P2 The God of the Bible Revealed in General Revelation and in Jesus Christ

Psalm 19:1 “The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth His handiwork.

Psalm 19:7 “The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul”

John 1:18 “….He has explained Him”.

Introduction:
In yesterday's post we began considering the God of the Bible. We noted that God's essential nature as an all-powerful and all-good God can be discerned from observations in both the external world and the moral order. One of my favorite designations for the Bible is “God’s Book”. The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 begins its first article with these words: 

“The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man.” As one goes down through the rest of article, the emphasis is plain: God is the central character and focal point of sacred scripture. The BFM 2000 describes God as the Bible’s “author”. 

Further reading yields that by the principles of the Bible, God “judges” men’s hearts. Finally, all scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of Divine revelation. 

We had also observed that in as much as the Bible is “God’s Book”, we need to also know the “God of the Book”. The above three verses tell us three main truths about this God: 

1). His existence is revealed in the external world and the moral realm

2). He expresses Himself in scripture 

3). He is explained through Jesus Christ. 

God's existence is fundamental to saving faith, along with trust in the specific revelation He expresses in the Bible and in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:6 states: "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

Today we are going to present a couple basic arguments for God's existence, along with showing how they connect to God's revelation of Himself in Jesus. 
  

1. God's power is observed in the external world by noting how the universe had a finite beginning
When we consider that the universe is not eternal, but rather began a finite time ago, we can propose the following argument for God’s existence:

Premise #1: Anything that begins to exist, has a cause for its existence

Premise #2: The universe began to exist

Therefore: The universe has a cause for its existence.

This first argument, though not telling us directly the nature of the cause of the universe, nonetheless suggests that the cause of the universe had to be outside of and prior to its beginning. Other arguments can be brought in to demonstrate that this cause is Personal, Eternal and Self-sufficient. 

The way we know that the cause of the universe is Personal is that one cannot get a finite effect (such as our universe) from an infinite cause unless that cause is endowed with the ability to choose when the universe would begin. The universe is an impersonal, material, finite reality. The cause of the universe would then need to be Personal, immaterial and infinite in power. These reflections upon the external world – such as our universe – lead to the conclusion that this Personal, immaterial all-powerful cause is God. 

2. God's goodness is observed in the moral order as the Lawgiver and source of objective moral values and duties

But now what about the moral order that we see in the universe – which is to say – the reality of objective moral values and duties? Again we can offer what is called the “moral argument” for God’s existence:

Premise #1: If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist

Premise #2: Objective moral values and duties do exist

Therefore: God exists

If people are asked whether or not it is wrong in all places, all times, regardless of cultural context, to harm little children – what will people say? Universally the answer would be: “of course it wrong”. Or again, do people believe in fairness, tolerance, the important of helping out others? When pressed, people will be heard saying things like: “that’s not fair” or “racism is wrong” or be outraged when witnessing a crime and feel the compulsion to decide whether or not to intervene. 

These moral impulses are hardwired into the fabric of humanity. Moreover, humanity has such values because they derive from a Moral Lawgiver. C.S Lewis once remarked that he would not know what a crooked line was lest there be a straight line with which to compare it. The obligation to “do what is right” cannot be explained by scientific hypotheses such as biological evolution. For the sake of argument - even if somebody should subscribe to belief in biological evolution through natural selection and mutation - evolution only serves to explain the biological survival of the fittest, rather than truth. In short, biological evolution has no place for truth - since its aim is not to discover truth, but only to describe what is seen presently and assuming that similar processes were operating in the far past to bring about life. 

On a worldview that believes only in the reality of the natural world, since truth itself is an immaterial property, then one subscribing to naturalism cannot know whether or not their naturalistic worldview is true. God’s existence as a Good God can only explain why there are moral obligations and ethical principles. 

Hence by considering nature and the moral code that the created order has contained within it – imposing itself upon us, we can conclude that the God of general revelation is the all-powerful creator, that is an all-good God.

Romans 1:18-20 expresses the first conclusion, namely that what can be known of God with respect to His Deity and power, is made known to all men. Romans 2:14-25 expresses the second conclusion drawn from natural theology – namely that the moral law written on the heart is evidence from the moral realm that this God that exists is not only all-powerful, but also all-Good.

Connecting God's general revelation of Himself as the All-Powerful, All-good God to the revelation of Himself in Jesus
As we noted at the beginning of this post, God has expressed Himself specifically in the Bible. The Bible is the revelation of Himself to man - as so stated in the Baptist Faith and Message. With that said, the Bible's central character is none-other than the Person of Jesus Christ. 

The remarkable ministry, claims and works done by Christ prefaced His historic death and resurrection from the dead. When we consider the God whom Jesus proclaimed in His earthly ministry as being not only His Father, but also He Himself sharing in the same nature with the Father - Jesus claims nothing less than full-deity (see John 5:18-24). 

Jesus' resurrection demonstrates in both a historical and theological way that the God He proclaimed and claimed to be the incarnation thereof does indeed exist. Henceforth, in Jesus we find general revelation's implicit claims about God and the Bible's specific revelation of God shown to be about the same God. One scholar, Dr. William Lane Craig, has summarized all of this in a fine argument, with which I will close out today's post:

Premise #1 There are four facts which are widely accepted by historians and scholars of different persuasions: Jesus' honorable burial; the discovery of the empty tomb; His post-mortem appearances & sudden faith of the disciples

Premise #2 The hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead is the best explanation of these facts

Premise #3 The hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead entails that God exists

Therefore: God exists

P1 - The God of the Bible Revealed in General Revelation

Psalm 19:1 “The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth His handiwork.

Psalm 19:7 “The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul”

John 1:18 “….He has explained Him”.

Introduction:One of my favorite designations for the Bible is “God’s Book”. The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 begins its first article with these words: 

“The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man.” As one goes down through the rest of article, the emphasis is plain: God is the central character and focal point of sacred scripture. The BFM 2000 describes God as the Bible’s “author”. 

Further reading yields that by the principles of the Bible, God “judges” men’s hearts. Finally, all scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of Divine revelation. In as much as the Bible is “God’s Book”, we need to also know the “God of the Book”. The above three verses tell us three main truths about this God: 

1). His existence is revealed in the external world and the moral realm

2). He expresses Himself in scripture 

3). He is explained through Jesus Christ. 

Today’s post wants to consider the first of these - namely, that the God of the Bible is the same God that is discerned from the testimony of the external world and the reality of objective moral values and duties.

Why begin with “The God of the Book” before getting to the “Book of God”
What kind of God is this God? Undoubtedly we have the special revelation of scripture and the fullness of revelation in Jesus Christ to tell us the specifics about God. However, we also understand that God has expressed Himself in a general, non-redemptive form of revelation that Bible teachers call "general revelation". 

With the increasing tides of secularism and spiritualism, the God of the Bible needs to be explained for what and Who He truly is: the One All-Good, All powerful God. The exercise of discerning God's nature and characteristics from His general revelation in the external world and the moral realm is called "natural theology". 

Prophets of the Old Testament like David in Psalm 8 and 19 and the New Testament Apostles like Paul in Acts 14 and 17 argued for the existence and nature of the true God from observations gleaned from general revelation. Their strategy was to engage their audiences, who had never heard the special revelation of God in the Bible, with information they already had about God. Romans 1:18-20 and 2:14 state that all men born into this world have an inherent knowledge of both the power and moral character of God. Thus the pattern of beginning with God's general revelation and the insights of natural theology is one that is advocated by the Bible. 

Before we can talk about “God’s Book”, we must first talk about “The God of the Book”. 

As mentioned, the task of drawing conclusions from God's general revelation in both the external world and the human heart what we call “natural theology”. There is an amazing amount of truth we can glean about God, from creation and the moral make-up of man independent from and yet which complements the authoritative Divine revelation of the scriptures. 

Such inferences do not lead one to knowing God, but rather knowing about God. Two of several “arguments” for God’s existence can be drawn from reasonable reflections upon the physical properties external world and the reality of objective moral values and duties. In the next post, we will consider those arguments, their implications and what they tell us about the God of the Book. 

P2 - Five important words that describe the Bible

Genesis 3:1 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 

Introduction and Review
Yesterday we began considering five important words or terms associated with describing the nature and character of scripture. As Christians, we need to know that the Bible we carry in our hands is the Word of God.  In today's post we will conclude where we began by focusing in on the two last terms (preservation, illumination) that followed after the three we did yesterday (revelation, inspiration, canonicity).  As we noted yesterday, each of these terms could be given their own post. The point of these two posts is to get into the reader's mind the reliability and sufficiency of the Bible as God's very words.

1. Preservation- God's Providential preservation of the words of the Bible in the hand-copied texts of the Old and New Testament.

We possess more certainty over the words of the Bibles in our possession today as being those originally penned by the Biblical authors than we do of any other ancient document.  Once that original manuscript left the hand of that prophet or apostle, how was its contents preserved as it was copied over and over again? Certainly as the scriptures were copied by hand, minor variations would had entered into the textual stream. However we can be assured that we have the words of God in our manuscripts. Insofar as a manuscript copy and translation represents those words, that copy or translation carries the authority of being God's Word. A whole field of study aims to answer this question.1

Perhaps in illustration I heard one time will aid in this point. Take any dollar bill or paper currency that you have in your possession and ask yourself whether that bill can be used to make a purchase? Of course the answer is yes. That bill is a copy of the original plates on a printing press to produce the bill. Perhaps when you got the paper currency, it was torn, tattered or worn. Despite its condition, that dollar bill is a valuable and carries the authority of a Federal Reserve Note just as much as those original plates. The plates are flawless, and the dollar bill bearing their image carries those flawless elements, despite having tears and signs of use. The authority of such and is for all practical intents and purposes flawless in as much as it represents its original. So it is the same with the copies and translations of the Old and New Testaments. We should have no worries concerning the Bibles we have today - they are the Word of God!  

If God had not guaranteed the preservation of His words down to our day, we would have no idea what He communicated. (Matthew 5:18)  More could be said but we must hasten to the final key term...

2. Illumination - How God the Holy Spirit helps Christians understand the meaning of the Revealed, Inspired, Canonical and Preserved Text

When a Christian is converted by grace through faith, the Holy Spirit enables him or her to understand the meaning of the words of the Bible.  Passages such as 1 Corinthians 2:10-13 and 1 John 2:20,27 give us this promise of the Spirit's ministry in the life of the Christian.  Without the Holy Spirit's work of illumination, I could not preach the Bible with clarity nor could those to whom I preach apply what is preached.  Furthermore, without the proverbial "light-bulb" of understanding given by the Holy Spirit, no Christian could have fruitful study of God's word.2 

Conclusion
As you consider the five terms: Revelation, Inspiration, Canonicity, Preservation & Illumination, you will discover the truth of the matter: the Bible that you and I carry to church and read every week is the Word of God.  I would like to end today's blog with this quote from the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 Article 1 on the Holy Scriptures, of which I affirm: "The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy."    

End Notes:______________________
1. The scholarly field to which I'm referring is called textual criticism. 
 Without going into too much detail, the thousands upon thousands of copies of manuscripts, both Old and New Testament, can reconstruct the original text in over 99,9% of cases, with no variation in the copies affecting any doctrine or teaching.  

2. Often people will confuse the terms "revelation" and "illumination". It is important to keep those two terms distinct, since God is not giving no new revelations today. Any insights people have into the spiritual realm or in guidance for every day life is a result of the Spirit's illuminating work through the scriptures. Even when we hear God's voice and know what He wants us to do, its because at some point we heard a Biblical- based sermon or read a Bible verse that spoke on that subject. 

P1 - Five important words that describe the Bible

Genesis 3:1 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 


The first question in the God's Word had to do with God's Word
Everything up until Genesis 3 had been commanded and declared by God. Satan took God's commands and declarations and put question marks on the end.  Sin entered into the world as a result of man losing and refusing to fight the battle for God's Words.  

As Christians, we need to know that the Bible we carry in our hands is the Word of God.  In today's post I want to introduce the reader to five terms that have been used by theologians to describe how the scriptures journeyed from God's mouth to man's hand.  Those five terms of which I speak are the following:

1. Revelation
2. Inspiration
3. Canonicity
4. Preservation
5. Illumination

Each of these terms could be given their own post. However, for today, I just want you the reader to be equipped with brief definitions of the first three so as to get in your mind the reliability and sufficiency of your Bible as God's very words. The next post will deal with the latter two terms.

1. Revelation - Making known that which was previously unknown  
In Bible doctrine we usually distinguish three types of revelation:

a. General Revelation - This is God revealing or making known His glory and power in creation and the conscience  (Psalm 19:7-11; Romans 1:18-31, 2:15)

b. Full Revelation - This is God's revelation of His Person and Majesty through the incarnation of God the Son, Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

c. Special Revelation - This is God's Revelation of His purposes and will through the writing of the Old and New Testament scriptures, of which we are focusing upon in this particular blog today. (Deuteronomy 29:29; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21)

God revealed His words to His prophets, by whom spoke and then wrote down the revelation. In the New Testament the terms employed to refer to God's revelation refer to "unveiling that which was previously hidden".  (Exodus 24:4; Amos 3:7; Ephesians 1:10; 1 Peter 1:10-11)

2.  Inspiration - Human authors were given a unique measure of grace through their own writing styles to produce documents free from error and sufficient for faith and practice

Revelation (not the Book but the act of God making the unknown known) leads next to inspiration.  It is in the act of inspiration that God takes His revealed will and superintends over the writing styles of the biblical authors to produce the Bible books. In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read that "all scripture is inspired", meaning literally that: "God breathed out the scriptures."  Just as He breathed out His breath into the nostrils of Adam and Adam became a living soul, so did the writings of the Apostles and Prophets become living scripture as they wrote.  

With the more than 40 authors, writing on three continents and in three languages, over 1500 years period of time, God used their writing styles and situations to produce a unified library of 66 documents free from error.  Once the last period of the Book of Revelation was completed, the Grace of inspiration would never operate again.  So with God's words written as perfectly true words, how would God's people know which books were God's books as opposed to forgeries?

3. Canonicity - The identification, reception and arranging of the individually inspired Bible books into the official collection of God's words
Virtually all the Bible books were immediately identified, received and collected by God's people for public reading, preaching and application.  The term "canon" literally means "measuring rod", hence the Bible is the final authority or "measuring rod" on all matters.  Not just any book could be considered part of God's Divine Library of the Bible.  Church history tells us that God's people used a variety of tests for recognizing God's words.1

God perfectly inspired the individual Bible books, not the manner of their order or arrangement.  God in His Providence led the people of God to take up the task of receiving and arranging the books of scripture.  Without a doubt the Holy Spirit guided the process, and it must be remembered that the Bible produced the church, not the other way around.  By recognizing the nature of canonicity, we can see why its not a big deal for certain Bibles to have differing order or arrangement of the Bible books.2  In our next post we will deal with two other terms: preservation and illumination. 

End Notes:______________________

1. So what were the tests?  Some examples are as follows:
a. Was the author a prophet, apostle or associate of an apostle?
b. Does the book correspond with previous revelation?
c. Does the Book bring about conversion?
d. Does the book point to Jesus Christ, the fullness of God's revelation?
e. Is the book recognized by virtually all Christians as God's word?

Tests such as these were used, and once individually recognized, the church came to arrange the books for use and preaching purposes.

2. For example we know by Jesus' day that the Old Testament was arranged in a three-fold way (Law, Prophets, Writings). (Luke 24:44) However in our English Bibles our Old Testaments are arranged as: Law, Historical Books, Poetic Books and Prophetic Books (Major and Minor Prophets). These differing arrangements have nothing to do with the words of scripture (inspiration), rather they represent the ways God's people came to organize the 66 Bible books.  Thus we see for instance Catholic Bibles, Eastern Orthodox Bibles and Protestant Bibles (the last which would be to most readers perhaps the most familiar) having their Bible Books in differing order.  

The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox have additional books, of which I will not address right now (these issues have been addressed in other past blogs).  Suffice it to say, all three orderings have in common the universally recognized 66 Books which appear by themselves in such English translation and versions such as KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, NLT. 

Empowerment for the Christian Walk - The Spirit-filled Life

Acts 11:22-24 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. 23 Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; 24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.

Introduction: Rechargeable batteries and the Spirit-filled life

It is amazing how many batteries one can go through when raising children as active and fun-loving as our own.  Although it has been several years, when younger children were smaller, they would come to my wife or me and inquire about batteries. Even our older ones - or we ourselves - find the batteries in our devices needing recharged. No sooner do we buy those big packs of 10 or more batteries then to find out that we need to purchase more batteries! For electronic devices, unless you plug them in for a periodic recharge, their performance will degrade. Having available power is important whether we are talking about children's toys, cell-phones or computers.

What ought to characterize the Christian throughout the remainder of their post-conversion life? The Spirit-filled life.
Just as in the illustration above, you and I as Christians - whether new to the faith or converted for years - continue to live life in this world - with the batteries of the Christian walk needing  recharged.  We need empowerment. The Spirit-filled life can be likened to the repeated need to be recharged and influenced by the Spirit following one's conversion to saving faith. To be a Spirit-filled Christian is to be a Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered one.  

Meet a Spirit-filled man by the name of Barnabas

Acts 11:19-30 details the events the were still following from the persecution of Stephen the Martyr in Acts 7-8.  The church had blossomed and grown despite the hardship and tribulations that she endured.  Acts 11:21 records a major development in regards to the progress of the church at Antioch - "And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord." These people were getting converted as a result of the Spirit's work through the preaching of the Gospel. But now with the people becoming new believers, what was going to be needed? How was this fledgling Christian movement in Antioch going to continue on from this point? Enter the man Barnabas and the key trait which he possessed - being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 11:24, quoted at the beginning of today's post, records how Barnabas "....was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith."  In the remainder of time that we have I would like us to briefly consider what the rest of Acts 11 (particularly 11:23-25 and 30) has to teach us about the filling of the Spirit in regards to is characteristics.

Characteristics of the Spirit-filled life. Acts 11:23-25, 30

1. Clear testimony  11:23a

2. Confident joy      11:23b

3. Consistent in Faith 11:24a

4. Kingdom fruit 11:24b

5. Counted reliable  11:30

Certainly there are other scriptures in the New Testament that bear out more examples and more traits - yet Barnabas' is a great introduction to the Spirit-filled or Spirit-empowered life in terms of what it looks like, sounds like and acts like.  Barnabas (whose name means "son of encouragement) was the type of Christian you enjoyed being around.  The Spirit-filled Christian not only has enough "rechargable energy" for their own Christian walk but they operate in the "over-flow" of the Holy Spirit to the affecting of others.  

It is only apropos that in the very first place that we find the name "Christian" being used to describe Jesus followers that it should be attached to this idea of being "filled with the Holy Spirit." Just as the new birth or regenerative work of the Holy Spirit constitutes the epicenter of conversion; the filling or empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit occupies the center of the post-conversion Christian walk. The filling of the Spirit enables me to become in experience of my sanctification (i.e progressive Christian growth) whom God has legally declared me to be in justification in salvation. As we find Barnabas to be a grand example of this precious truth of the Spirit-filled life, may those who are Christians heed the admonition of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:18 - to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Understanding the miracle of the New Birth

James 1:17-18 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

Introduction:
Today I wanted us to better understand what is meant when Christians and the Bible speak about the beginning point of salvation - "The New Birth". It can be instructive to grasp how earlier Christians spoke of Biblical truth in order to see whether or not we are on the right track. Such an exercise is what we call "historical theology". Far from being dull and dry, historical theology connects us to Christians of the past. If anything, their insights can aid us in a deeper understanding of Biblical truth. Historical theology's accuracy is measured by what the Bible teaches by way of its major themes and development of doctrinal truth (or what is called Biblical theology). Both types of theological study assist in better comprehending what God has revealed about this truth of regeneration or the new birth. 

How Christians have historically defined the New Birth in Christian Salvation
The above text deals with the beginning of one's salvation - what the Bible calls "The New Birth" or "Regeneration". The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention) defines the "New Birth" accordingly: "Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace." Henceforth we can see that regeneration is all about a change of heart brought about by God in the sinner, followed by a response of repentance and faith. 

Baptists have come to understand both the individual Christian life and corporate church life as rooted in this entry point of the Christian life. The 1689 Baptist Confession defines regeneration or the New Birth accordingly: "(God) is pleased in his appointed, and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God." We can pause here to note how this older Baptist confession includes and enlightening of the mind, as well as a change of heart. The confession goes onward: "taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace." 

One more example, the 1833 New Hampshire Confession, speaks of regeneration in this way: We believe that, in order to be saved, sinners must be regenerated, or born again; that regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind; that it is effected in a manner above our comprehension by the power of the Holy Spirit, in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; and that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, and faith, and newness of life." Here we see how regeneration not only affects the heart (seat of emotions) and the mind with respect to their illumination, but also the will with regards to its inclination. Such is the understanding of God's work of regeneration through some of the thoughts of earlier Christians. But now, the true measure of any doctrine is to see what the Bible teaches. 

The Biblical source, the effects and the activities involved in the New Birth
The New Testament speaks of the beginning of Christian salvation as being that of a "New Birth".  Jesus for example in John 3:1-8 discusses with Nicodemas what it means to be "born-again".  Peter too talks about being "begotten" or "born again" by God in 1 Peter 1:3 and 23.  This language of "birthing" and "regeneration" to describe saving faith is used in Titus 3:5 - "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." 

James 1:17-21 is the text I want us to specifically focus upon in drawing to a close today's post on the New Birth, since James was the first New Testament Book.  As you go down through James'  treatment, you discover the following about the New Birth or as it is sometimes termed "regeneration":

1. The New Birth Comes from God. James 1:17
This is clearly the origin of the New Birth.  This tells us that salvation by its very nature is a genuine miracle.  We could call this first thought the "source" of regeneration or the New Birth.

2. The New Birth Brings a change of heart.  James 1:18
The New Birth, being a work of God, brings with it the grace that accompanies salvation.  As we will see in later blogs, whenever you and I have been born again - there must needs had been a change of heart.  We could term this the "effects" of the New Birth or regeneration.

3. The New Birth Involves faith and repentance. James 1:19-21
Any definition of the New Birth must include "faith and repentance".  Apart from faith and repentance, the New Birth simply will not occur.  James speaks about both repentance (James 1:19-21a) and faith (1:21b) in this authoritative definition of "The New Birth".   We could call this last point the "activities involved" in the New Birth. 

I would encourage the reader to study over James 1:17-21 and the other texts mentioned in today's blog to gain a better understanding of this essential truth of Christian salvation - The New Birth. Furthermore, consider again what older Christians taught, since how Biblical truth was expressed in former generations can shine fresh light on current study and application of such truth. One thing is for certain - the New Birth and its attendant graces is a miracle of God wrought in the heart and thus marking the beginning point of salvation. 

Keep the fire of the Lord burning

Leviticus 9:22-24 "Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. 23 Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces."

Introduction

I was thinking upon this particular passage of scripture a few days ago. Aaron, Moses' brother, was chosen by God to be the first high priest of Israel. His family and clan and tribe were the chosen portion of Israel that were set aside by God to represent His interests to the people. The Book of Leviticus represents the Israelite's first month or two of life following their Exodus from Egypt. We see the beginnings of their journeys and the start of a ministry. As God was finalizing all of the instructions to Aaron and his sons through Moses, the one feature of their calling and office as priests had to do with keeping the fire burning upon the altar (see Leviticus 6:13).

Undoubtedly the preparation for the moment recorded for us in Leviticus 9 was momentous. The priesthood of Israel was a special office commissioned by God. Aaron and his sons had experienced the prescribed rituals of anointing and donning of garments. However, one thing was needed - the fire of God. Lest the Spirit of God would come and kindle the altar, the priesthood would remain a ritual - and not a relationship with the covenant keeping God of Israel. 

The scene must had been truly an emotional one as the Jewish Levitical priesthood was getting underway. The people were present. Moses was there. Aaron and his sons were arrayed in their white garments. Then the fire came. The corporate spiritual life of a nation could now officially begin. They had experienced the deliverance by God from Egypt and were at the place God had called them. But until the fire of His presence kindled that altar, the ministry, the life of following God - could not commence nor continue. 

Matthew Henry, the great commentator of old wrote these words: "This fire did, as it were, take possession of the altar. The fire was thus kindled in God’s house, which was to continue as long as the house stood, as we read before, Lev. 6:13. This also was a figure of good things to come. The Spirit descended upon the apostles in fire (Acts 2:3), so ratifying their commission, as this spoken of here did the priests’. And the descent of this holy fire into our souls to kindle in them pious and devout affections towards God, and such a holy zeal as burns up the flesh and the lusts of it, is a certain token of God’s gracious acceptance of our persons and performances. That redounds to God’s glory which is the work of his own grace in us." 

Henry continues: "Hereby we know that we dwell in God, and God in us, because he hath thus given us of his Spirit, 1 John 4:13. Now henceforward, (1.) All their sacrifices and incense must be offered with this fire. Note, Nothing goes to God but what comes from him. We must have grace, that holy fire, from the God of grace, else we cannot serve him acceptably,Heb. 12:28. (2.) The priests must keep it burning with a constant supply of fuel, and the fuel must be wood, the cleanest of fuel. Thus those to whom God has given grace must take heed of quenching the Spirit."

Israel of the Old Testament was characterized by the heavenly fire of Yahweh. Such fire represented the Person of the Spirit of God attending with His people. God was the One that met Moses in the fiery bush and revealed His name as Yahweh (Exodus 3:14). Moses' calling could not commence without that confirmation of God's glorious presence. The beginnings of Aaron's ministry, the ministry of the tabernacle and the much later ministry of the temple built by Solomon had with them the coming of the heavenly fire. 

In the New Testament we see yet again the Holy Spirit descending upon His church. The church worldwide and on the local level is composed of all born-again people who are classified as a spiritual priesthood (1 Peter 2:9-10). Jesus had told his disciples to wait and tarry in Jerusalem until the Power from on High came down (see Acts 1:8). The one crucial difference between the Spirit's ministry in the Old Testament and today is that whilst He dwelt with and among the people in O.T Israel; He now permanently dwells in and through the church. Lest the Spirit comes, indwells at salvation and continues to lead and guide in sanctification - no spiritual life and service to God will commence or continue. The Spirit did come. 

When He comes into our hearts at salvation, simultaneously faith issues forth. True, genuine trust is issued froth by the sinner and they freely embrace Jesus Christ - resulting in their conversion. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 notes: "Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour." Scripture describes this miracle as regeneration or the new birth (John 3:1-5; Titus 3:5; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:3,23). 

When a man preaches a sermon or a anyone serves God in any capacity, they can only do so by the Spirit's continuing work of gifting and empowerment in their post-conversion Christian walk (Ephesians 4:11-12). Today, I simply close with the thought that as Christians, we need to tend to the fire of God kindled in our human spirit by the Holy Spirit. Let's keep the fire burning and thus serve God with joy and gladness!