Born aNewThere are 18 great religions in the world. Seventeen focus on how people can improve themselves to earn their El’s attention. We state that Yahweh provides what all the world is searching for as a free gift through Yahshua Messiah. |
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Snyder
Bible Home |
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Yahshua Is the KingdomYahshua was in Jerusalem for the Passover, which is a holy day held in remembrance of how the death angel passed over the Israelites, slaves in Egypt (Exodus 12). The Passover story of the distant past sets the stage for the story of the salvation of the whole world in the present. Yahweh saves! That’s what the name Yahshua or Yahshua means: Yah shua: Yahweh Saves! Today, Yahshua is encamped on the Mount of Olives or maybe at the house of Simon the Leper, a short way off from Jerusalem. Nicodemus is a “leader of the Jews,” probably a synagogue boss of the Pharisee denomination, holy in appearances but devilish inside. Yahshua spoke about the Pharisees in John 8:44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.Names are very important in the Bible. Names give clues to the temperaments of their namesakes. The name Nicodemus means, “people conqueror.” That gives us a little insight into his nature. He was a religious hot shot. Yahshua calls him “the rabbi of Israel.” Pastor Nick comes to Yahshua under the cover of night, not wanting anyone to know he’s there. He’s curious about how Yahshua is able to do such miraculous signs. So he sneaks over but he speaks to Yahshua as though others sent him there. “We know,” he says, “that you too are a teacher from g-d because of the signs you perform.” Nick never finishes his sentence and Yahshua doesn’t even invite him to have a little cookie. The challenge is immediate. “How would you know who I AM, bud? A person can’t even see the Kingdom unless he is born new.” When Yahshua says “Kingdom,” he’s not talking about Heaven. He’s talking about himself. Yahshua is the Kingdom. Yahshua’s disciples saw him as the Kingdom Come to them; he personified the Kingdom for all humankind. Yahshua’s little group had been born new. They were exercising their new spiritual eyes, seeing new spiritual realities and truths. They were excited about their experience. Pastor Nick had no such eyes. He was religious, but he wasn’t spiritual, for he was a natural man, not born new as were those commoners sitting around the fire.
Born NewPastor Nick says, “What’s that mean, ‘born new’? How can someone come out of the water of the womb again?” Yahshua teaches the teacher. “Bud, you have to be born two ways to enter the Kingdom. Of water and of spirit. You’ve only been born of water.” What does “water and spirit” actually mean exactly? Church groups put their denominational spin on “water” and “spirit.” You’ve heard that water means baptism; that a person may be reborn through immersion in water. Some say, after baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to live the our human spirit and this is what it means to be “born of spirit.” I know you’ve heard that. But Yahshua has his own ideas about what he means by water and spirit. He indicates precisely what they are in the next breath,
“What
is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” When Yahshua says, “born of water,” he clearly means, “coming forth from the water of the womb;” that is, being born of flesh. Everyone is born this way. Even Pastor Nick had been born of the water of flesh. You too. Pastor Nick got that part right when he spoke of being born of the water of the womb. Concerning being born of the spirit: please note that in the original language the word “spirit” is not capitalized. Yahshua is not talking about the Holy Spirit here. Although being born of spirit is definitely a work of the Holy Spirit, it is not the Holy Spirit that is received when one is born new. It’s the human spirit that’s born; the spirit of man that was lost to Adam when he died. A man or woman can never be complete without a living spirit. Yet most people do not have a living spirit; they are spiritually dead. However, some foul spirit is always available to fill the void, like anger or hatred. Adam to Paul
When we are born of spirit, we go from being spiritually dead to becoming spiritually alive. We return to the spiritual state of Adam before he suffered spiritual death through disobedience. We become complete when we are born new.
Gen
2:7. And Yahweh Elohim formed man of
the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul. The first man was not born of water, but he was made of dust, requiring lots of water. Did you know that Adam may have been at least 88% water? You are. After Yahweh formed Adam’s flesh, he breathed on him and made him a living soul, a nephesh, in Hebrew. Yahweh’s intention in granting Adam spiritual life was that this life would be eternal. So Adam was made fully man and fully spirit, created to live forever. But when Adam fell into mortal sin he suffered spiritual death. The Apostle Paul indicates as much in his chapter on Resurrection:
1
Corinthians 15:44 There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45.
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the
last Adam (Yahshua) was made a quickening spirit. When we are born of water (flesh) we are not born as spiritual beings. The Bible and our experience indicate that we are born spiritually dead, with only half of what Adam had. The proof of this is that Adam lived a hundred and thirty years in the Garden of Eden; after he died spiritually he was granted eight hundred and thirty years to live in the flesh and he died. Adam is not alive today; he is dead and his remnants are scattered throughout the universe awaiting the resurrection of the dead. Generational Curses from Adam
King David is Born New
Ps
51:10. Create in me a clean heart, O
El; and renew a right spirit within me. David here gives us a model prayer for being born new. He calls for a renewal of a right spirit. Without the renewing of the right spirit, the spirit like Adam had received and lost, David would have been spiritually dead, a walking, thinking, doing, corpse. As a result of his prayer found in Psalm 51, David became born new. His spirit came alive and he was recreated complete! Yahshua a Real SchneiderNow Pastor Nick was the big, famous preacher. He was high up in his denomination. He was an expert in religious dogma. Everyone looked to him for answers, and his answers came in pronouncements as though they had come directly from G-d. He probably wrote a religion column for local paper, condemning to eternal fire everyone who wouldn’t swallow his denominational goop. But little old Yahshua challenges him: “You’re the big Kahuna of Israel and you don’t even know what it means to be born new? Mmm Mmm Mmm.” Yahshua really knew how to bring the big guy down! Yahshua’s remark cut to the heart of this child of the devil, this “great teacher” of Israel. If the conversation were to be expanded, it might rolled on with Yahshua saying: “Let me teach you a little something from your own Bible,” says Yahshua. “You think you entered the Kingdom by keeping your laws. But the Kingdom is I. Open your eyes. You haven’t entered into me at all; you can’t even see me! You can’t open your spiritual eyes because you don’t have any! Nick, you’ve got to be born new to see me, to enter into me, to know me! You need new eyes, spiritual eyes. The Kingdom is not on the planet Zebra out in space. The Kingdom is not in your holy temple cult. To know ME is to know the Kingdom, for I AM the Kingdom. And to see me is to see the Kingdom, and to enter me is to enter the Kingdom, for the Kingdom is nigh: it’s right here in front of you! It is I! ”My friends and I are born new into the Kingdom you try to teach about. We’ve crossed over into it while you’re still talking about it. We’re telling you what we see from over here and what we know from being within. Everybody born out of womb water could, if they wanted to, see the Kingdom. But you can’t see it, no matter how big you think you are. And if you can’t grasp a simple truth from a simpleton, how will you ever receive anything spiritual? Look. I came here for you. I’ve seen the glory and I AM this glory.” The disciples snicker a little because they know exactly what he means.
Even He Was Worth Saving
Disgusted, the old Pharisee turns on his flashlight and spins on his heel to leave these jokers behind and report their illegal activities to his bosses. Yahshua says, “Wait a minute, bud. You’re not going anywhere, yet.” “Who do you think you’re talking to,” says Pastor Nick. Yahshua says, “I’m talking to you, man, for even your old bag of bones is worth saving. You’ve already been born of water. But Nick, do you remember how Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness?”
Numbers 21: 9. Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
“When the children of Israel were bitten by poisonous snakes like you, they looked to the brazen serpent for healing, which Yahweh sanctified and Moses lifted up on a stake.” “Yeah, I know about that. I’m a famous Bible teacher. If I lived in the 21st century, I’d have a talk show like Okrah.” Yahshua continued, “I want to be serious with you for a moment. Listen.
‘Yahweh so loved this whole world that he gave his only Son as a final sacrifice so that everyone who believes in him might no longer die but have eternal life. He didn’t send me to condemn the world like you do, but to save the world.’
“I have a sign for you. When you see me lifted up like that serpent, you will understand that you too must be born new.” Pastor Nick dismissed the whole idea. “You lifted up? Get real. You’re in big trouble. How dare you think you will be lifted up? Who’s the celebrity here! Do you think you could ever be lifted up higher than me? You don’t even have a preacher’s license.” And with this rebuke, Pastor Nick disappears into the darkness from whence he earlier came. That’s that.
The Final History of NicodemusNicodemus appears twice more in the Gospels. In John 7:37, he tries to get his cronies to put Yahshua to a trial instead of just having him murdered. He gets his way, and Yahshua is tried by the big religious bosses in a kangaroo court, again at night. Finally, we see Nicodemus for the last time in John 19:39. He is at the tomb of Yahshua with Joseph of Arimathaea, the latter a strong believer in the Son of Man. Nicodemus has a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes to embalm the body of Yahshua. He and Joseph wind Yahshua’s body in a linen sheet with the myrrh and aloes and place his body in a tomb. Nicodemus, the arrogant teacher of Israel, takes charge of Yahshua’s sacred body, the bread from Heaven. Nicodemus later wrote a book about Yahshua that includes his testimony of when he saw the Son of man lifted up like the brazen serpent in the wilderness. The book is known as The Gospel of Nicodemus. I have it for you if you’d like to read it. You see, when Nicodemus spied Yahshua, bloodied and dead on the cross, the stiff-necked, big-shot teacher of Israel remembered the sign, saw the Kingdom nailed to a tree and was born new.
InvitationDo you ever wonder why you just can’t get a grasp of the faith you hear about in church? Do you wonder why some people seem almost fanatical about Yahshua? Does it put you off? Do you question why some people believe the Bible so literally, at least what little you know of it? Do you think some folks you know are going too far with church stuff? Are your spiritual priorities in shambles? Maybe you’re the type that doesn’t really get it but knows spiritual things are very important and you wish you could be more serious about them. If so, you’ve been born of water, but you have yet to be born of spirit. But you need a new and right spirit to chase out the old and evil spirit in your heart. Maybe you’d like to be born new now. There’s a puzzle piece missing in your life, right about where you heart is. But Yahshua has that piece and can place it your heart socket right now, if you’ll just let him. Let’s pray. {A visualization exercise here.}
Jackson Snyder February 21, 2002 |
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John 3:1-17
1. There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,
2. who came to Yahshua by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you have come
from El as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless
El were with him." 3. Yahshua answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can
see the kingdom of El without being born from above. 4. Nicodemus
said, "How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back
into the womb again and be born?" 5. Yahshua replied: In all truth I tell
you, no one can enter the kingdom of El without being born through water and
the Spirit; 6. what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the
Spirit is spirit.
