What Do You Mean "Born Again" - by C. Gordon Wolcott

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BORN AGAIN?

All who call upon the name of the Lord for salvation prior to the complete pouring out of the Bowls of God's Wrath will be saved. All who so call will have heard the summons, "Come out of Babylon". The command is, come out of her My people and be clean. To "be clean" implies having been cleansed! And there is no way for that cleansing, except through personal experience with Jesus Christ and the Word of God. There is no priest or other person who may be hired to clear a sinner with God. According to very clear patterns in Scripture (and God does not change), the lamb for sacrifice to God has to be owned by the one desiring cleansing. Jesus called those who would follow Him His sheep (lambs). No one can offer any but the lamb he himself is for obtaining his personal preservation.

"You must all be born again" (John 3:7). What familiar words to the ears of Christians, and what important words! They are as familiar as the phrases "You are saved by Grace", "God is love", "He who believes in Him shall not perish", etc. Yet, each of those phrases has been twisted out of and away from the message the loving Father intended for His beloved. Even if we do not familiarize ourselves with all He has said to us on each subject, we can know the generally accepted teachings are tainted. Jesus said straight out that, even in the time of the conclusion of our Age, Satan will have deceived all the inhabited world (Rev. 12:9).

Again referring to the same period, Jesus pointedly questioned the possibility of finding the faith He presented anywhere on earth (Luke 18:8). And again He pointed to man's Church organization of our portion of the Christian era and described her as having been wholly seduced (Rev. 3:14-18). He also has pleaded with all to come out, to come out of the confusion of Truth (Babylon) and be clean. Her lies are piled as high as heaven and must be settled. "Come out My people to no longer share in her perversions and so to escape her plagues" (Rev. 18:4-5). But few stir themselves mentally, emotionally or physically; therefore almost all will enter the Great Tribulation of the Valley of Troubling (Achor) and the Valley of Decision (Hosea 2:2-4, 13-17, Joel 3:9-17, Luke 21:25-26, 34-36).

Shouldn't we wonder what man might have done to the message in these treasured words, "You must be born again"? Would they carry a more meaningful message, if we .spend the time and effort to let the Bible itself illuminate them? If you are willing to look, it will first be necessary to shelve, out of reach if possible, all which you think you know about the "born again" teaching. You will need to let the Lord teach you new and fresh from His Word. Then, you will have the truth confirmed, if you already possess accurate teaching. If not, you will clearly see the needed corrections to your inaccurate teaching. It could be another step out of Babylon, if you force yourself to be objective.

In John 3:3-5, the Greek word, translated "born" several times, presents the thought of being given life by the Father (and through extension, by the mother). It is derived from the Greek verb "to become" (into being). In Rev. 3:5, we are told about two categories of believers, one in which the believer's "name" remains in the Book of life listing and one in which the believer's "name" just might be erased, after having been entered. We know that the acceptance of the lamb who gave His lifeblood and agreement to start off on the journey toward the Holy mountain or Kingdom begins the preservation of life. This is when the "name" is initially written in the Book of life. Jesus said He would not cast out any who continues to come toward Him (John 6:37). Therefore, we also know those who make this beginning and then do turn back before reaching Him could be cast out. Those will not be cast out of the Kingdom, not having reached it, but from the Book of life.

Jesus repeatedly described three main categories of believers as 30-fold, 60-fold, and 100-fold; as blade, ear, and full-grained ear; as three loaves with leaven; as those who ask, seek and knock; those who receive the bread, the fish and the egg, etc. He made specific reference to the' 30th day out of Egypt, the 60th day out and the 100th day out. It was at the end of the 30th day out of Egypt that they began to receive the manna which typed the Bread of life, Jesus Christ (John 6:58).

Prior to the 31st day, as they had continued on toward the Kingdom Mountain, they retained a Divine protection which gave them preservation of their souls from death. It was a saving spoken of as a begetting or generating from above for those not yet in the 60-fold bracket (31-60). These in the 30-fold bracket (1-30) are able to see the Kingdom of God on earth, from a position just outside. They live on the outskirts of the earth Kingdom of God, seeing it, being aware of it, but not being in it. They have been given provisional on-going life from the Lord for as long as they continue toward the Holy Mountain or Kingdom. They have "come into being" with His protection, but as yet they have not arrived to where He is they have not entered His Kingdom. Verily, verily, I tell you, unless a person's name is entered into the Book of Life, he cannot ever discover or see the Kingdom of God on earth. But when his name is entered, he will at least perceive it, being adjacent to it (John 3:3).

Then when the believer has come through the place of the victorious 70 Palms, he can receive Jesus, the Bread of Life, into his heart. When the immortal seed of Jesus Christ is in his heart, he becomes one of God's own possessions (Ex. 15:17-16:4). He is an infant son who then shall grow into a priest to God (Ex. 19:5-6). As an infant son, he is a citizen, for he has entered the earthly Kingdom by letting the pillar of cloud (water) and the column of fire (Spirit) deliver him there (Ex. 13:21-22, John 3:5).

I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, except a man be given life from the Father, beyond the preserving by the blood of the Lamb, given permanent possession of that life out of the cleansing of the Word and from the implanting by the Spirit, there is no way to enter the Kingdom of God. The one who enters through this generating out of water and of Spirit is the 60-fold. His name can then never be removed from the Book of Life for any reason (John 5:24, 10:27-28).

 

These are potentially free from any limitation within the earth plane, having entered the earthly Kingdom of God.

The words of John 3:5 are on the subject of entering the Kingdom, not just seeing it. But there is not only the earthly Kingdom, but a heavenly Kingdom (Matt 6:10). Therefore there is a further application of John 3:5 before us, because we know Jesus also spoke of the 100-fold fruitfulness within the heart of a third group of believers (Matt. 13:8, 19) These must have progressed to the level of attainment on which they can prepare to enter the heavenly Kingdom of God. None but the pure in heart shall see God, face to face (Matt. 5:8). None but those so set apart for the lord's program as He was set apart for His Father's work will see the Lord where He is (Heb. 12: 14, John 8:26-29,14:6).

All impurity must be given up to be consumed by Divine fire and that (not the speaking in tongues) is the work of the Spirit in Holy Spirit Baptism (Heb. 12:28-29, Matt. 3: 10-11, 7:19-21). The same John 3:5 passage can therefore be read for its extension into a yet deeper application: Verily, verily, I tell you, except a man comes into the being or generating by his Father, having emerged out or the water of that soul-desire not under spirit control and from the Spirit fire which consumes it (God is Spirit), he cannot go through the Kingdom of God on the earth and enter the Kingdom of God in the glorified plane of the New Jerusalem above. Then the 100-fold are fully free.

Those who have been regenerated by having received the immortal seed of Jesus Christ by the Spirit, the 60-fold, are freely entered into the earthly Kingdom of God. As they study the Word, their understanding is opened to what they did not know before. They become aware that there is a Kingdom here and that progressively they can fully enter into their participation as citizens of the earthly Kingdom. A whole new potential is opened up to them. They are constantly impelled toward and into righteousness (Although there may be many stumblings and failings on the way of progress).

Then at the Mount, they come into the 100 fold to fully experience the heavenly Kingdom provisions of Christ's plan for man, from the earth perspective. Those generated out of the water of soul-desire for self-gratification and generated through the Spirit-fire of Holy Spirit Baptism (described in God's Word as an overwhelming with the fire that consumes the carnal nature), are to enter into the fullness of the Kingdom of God, first on earth in sin-free physical bodies with uncontaminated souls, and then later on in the maturity of glorified physical bodies taken to the New Jerusalem above.

Only those born out of that water and purified by the Spirit-fire can be accepted into the Kingdom in the heavenlies with full citizenship standing. Others who fail to go beyond the 60-fold initial regeneration will necessarily continue on or be resurrected back to earth to fill out their course in immortal physical bodies within the earthly Kingdom. There they will prepare for the purification and the subsequent change into glorified bodies which will permit them to be raised up to heavenly position.

C. Gordon Wolcott