Being Born Again and Design

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 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 said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” –John 3:5-8


The meditation commentaries have followed a very nice theme so far that all weaves together to form a whole picture, each concept building on the last.  We understand that God designed us according to Scripture a certain way, and wants us to operate within a certain paradigm so that we can function best.  However, we have been born into this dying race which constantly does things against God’s commands.  Even worse, we have a natural inclination to do those things that rebel against Him, His design, and His commands!
But, just as God originally designed us to function a certain way, and Adam messed it up, He also designed a plan of redemption—a beautiful plan of redemption!   Since we have been born into Adam’s race of sinful creatures, we have an inclination to sin and are subject to the law of sin and death.  In order to return to God’s original design, we must be born again, back into His plan, and into His family.  When we are born again, He adopts us as sons and daughters, and leads us into new life!
 God has very clear instructions about how to do this according to the Scriptures.  As we see in the Scriptures above, Jesus told Nicodemus that except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  Until a person is born again, he or she cannot even see or comprehend or understand or grasp the kingdom of God.  Nicodemus naturally asks the question, “How is this possible?”  The wonderful thing is that Jesus has the answer, because God already had a design in mind for how this would happen.  Therefore, Jesus clarifies that except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  The process is not abstract, confusing,  or unclear, yet it always astonishes me that people want to come up with a design other than what God laid out.  Throughout the book of Acts, in the birth of the church, we see example after example of people being born again, and they are always born of the water and of the spirit—that is, they are always baptized with water in the name of Jesus, and are filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
When we talk about the concept of design and the command to be born again and how it relates to God’s design, it is important to remember that we not only need to be born again to fit into God’s design, but we also need to follow God’s design for how to be born again.  Nicodemus was a master of Israel and did not understand these things, but it is easy to find out.  Search the Scriptures, for they contain the plan that God designed for being born into His kingdom...in them you find eternal life.  (John 5:39)  It must be by water and of the spirit, or part of the process has been lost.