You Must Be Born Again

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; ² this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again^, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen, and you do not accept our witness. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
(John 3:1-16 LSB)

¹⁶ But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷ And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

¹⁴ And when the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶ for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁷ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. ¹⁸ For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” ¹⁹ And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. (Luke 22:14-20 LSB)

¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.
(Hebrews 4:12-13 LSB)

¹² “Then it will be, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your fathers. ¹³ And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle. ¹⁵ And Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will give them to all who hate you. ¹⁶ And you shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God will give over to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?’ ¹⁸ you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: ¹⁹ the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Moreover, Yahweh your God will send the hornet against them until those who remain and hide themselves from you perish. ²¹ You shall not dread them, for Yahweh your God is in your midst, a great and fearsome God. ²² And Yahweh your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, lest the wild beasts become too numerous for you. ²³ But Yahweh your God will give them over before you and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ²⁴ And He will give their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become devoted to destruction like it; you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.
(Deuteronomy 7:12-26 LSB)

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