Mark 4:30-32 “Then He said, "To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? (31) It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; (32) but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
Our Lord Jesus, when He was on the earth, stated that the kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21). The parable that our Lord described above, is a picture of the kingdom of God that is in each believer. We are all born into the kingdom of God in seed form, for the Holy Spirit tells us that we have been born again of the incorruptible seed of the word of God (1 Peter 1:23). It is God’s intention, that all of His children grow from that small seed into large trees, that can be used of Him to bless the lives of those around them.
Our spirit is born again
One of the major differences between the saints under the old covenant, and the saints under the new covenant, is that the saints under the new can be born again, whereas the saints under the old covenant could not be born again. For although the saints under the old covenant could believe, and that was accounted to them for righteousness (Romans 4:5), they could not be born again. As we will see in this section, it is our spirits that are born again. For the most part, the church has not realized the potential which has been made available to her, through the new birth. Our Lord Jesus made a comment about this issue when He was on the earth, for you will recall that in commenting on John the Baptist, that our Lord said that of those born of woman, that there was none greater than John. In making that comment, our Lord was comparing John to all the great men of God under the old covenant, such as Moses, David, Daniel and all the other old testament saints. And so, in God’s view, John was the greatest of them all. But our Lord went on to say, that nevertheless he who is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than John (Matthew 11:11). All who are born again, are in the kingdom of heaven. And so, our Lord was saying that the least saint in the church today, is greater than the greatest saint that lived under the old covenant. When we look at the lives of some of the old testament saints, we wonder how is it possible that the least of the saints today, can be greater than all of those great men of God? The answer to that question is simply because in Christ, we have been born again. And because we have been born again, we have the potential to walk even as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6). No old testament saint ever had that potential. And so, it is in our spirits that we are born again, and it is in our spirits that we have the potential to grow to the point, that we can walk just like Jesus walked.
John 3:3-6 “Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (4) Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" (5) Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
In the above account in scripture, our Lord Jesus mentioned for the first time, that we must be born again. Prior to this, no one had heard the term, of being born again. Being natural in his understanding, Nicodemus could not understand the concept of what our Lord meant, when He said that we must be born again. But our Lord went on to explain what He was talking about, when He said that, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. In other words, our Lord was telling us, that it is in our spirits, that we must be born again. Man is made up of two primary parts, i.e. the inward man and the outward man (2 Corinthians 4:16). The outward man is our physical body, which does not change when we come into the kingdom of God, for we will only receive our resurrected bodies when our Lord Jesus returns to the earth (1 Corinthians 15:53). Our inward man however, is made up of two main parts, i.e. our spirit and our mind (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Our mind does not change when we come into the kingdom of God, for the scripture teaches us to renew our minds after we are born again (Romans 12:2). And so, it is our spirits that change when we come into the kingdom of God, for every believer that comes into the kingdom of God, is born again in their spirits. In other words, we receive complete new spirits from God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
The Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul, confirms the truth to us in the above passage of scripture, that we receive complete new spirits from God, when we are born again. For He says that those who are in Christ, have become new creations. One translation of this passage speaks about a “new species that never existed before”. And so, there can be no doubt, that all those who become believers in Christ, are born again in their spirits, i.e. their spirits have become new creations of God.
Michael E.B. Maher
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