Advent Devotional - December 14, 2014

"Mild He lays His glory by / Born that man no more may die / Born to raise the sons of earth / Born to give them second birth / Hark! The herald angels sing / ‘Glory to the newborn King!’"

-Hark the Herald Angels Sing

The above lines list several reasons why Jesus came to earth, but all of them might well be summed up in one simple phrase: He was born that we might be reborn.

When Nicodemus approached Jesus at night and confessed that God must be with Him, Jesus responded with a rather perplexing statement: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Well, that just confused Nicodemus, who quite promptly asked how on earth a grown man could enter into his mother’s womb a second time. But Jesus was insistent: “Truly, truly, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). What on earth is Jesus talking about?

It’s most likely that He is referencing Ezekiel 36. God’s people dwelt in exile and had profaned His name among the nations, dragging His name through the mud of their own sin. But instead of giving up on them, God promised that He would make them new: “I will sprinkle clean water on you... I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you... And I will put my Spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). You see, God was telling Israel (and Nicodemus) that they had to be made new. In their natural state, they would never be clean enough to stand before God. They would need a new life, a second birth, for any chance of fellowship with him.

Like Israel in exile, we all are unclean, wallowing in the muck and the mire of sin. But God gives new life, second birth! “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1). For we who have trusted in Christ, who have truly been born of God, we have every reason to join with the angels in singing “Glory to the newborn King!”