cleansing to, uh, put away the contamination of death. And that was another type pointing forward to this new birth by baptism.

What was revolutionary with John's baptism here was that it was even for the Jews themselves to engage in. They needed to experience this baptism of repentance to be able to be part of this kingdom of God. They too, even though they followed the law to the T, were needing cleansing from sin. So what does baptism have to do with being born again? Well, Paul uses the phrase twice that we're buried through baptism. Uh, first in Romans 6, verse 4, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So here we have it very clear that the two go hand in hand, that to experience newness of life, we are going to have to be baptized.

And then again in Colossians 2:12, he says, buried with him in baptism, wherein also you were risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath baptized him from the dead. In baptism, we are buried as a seed and we die, and after which new life appears within and we become new creatures, the old things having passed away. So we're buried in the water, so to speak, and we rise to new life. And if we, um, some of us practice this baptism by pouring, so the water is poured over us to, um, uh, wash us from our sins and then we rise again to new life. And in my opinion, both, uh, practices are good, but when we do read these passages from Paul, we can see that the typology of being submerged in water and rising from that is, uh, very clearly there.

Baptism is when our sins are washed away like Naaman. It is an act of obedience and it should, it, uh, sorry, it shows ourselves, it shows others around us, and most of all, it shows God that we truly do believe and want to follow him and his commands for us. Peter says unto them in Acts 2:38, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Christ Jesus for the remissions of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

And then Acts 2:22, verse 16, Ananias instructs Paul, who is newly converted, to arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. Through baptism, our old life, our sins of the past are cleansed from us and we become new creatures. Baptism of the Spirit happens when we take the step of obedience and faith into water baptism. Now that we have our sins washed away and begin a new path with a new direction, God can dwell in us and restore us to the pre-fall relationship. Remember, he is restoring us, he is redeeming us, he is reviving us, he is bringing us back to what once was before sin and death contaminated this earth.

Now the Spirit of God can pour out and dwell in us. Jesus gave us this clear example by being baptized of John himself, even though he really didn't need it, but he showed us how it's done. And immediately after, the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove. And so, as we, um, join the kingdom of God through baptism, the Spirit descends and dwells in us and guides us, comforts us, draws us closer to the Father himself, points out sin where we're, we're doing areas or areas that need growth, helps us to recover when we fall.

It is to become, to realize that God is living and dwelling within us and not just, again, not just personally, but as a nation of God, the body of believers around us. This is what makes us new creatures. It is not us, but it is the miracle work of metamorphosis, of new birth, of God within us that makes this so beautiful and so miraculous.

The new birth and baptism seem to be inseparable. Early Christians taught like Christ that it is actually when this takes place that we are born again. And some of us are taught the idea that we're born again when we commit our lives to Christ. And that is a good step when we commit our lives to Christ. But I think we have to be careful that we don't remove the typology, that we don't remove the significance of baptism, that that is this experience when we become new creatures in Christ and we rise to a new life. It's to be a monumental experience in our life so we can clearly say, that's when I was baptized. And so, like my neighbor across the street, instead of asking each other, when were you, when did you receive Christ as your personal Savior?