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The New Birth
Posted by Lev/Christopher on July 16, 2008 at 1:30am in Forum
Sandra has asked for my view of the new birth which is essentially evangelical - I know there are some who speak of gestation periods and others who even say we are not fully born again until the end of the age - and there is some truth in both positions. The way I see it is like this:
We are dead in our sins until we let Yah'shua into our hearts and ask Him to be Master and Deliverer (Lord and Saviour), that when we do this with real intent, He enters our heart supernaturally and sits on its throne, and transforms us spiritually so that in an instant we are able to meet and fellowship with Him and have our sins forgiven as we repent. The result is a cleansing, a revelation of His love. previously unknown and unknowable, that gives us a wholly new perspective of YHWH and of people in general. When this transformation takes place, you know it without a shadow of a doubt.
I also believe that there are a series of subsequent rebirths which require progressive surrender of self, what the Book of Revelation calls "overcomings". There are successive revelations of YHWH's purpose and love in us each time this happens. I believe there are seven such overcomings that tie into each of the 7 Festivals, about which I write extensively in my sermons at http://nccg.org/mlt/sermons .
Additionally, most of us do not, I believe, actually yield our whole hearts the first time we invite Yah'shua in. Some areas of our lives are either unknowingly or deliberately sealed off from Him which He must be invited to access and rule over as we either release control to Him or discover them four ourselves (these can be the result of traumas, split persoanlities, etc.).
So I believe there are multiple births, the first and most important one of which is the new birth. I do not believe in the "once saved, always saved" (OSAS) doctrine. I also believe subsequent births are tied in to obedience to Torah (principally at the 4th of Shavu'ot stage) - we demonstrate our love and faith by our continuing desire to surrender to YHWH in obedience - this increases faith and gives us the confidence to surrender progressively even more.
I believe therefroe that there is therefore not a full rebirth until the fullness has come. Yah'shua may dwell in us but there is still the question of yielding every room of our metaphorical spiritual house to Him as more light and truth percolates our inner system.
I definitely recognise as authentic the millions of rebirths that have taken place in evangelical believers over the centuries which correspond to the Pesach endowment of the Ruach. The next stage is a committment to holiness/set-apartness represented by Chag haMatzah and then to outward committment before witnesses in water baptism (Yom haBikkurim) - holiness evangelicals who have been truly born, seek to be obedient to the commandments and have been baptised by immersion therefore have fulflled the spiritual intent of the first three festivals. But they tend to go no further. There is a need to not only receive a baptism of the Ruach at Shavu'ot/Pentecost but also covenant to obey Torah. I believe the reason there are so many false spirit-baptisms in the evangelical and charismatic movements is precisely because they reject Torah - they are better off as non-charismatic holiness baptists.
Finally, Shavu'ot is our betrothal covenant to Yah'shua so those who do not enter into this cannot become the Bride of Messiah and enter the Sukkot (Full) Marriage of the Lamb. What this means in essence is that those wto refuse to obey Torah remain as servant-children, never coming to full maturity, thus underlining its vital importance. Those who have truly allowed Yah'shua to take more and more of themselves over will have kindled within them a love and passion for Torah which builds upon their rebirth experience. Equally, without the rebirth, Torah-obedience is dead works having a value only in maintaining external order in society.
That's a pretty condensed version of my view of the new birth - hope it made sense.
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