Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/91

Contributor - Klaas Veldman

Title - Easter and Being Born Again

Topic - Easter

We can only see the kingdom of God when we have been born again. Without it we cannot see the kingdom at all, not even if we would be a professor in theology or a well-known minister preaching each Sunday to a packed congregation. For that reason the Lord said to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) To be born again is only possible as a work of God. That work, is not a work of God in nature like the acts of creation or as a work of providence. It is not to be brought back again into your mother's womb, as Nicodemus thought. (John 3:4) Nor is it a work of flesh - flesh cannot perform it. It is not even a work of cooperation between man and God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6) The Lord says literally that it is a birth from ABOVE. Regeneration reveals the very work of God in a person. For that wondrous work of the Lord no preparation is possible by people. It is free sovereign Grace! It is the Sovereign God working sovereignly in the soul and in the life of lost sinners such as we.

That work is not unknown to those who are partakers of it. Some say that it is given to us by baptism (as the Roman Catholic Church) when we had not yet any understanding of the things around us. You cannot however, be born again without the real experience of it. You will feel the power of God like we feel the power of the wind. You will hear the sound of it like you hear the sound of the wind. It is like the experience of the wind - you cannot tell whence it comes or where it goes - it is there, suddenly and unexpectedly. Thus being born again is a wonder as each earthly birth is a wonder. Even Nicodemus asked, "How can these things be?" The answer is: We know and testify that which we have seen. (John 3:11)

When we want to know more about this experience of faith we must turn to I Peter 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." We see then that Peter speaks of a wondrous and glorious experience. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...... The "lively hope" is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it is the resurrection of Christ we remember at Easter.

Christ as the Lamb of God was crucified with the burden of sin and guilt of His people. He was cursed and put to death in place of His people. It was their penalty of sin which He bore. When Christ paid the ransom for many with His blood the Father was satisfied with the shedding of His blood. Therefore Christ could not be held by death. He was resurrected by His Father as a sign that He paid fully for all our sins. He conquered sin, death, and hell. The power of Satan was broken, the power of death which he had over the people of God. Christ became a curse for the curse and a hell for the hell, that His people might live with Him unto the Glory of God eternal. In Him they are now more than conquerors; in themselves poor sinners, but free in Christ.

Who are these people? All the people of this world? We confess with article 8 of chapter II of the Canons of Dordt:

For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of His Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation . . .

A historic faith is a faith of the mind without the experience of faith. Paul speaks of his experience of regeneration i.e., being born again (his experience of faith) in Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Christ was crucified and resurrected for those who are crucified and resurrected spiritually with Him by faith. That is an experience of "life out of death," or in Peter's words, "Unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

Paul speaks of that wondrous work of the Holy Spirit in Romans 7:9,10: "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." (spiritual experience) Then he says in Romans 8:2: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." The word "law" here means "power." When we were being born again we were in the pangs of death and of the fear of hell because of our personal sins and guilt before God. We cried out, "I have sinned against heaven and before Thee." We experienced our total depravity and our inability to restore ourselves to communion with God. But we will also be resurrected with Him to receive forgiveness of sins and peace with God and a right unto eternal life. It is difficult to bear the eternal love of God in our hearts. Then we cry, "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." All this is also sealed by the sacrament of regeneration baptism. Romans 6:4 says: "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."

Easter is so meaningless for many people. Christmas means something, but what does Easter mean? Is that because for many their faith is without experience? Without that living hope? Oh, that we may not deceive ourselves with the hope of a hypocrite! See Job 8:13, 14- "Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web." Let us make sure that we are born again. Let us pray the Lord to send His Spirit that we may be born again to see the kingdom of God and to have a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

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