Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3
Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, sneaks away in the middle of the night to find Jesus, the teacher, seeking the comfort of truth. Jesus responds to his inquiry with rebirth, a radical new beginning, not bound by the natural cycle of life and death, but the beginning of life eternal.
It was to Nicodemus that Jesus spoke the beautiful words Martin Luther later called the Gospel in a sentence. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Death ends life, birth begins it. Eternal life does not begin at death, it begins at rebirth, that moment of belief, faith, confession and acceptance when Jesus becomes Savior and Lord.
Have a Lovely Day,
Gretchen
P.S. My statement about birth and the beginning of life pertains only to the matter of Nicodemus and rebirth and has nothing to do with today’s subject of when life actually begins. Thank you.