Did You Know
that Jesus was Born Again?

December 3, 2000 am
MF Blume

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
John 3:16 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.
1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Compare these references with the following:

Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

ONLY BEGOTTEN versus FIRST-BEGOTTEN

There is a great difference!

When Jesus came into this world and was begotten of the Father we read that He was the ONLY BEGOTTEN of the Father.

The word in greek is MONOGENES (mon-og-en-ace’)
It means the single of its kind, the only.

And when we read of Him being the firstbegotten, the Greek word is:

prototokos (pro-tot-ok’-os).
It means the first of others like Him.

Prototokos is never applied to His birth before the cross in Bethlehem except in the case where He is called the FIRSTBORN OF MARY In Matthew 1:25 and Luke 2:7.

That refers to the other children Mary had after Jesus was born.
But as far as being a firstborn Son of God before Calvary, the term does not apply to Jesus.
But it does refer to Him as such AFTER THE CROSS.

The Word of God that spoke in Genesis and created all things, that came from the mouth of God’s Spirit, was going to create a new Genesis.

This word would be far more than sound waves, but would be made flesh.
A far greater expression of God than spoken words themselves could ever be.

And God would use this incarnated word to create a new creation.

Adam was the beginning of what we can now look back upon as the old creation.

Jesus was going to be the Last Adam of a new creation.
Last, because there is going to be nothing after Him.
No other third creation will ever exist.
No prophet since Jesus will ever fulfill the role that He filled as LAST ADAM.

This was God manifest in flesh.

And in this birth at Bethlehem, Jesus was considered the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD because there could be no others like Him at that point.

In fact, there would never be others like Him in that state of being.
That man was going to die before anybody else would ever be known to be a child of God.
So that state of being was unique.

He was called firstborn son in one context apart from salvation.

Matthew 1:24-25 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Jesus was called Mary’s firstborn Son.

There are man-made traditions that teach that Mary had no other children and remained a perpetual virgin until her death.
In fact this absurd teaching says that Mary did not die but ascended into Heaven just as Jesus did.
But the fact is that Mary had other children after Jesus by Joseph.
So Jesus was the first of many children that Mary later had.

Matthew 12:47-50 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

This is contrasting Jesus’ natural brothers and mother with the spiritual brothers and mother that consist of all those who do the Father’s will.

Verse 47 cannot be speaking of spiritual brothers, for that is the point of contrast using the others to whom Jesus pointed.

But as far as children of God are concerned, Jesus was the ONLY ONE before the cross.

And the reason we read of the first-begotten of the dead, and the first-born from the dead, is that Jesus was born again.

He was born a second time since the incarnation in Bethlehem.
And this second time was actually called a birth.
It was not a birth from the womb of Mary, but rather a birth from the dead.
Quite a difference!

This birth occurred three days after He was buried.

Acts 13:28-33 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead: And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

In the above scripture, the fascinating explanation is given that Psalm 2:7, saying, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,” was said by the apostle Paul as referring to the day that JESUS CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD.

Read verse 33 again carefully.

... he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

This begetting by the Father of Jesus Christ was a second begetting.

Whereas mothers BIRTH, Fathers are said to BEGET.
Mary was not the Mother of this birth.

JESUS WAS BORN AGAIN!

He was begotten a second time and birthed a second time.
The first time, he was the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
The second time, from the grave, He was the first-begotten from the dead.

John 3:3 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.

Jesus was born a second time for a very different reason than we must be born again.

We must be born again because we are born the first time in sin and are therefore called sinners in the Bible.
You are BORN in sin.
You are a descendent of ADAM.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

And those in Adam have to die.

We do not want be caught as part of Adam’s race when we die, or when Jesus comes.

The chance to be born again is given to us from Jesus.
We can be removed from Adam’s race and become part of an entirely new creation.
Only the new creation is in favour with God.

God sees the rest of the human race in Adam as a mass of people moving in darkness, scurrying away into the shadows whenever a flicker of light is nearby.

This race is sinful and tainted with the smear of Adam’s error.
No amount of good deeds can recover any of you from Adam’s family any more than you can pick yourself up by your own bootstraps.
God must reach down to you at your behest, and totally transform you into a child of God.

On the other hand, Jesus was born the first time sinless.

And He remained the only begotten Son of God because the rest of the human race was born in sin from Adam, since Adam disobeyed God and sinned in the Garden of Eden.

But the reason that Jesus had to be born again, was not for His personal sake, as it is with ourselves.

He had to be born in again in order for us to be born again.

Jesus was going to remain all alone as a Son of God.

None of us can become a citizen of the new creation family while we are still a part of Adam’s race.
We got into Adam’s race by birth and there is only one way we can get out of it... and that is by DEATH.

God did not miss any of these facts and solved the entire problem not breaking any rules.

Jesus was going to forever remain the ONLY SON OF GOD unless...

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

After we read about this need to DIE in order to no longer be ALONE as a child of God, and to be able to have OTHERS who are children of God beside Him, we read in verse 32...

John 12:32-33 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.

His death would allow Him to no longer be the ONLY SON OF GOD due to the fact that HIS DEATH WOULD DRAW ALL MEN TO HIM.

What does this mean?

Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

He would taste death for every man.

That is the reason we also read:

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
1Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
1John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

He drew all men into Himself that the Father gave to Him.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jesus would DRAW MEN TO HIMSELF IN HIS DEATH.

And who does the Father draw to Jesus’ death?

Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

He would gather those together who “WOULD.”

The word WOULD here is the past tense of the word will.
Its like saying all those who WILLED to come to Jesus would be gathered to Him into His death by the Father.
You say YES to God when the story of Jesus is given to you from the Bible, and you willingly die with Jesus by repenting of your sins and asking God’s forgiveness, and being baptized into His death, making His death become YOUR DEATH.

He would no longer remain ALONE if He fall into the ground and die, because His death would draw all men to himself, and God would declare that everyone drawn into Him would be considered DEAD IN CHRIST.

And that frees us from the race of Adam.

But something happened after Jesus’ death.

Remember that His death was the drawing of all men from Adam into Himself.
That is the negative part of the story.
There has to be an undoing before there can begin a redoing.
God has to get us out of Adam before He can put us Into Christ.
We DIE to get out of Adam.
But what is the POSITIVE side?
People die from Adam everytime there is a death in this world.
But that does not get them into Christ.
There is no positive side to one who dies a natural or accidental death while a member of Adam if they do not die FIRST in Christ.
What is the difference between dying to Adam in CHRIST than dying to ADAM through a natural or accidental death?
The difference is that dying IN CHRIST ALLOWS YOU TO ALSO EXPERIENCE SOMETHING FURTHER.

Romans 6:4-5 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. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:

We are also RISEN WITH CHRIST INTO NEWNESS OF LIFE.

When Jesus was born the first time He was born all alone.

But when He was born the second time, when He was the firstborn from the dead, THERE WERE MANY OTHERS WHO WERE UNITED TO HIM AND IN HIM in His resurrection.
Because many died with HIM.
All those who die with Christ are then risen with Him in His second birth.
Remember that Paul said that the words THIS DAY HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEE apply to the day when Jesus resurrected from the dead.
His resurrection was a birth.
When a person has been begotten, they also have been born.
And He was not called the ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER in this second birth, but the FIRSTBEGOTTEN FROM THE DEAD!

The new creation began the SECOND TIME JESUS WAS BORN.

Notice this reference to ourselves linked with Jesus’ resurrection.

1Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Tie that together with Acts 13:32, and you see that when Jesus was begotten the second time from the dead, we were begotten again, or BORN AGAIN, too.

Thank God for the cross.
At Christmas time everyone thinks about Jesus’ birth, but really the birth that counted most of all was the birth from the dead.
When Jesus was begotten the second time, He was not the only begotten, but the FIRSTBEGOTTEN OF THE DEAD.

He was born again because we had to get out of Adam and become part of the Last Adam, Jesus Christ.

The only point in His life when we could unite to Him was in His death.
As the doors of the houses of the hebrews in Egypt were useless in saving them from the death angel until the blood was struck on the surrounding posts and lintels, Jesus was a door through whom no man could get to the Father until He shed His blood and died for us and as us.
That is the reason He said he was the door, and also said that He had to die, otherwise He would remain alone.

He was born again so that in His resurrection we could be born having been freed from our membership in Adam’s race by His death.

And He is alive forevermore

Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

He died the first time He existed as a man, but in His resurrection, He is not capable of dying, and is alive forevermore because by that one work on the cross, He finished all that was necessary for our recovery from Adam.

He was not born again because He had any sin.
He was always sinless.
The only sin He ever had was OUR SINS when he died on the cross.
He became sin for us, when He knew no sin.
And it was all so that we could say we died to Adam and were made free from that sinful-stained creation, so that we could be born again with Him.

Acts 13:33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Thank God that Jesus was born again, and not the only begotten from the dead, but rather the first-begotten from the dead.

Did You Know that Jesus was Born Again?

Did You Know
that Jesus was Born Again?