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what that kingdom is! Yet Jesus
said , "Repent, and believe." Believe
whar?
Believe the good news of the
Kingdom of God!
And what is a kingdom? It is a
government. And it is people who
administer that government.
Man May Be Born of God
Jesus himself was born to be the
King of the coming Kingdom of
God. This was foretold in the
prophecy of Isaiah 9:6-7. It was an–
nounced to the virgín Mary, mother
of Jesus, prior to his birth (Luke
1:30-33). On tria! for his life before
Pilate, Jesus
said
he was born to be
a king. But his Kingdom, he said,
was not of this world - this society.
He explained about the Kingdom of
God in parable after parable.
But what about the people who
enter into and, under Christ, admin–
ister the Kingdom? Jesus struck
straight to the heart of that truth in
his talk with the Pharisee Nicode–
mus.
And
that
truth - that part of
Jesus' gospel - reveals the answer to
our question: Is abortion MURDER
and WHEN does human life START?
It
was near the beginning of
Jesus' earthly ministry tha t the
Pharisee Nicodemus carne under
the cover of darkness to question
Jesus. Nicodemus opened by saying
that the Pharisees, as a whole,
knew
Jesus was a teacher sent from God.
Tbat's how they
"believed on"
Jesus,
even though they refused to believe
what he taught. Incidentally, the de–
mons
also
believe - and tremble!
(James 2: 19.)
Immediately, Jesus got to the cen–
tral point - the Kingdom of God.
He made clear to Nicodemus that
he could never enter into God's
Kingdom in his present unregene–
rate state.
Jesus said, "Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God" (John 3:3). He was not speak–
ing of being born a human, physical
person, but of being born
again
-
being born a spirit being,
composed
6
of spirit, not of matter. Unless he is
born
of rhe spirit,
he cannot enter
into the Kingdom of God, Jesus ex–
plained clearly. He added, "That
which is born of the ftesh
is jlesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit "
(verse 6).
Nicodemus and all humans bave
been born of the ftesh - and are
ftesh - composed of matter from
the ground. But when born of tbe
Spirit - born of God - we shall
BE
SPIRIT - no longer human, but com–
posed of SPIRIT, even as God
is
SPIRIT.
This biblical teaching of Jesus to–
tally refutes the popular "Father–
hood of God and Brotherhood of
Man" fable. Seven times in the New
Testament it is affirmed that until
conversion, humans are, spiritually,
the children of Satan the devil.
A New Father-Son Relationship
God is that Spirit (John 4:24) of
which we may be born. God is the
Father. Jesus is his son. A father
and son relationship is a family rela–
tionship. Jesus is the
firstborn
(by
his resurrection) of many brethren
(Romans 8:29). To enter into the
Kingdom of God, we also must be
born ofGod by a resurrection to im–
mortal, spirit-composed life.
But the crux point is that we may,
even now in this human life, be be–
gotten sons of God.
Now understand the exact com–
parison. Our human begettal, em–
bryo-fetus development, and birth
compares exactly to our potential
spirit begettal, spiritual growth and
development, and final birth as im–
mortal
spirit beings
in God's King–
dom.
All physical life comes from an
egg. The human "egg" is called an
ovum. Jt is produced in the mother.
A new human life starts when an
ovum is fertilized - physicallife im–
parted to it - by a maJe sperm cell
entering the ovum.
How does spiri t Iife start?
lt
starts
when the Holy Spirit from God en–
ters - gives spirit life to - impreg-
nates a human person. The Spirit of
God - from the very person of God
- actually BEGETS and engenders
SPtRIT life to mortal humans.
Jesus said, " Repent ye, and
be–
lieve
the gospel." The apostle Peter
said, "Repent, and be baptized ...
in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall re–
ceive the gift of the Holy Spirit"
(Acts 2:38). One is to be baptized
when he BELIEVES. "Repent and be–
lieve" are the two conditions to re–
ceiving the gift of God's Spirit.
And
"if
the Spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken [make
immortal] your mortal bodies by his
Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Ro–
mans 8: 11).
Human physical conception, ges–
tation, and birth are a beautiful pic–
ture of the transcendent human
potentia1 - the PURPOSE for which
human life was put here on earth by
a divine Creator - of God repro–
ducing HIMself - of spiritual divine
birth into the glorious Kingdom of
God!
What wonderful good news the
gospel of Jesus Christ is! What inde–
scribab1e tragedy that deceived men
have rejected this good news and
have HIDDEN that wonderful, won–
derful good news from a deceived
world !
But see, now, how it ANSWERS the
question of this article!
The Bible reveals that this spiri–
tual divine birth is pictured
by
phys–
ical human birth. The Holy Spirit of
God entering one who has
real/y re–
pented and believed
is the spiritual
"sperm" from the very spirit body of
God, imparting the presence of spir–
itual, divine and immortal life -
though one is not yet immortal until
the time of the resurrection.
Repentance, faith, and the pres–
ence of God's Holy Spirit in one
changes one into a dijferent kind of
person!
He has not yet been
born
an im–
mortal being, yet divine life from
PLAIN TRUTH May 1973