"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:10-14 KJV)
Begotten is a word we don't use much today. It means 'fathered by.' And 'only begotten' means 'being the only offspring of its father.' In these verses Jesus is called, 'the only begotten of the Father.' He is the only 'offspring' of God but not in the sense that at one point He did not exist and then was created by the Father. Jesus has always existed eternally with the Father. Verse 10 above states that 'the world was made by him.' He was present in creation. He was present before creation. He has always been and will always be present. He is the only begotten of the Father because He is uniquely God's Son. Jesus says of Himself in John 17:8, "For I have given to them the words which you gave me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me." (NKJV) Jesus was not created, He originated with the Father, He came out from God, and as such He is the only begotten Son. When Jesus came and was born of the Virgin Mary by the Spirit of God, He was fully God and fully man, the only begotten of the Father; and because of this He could redeem us, set us free from our sin, and make a way for us to become the sons and daughters of God through His death, burial, and resurrection. As Paul opens his epistle to the Romans he says this of Jesus, "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:..." Jesus, a non-created being, Jesus as God the Son, came and took on human flesh. We are created by God and must be born again of the Spirit. Genesis 1:26, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we accept His atoning death as our own, we are 'born of God.' We are born again of the Spirit. In John 3:3 Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Do you see the beauty of it? If you are His, if you are a true believer in Christ you have been born again by His Spirit. This means that we do not have to follow the dictates of our flesh anymore. Listen to 1 John 5:8, "We know that whosover is born of God sins not; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not." Jesus was begotten of the Father, and when we are born again we are begotten of God. His Spirit fills us, His love fills us, His life fills us and by faith we can stand against the flesh, sin, the enemy, in power and in victory through what Jesus did. This is the beauty of a relationship with God in Christ and it's something that no other religion or philosophy or "energy" or "light" can give you. It takes me out of the way, and is fully dependent on Him. He is God. And I'm not. He through His Spirit keeps me as I yield to Him and all that He is. We, who are His, are now the sons and daughters of God and our heart is to please Him and to glorify Him, not because we fear judgment or some punishment, but because the love of Christ constrains us to. Only Begotten Before all that was Holy, Righteous Sent from above Lived and died As one of us To redeem, to save To show His love I bend my knee I bow my heart That I may end And He may start Not my own Purchased with blood That I may be A daughter of God I can't earn it It's all His grace Forgiven, free Face to face Jesus, Savior Of matchless worth In You only I have second birth Incorruptible seed Alive in me You gave all To set me free Have you given your life to the Only Begotten Son of God? Have you been born again? If you have been born again, are you living like it? We live in a world today where anything goes, where God has been marginalized or silenced, where we do whatever seems right in our own eyes, but we who believe are to be in the world but not of it. Our lives, who we are on a daily basis should make us different. When people get around us they should sense that there is something about us that is not 'normal.' We are now born from above, and our minds need to be renewed to that truth, and our lives should speak that truth, and our hearts should cleave to Jesus and trust Him in everything....He is enough. Written by Anne Marie Hawke October 2020 To subscribe to my blog or to find out more about my writing, please visit my website at hawkewriter.com
4 Comments
Carol Learned
10/12/2020 09:10:11 am
Beautiful Anne,
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Christian Lempeckski
10/16/2020 04:54:20 am
Wonderful Words. Well said
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Brenda Mcmurray
10/18/2020 03:58:16 am
So loved the poem!
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Christian Lempeckski
7/28/2021 07:23:26 pm
Please continue to write. These blogs are beautiful well spoken and authentic. There is an extraordinary depth to this teaching and the message is incredibly inspiring.
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