It’s a God-Thing
By Tammy Lacock
In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman continues to explain what it means to be born again and how our new birthing in Christ is God’s ultimate plan for us, even before the foundation of the world.
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4, KJV)
He emphasizes that our new birthing is a God-thing. The moment we believe in Christ Jesus as our Savior is the very same moment our new birthing takes place. Christ’s death and resurrection conquered the curse of our old lives ruled by sin, the sin-nature. God then placed His very seed, His Son, the incorruptible seed of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:23) in each and every one of us who believes. This seed of Christ is eternal, joined to our spirits, making us one spirit in Him. There’s nothing we can do or not do to change our new birthing. Once the seed is planted in us, God doesn’t take it back. Warren likens this to the seed placed in a woman by a man. In this case, the seed can be aborted, the life can be taken away. However, God is not an abortionist. God didn’t put His seed in us with conditions. By His grace and mercy, this seed will never leave us nor forsake us. God put His Son’s seed in us because He loves us. We are now His bona fide children!
Life comes out of death. In Christ’s obedience to the Father, He knew He must die. He knew the only way for this innate change in human beings, the only way they could live, is by His death. No matter how many miracles He performed, human beings would not believe. And He knew He would not succumb to an earthly ministry. He knew the only way for a love affair between us and His Father would be through His death and resurrection. The only way we could be saved from eternal death and the grip of this world would be through giving His Life so He, God’s very seed, could now be placed in us.
In fact, Jesus uses the word “world” 18 times to express that He is not happy with the world, He’s not happy in it, and He’s not happy that His followers are in it. He knew the only way that we could even have a chance to love God back would be through His death. The only chance at life for us would be by His death.
And now, as believers, we have His eternal Life, Christ Jesus, God’s seed, in us. We are no longer subject to this world. Christ is now bringing us forth as the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. So, our love affair in Him begins.
Our new life is Christ (1 John 5:11-12). This is God’s completed plan for us since “before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
Yep, it’s a total God-thing.