by Marsella Harrison
(Washington Courthouse, Ohio, US)
#3 in this series:
Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
{Nicodemus misinterprets and is astonished, thinking Jesus means we need to be re-born in a manner that cannot be; to re-enter the womb of our mother. But Jesus is not referring to being re-born physically. He’s speaking of a spiritual re-birth from within ourselves . Not our physical self that is what it is period.
But the spirit can be changed entirely. You are born in the image of God in that you are innocent of the evil within you until you partake of it willfully due to lust or desire, or through beguilement and temptations. You awaken that evil within and become another image represented by the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From here you will grow and hopefully mature and either accept Christ or reject him, or make no choice at all which is to reject him. And either you are reborn and become a son of God, or you are reborn into the complete opposite. But you are not the image you were born in after you partake of the forbidden fruit through an act of disobedience {"become" Gen 3:22}. Afterward, you will have a choice to make before you time is up in this temporal realm. }
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water {of the womb}and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
GNB Joh 3:5 "I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
GW Joh 3:5 Jesus answered Nicodemus, "I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
GNB Joh 3:6 A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit.
GW Joh 3:6 Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual.
{Psalms 82:6, John 10:34-36, John 1:5:4 and Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.}
As I said in number 2 of this series, Jesus existed in spirit prior to entering into his mother’s womb and the egg that produced a body of flesh, blood, water, etc. You can be a spirit without a body, but to be a man you must be both. And the spirit of a man is good and evil both. To cleanse or purify it and make it acceptable to the Father we must be one with his son in our hearts and minds. We must confess our sins, repent (which is to change our mind and heart/spirit), and love our God with all our hearts, mind, being, etc, and love one another as Jesus loves us.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Joh 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Joh 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Joh 3:11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
Joh 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
{Being born of water is the earthly thing. Being reborn in the spirit, causing it to become new, is the heavenly thing}
And you said,” It is not possible for a man to be born of spirit alone. Angels are spirits and have no blood. Therefore, they cannot have children on their own. They must take a human form to do so.
When a man and woman unite and a child is born to them, it is another child of Adam. No new person is really born. If I have a pie and cut it in portions, then cut portions from those portions, and more from those, unite them together and again you have the whole pie. Our flesh are portions of that original body we call Adam. The flesh is not of some spirit that entered us to play games with our own spirit. And the spirit and body are individual. As I said before, like the car example: A man sits in a car but is not one with it. A spirit sits in a body but is not one with it. The body is always just a corrupt tool or housing. It can’t be cleansed or purified and cannot enter the kingdom (I Cir 15:50 and 53). And if two people mate inside a car the car does not give birth. And if two spirits are acting as one within a body there is no third baby spirit born within that body. Spirits are neither male nor female anyway. Physical bodies are made male and female to reproduce and separate tasks to be help mates to one another in this foreign place away from home, etc. But the tempted and beguiled spirit can become a child of death. And the spirit tempted by sons of God (Heb 1:14) and accept become children of God. Reborn from a spirit and state that was not one with our Lord. This is the child born to a spirit.
Jesus says we that are not whole need a physician. To not be whole is to be non-perfect, non-final, incomplete, etc. This means we are mutable or changeable.
Spirits not born into bodies are immutable. Their complete and final. Ready to enter into one of two final destinations. We are not ready. We require change.
All man falls short of the glory. All men sin. Born one image (Gen 1:26-27), and become another image (Gen 3:22). Before our spirit can enter into the place of eternal life or eternal death, it cannot consist of evil and darkness to enter into the place of righteousness and light. It cannot consist of good and enter into eternal death and darkness. Whether a non-overcomer or an overcomer, we are mutable and we must be changed. We must be reborn from that state of good and evil together as one. We must become one or the other.
And the spirit that steps out of this flesh and enters either place is the reborn child. A child of God or of death, but no longer the child of both.
And yes the tree of knowledge of good and evil has significance. We are not to partake of the evil, awakening it which causes us to be both in one. The tree of life represents the Holy Spirit which is knowledge which is power. Power of eternal life. Water baptism signifies dying to that state and being born again, more accurately, returning to the state you were at birth which is separated from evil.
Notice I say Non-Enoch look at this. I try to stay in the King James non-apocryphal guidelines. But there is far more to all this which I cannot explain and give because I realize so many do not read the apocrypha because they think it is a catholic thing, and sway away from Enoch because they think it is off the hook, failing to realize its parabolic form. and so on with other books.But Lord Jesus, I wish I could write the whole.
SAMUEL the SEER
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