The birth a child is an exciting time in a family. So is the spiritual birth for it has eternal value. That spiritual birth is the result of an individual placing their faith in Christ. It is not physical in nature, for man cannot be physically born twice. Jesus addressed that issue in speaking to Nicodemus. The Apostle John recorded in his gospel the conversation between Jesus and the Jewish leader. “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.’ In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’” (John 3:1-3 NIV). 

Nicodemus had carefully observed the Law thinking that it would give him relationship with God. Yet in his soul, he sensed a spiritual emptiness that religious activity could not fill. “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again” (John 3:4-7 NIV). 

Just as the birth of a child places the new borne into an earthly family, so the new birth from above identifies the individual as a child of God sharing the royalty of Christ, the risen Son, who is now seated at the Father’s right hand. 

Paul describes this supernatural heavenly birth and its benefits … “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Eph 1:3-10 NIV). 

Peter, writing to Jewish Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor said … “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV). 

Paul rightly speaks of the new birth as a new creation. He describes the prior and post spiritual condition of a person. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Eph 2:1 NIV). “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:4-5 NIV). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ” (2 Cor 5:17-18 NIV).