“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

— Job 33:4

“26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

— Ezekiel 36:26-27

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son”

— Colossians 1:13

“and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

–Ephesians 4:24

“and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

–Colossians 3:10

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace and peace to you from Christ.

For entering the kingdom of God, we do not need a second beginning physically; we need a new beginning— rebirth by the Holy Spirit. Jesus unveiled, “Very truly, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” Though the ‘born of water’ is commanded by God as a water baptism, it is only an outward ritual/sign of the inward reality that the Holy Spirit imparts new spiritual life into believers of Jesus to cause them to be born again.

Being born of “the Spirit” refers to new birth by the Holy Spirit, who indwells all who believe in Jesus as Savior. The spiritual life God gives allows a sinner to be born again as a new creation in Christ. In this regeneration, God gives His redeemed children a new will to live for Him. The Holy Spirit enables the new creation believers in Christ to “see” God’s kingdom. With the spiritual eyesight, we believers understand that God has rescued us from our sinful state and delivered us “into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” The Spirit gives us eternal life and an unending relationship with God that cannot be reversed, even by physical death.