Spring 1996
Born of the Spirit
Wade E Taylor

"And there was a man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to
Jesus by night" John 3:1-2a.

He had waited until it was dark, probably so he would not be recognized; but there is far more to be seen in this night visit. Nicodemus represented a religious system which was couched in spiritual darkness. All spiritual reality had long diminished, and the actuality of God being manifestly present with His people was unknown.

Now Jesus had come on the scene, and had sparked within Nicodemus a hidden desire for something more. So he came by night to explore the possibility. But Jesus told him that he must first be "born again" (John 3:3). Jesus also explained that he could not enter the Kingdom apart from this new birth.

The Kingdom transcends and goes beyond our salvation, which is freely given through the shed blood of Jesus. To enter the Kingdom requires of us an unconditional submission to Jesus as our Lord in which we give Him governmental authority over the totality of our being and life experience.

When Nicodemus heard this, he attempted to relate this new birth to the temporal realm, not understanding the spiritual. He asked, "How can a man be born when he is old, can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" (John 3:4). The natural man can only relate to the earthly, or the temporal realm.

Nicodemus wondered if this experience of being birthed into the Kingdom was due to a natural restructuring; but Jesus answered,

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God" John 3:5.

He did not mention blood, for Nicodemus had already received cleansing through a blood sacrifice, as he understood the Passover. The water speaks of water baptism, and the Spirit refers to the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, to enter the Kingdom requires an experience relating to blood, water, and Spirit. Our sins must be forgiven through the blood of Jesus. Our Adamic nature must be committed to the grave in water baptism, in which we emerge from the water a new creation through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. Then we must receive the fullness of the enabling power of the New Covenant through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Thus, our sins are forgiven, our nature is changed, and we experience the enabling power of the New Covenant. The spiritual man, through regeneration by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit, relates to the spiritual realm. This is a "full salvation" which prepares us for our entrance into the Kingdom.

Every action that is not of God flows downward.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" John 3:6a.

All it can produce is a fuller manifestation of the flesh. However, each action of God moves us upward.

"That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" John 3:6b.

This speaks of ascendancy, our rising up into the Kingdom.

Words are incapable of describing this realm of spiritual experience. Therefore, Jesus told Nicodemus that this experience of the new birth was like the wind lifting us into a dimension of Spirit. Concerning this, Jesus said,

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh
and wither it goeth: so is every one that is born of
the Spirit" John 3:8.

"Thou hearest." Within each of us is an ability to sense the presence of God. "But canst not tell." We hear, but we do not necessarily understand. This comprehension of spirituals is learned through experience, by our entering in. "The wind blows where it pleases." We cannot control spirituals, rather, we are to respond to the Holy Spirit, as to the lifting power of the wind.

This spiritual birthing includes a recreation of our spiritual senses. We will succeed in spiritual things to the measure that these are cultivated and developed. Our worship services should provide for us a unique opportunity to experience His presence.

"The wind blows." This speaks of motion, the movings of the Holy Spirit. Fellowships which are based on, and go no further than the letter of the Word, seldom provide the necessary atmosphere for a present moving of the Holy Spirit.

"But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall
walk, and not faint" Isa 40:31.

Notice that those who "wait upon the Lord" are to mount up with wings. These "wings" represent our ability to respond to the quickening presence of the Holy Spirit (wind) and move with Him.

An airplane, as it goes down the runway, at a certain point becomes air-BORNE (born-again). The laws that applied to its control on the ground no longer affect it. An entirely new set of laws come into operation, those of aerodynamics.

We do not need to understand all this to fly, all we need do is to spread our wings in response to the wind of the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel saw this as "a wheel within a wheel" (Ezek 1:16-21).

The Wright brothers flew only a few hundred feet on their first try. They did not quit, but did so again and again until today we can easily fly around the world. If we attempt to rise into the realm of the Spirit and crash, we should wipe off the dust, get back on the "runway" and try again.

The lifting power of this Holy Spirit "wind" is tremendous. It will bring us upward into a perspective and view that was previously unknown to us. As with Nicodemus, it will stir our hidden longings for something more. And it will empower our daily walk here on the earth.

The Lord is waiting for His people to be birthed into that which this world has not heretofore seen. May the wind of the Spirit begin to lift us, and bring us up into the realm and dimension in which Jesus lived and walked.