Have you been Renovated?

Our son’s home had a small kitchen. It was poorly designed and difficult to work in. However, our daughter-in-law drafted a plan and the kitchen was renovated with a new design that is not only functional but attractive. No one can even remembers what the old version looked like.

This is an important Bible concept. Without a make-over, no one can enter or even see the kingdom of God. Oddly enough, the word REGENERATION occurs only once, but what that represents is represented by other words such as “new birth” and “born anew” and “new creation.”

John 3:3–5. Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God . . . unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

1 Peter 1:3;23. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead . . . . you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Galatians 6:15. “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”

My Bible dictionary defines regeneration as “the act that results in something (which already exists) coming into being afresh, or starting over; especially used of the soul or the earth being completely refashioned.” Like the renovated kitchen, this new creation is nothing like the old. The old runs its own life, makes decisions that will personally benefit, and thinks in terms of this life only. The new creation follows Jesus Christ and finds its strength in Him, does what will glorify God, and has an eternal perspective, among other radical changes.

This concept of being spiritually reborn is extremely difficult for people to understand but the metaphor of ‘new birth’ is vital and describes what God does in the life of all who become His children. An unsaved person cannot grasp this change. For them, change comes only through self-effort or ‘pulling themselves up’ but regeneration is a supernatural act, done by God alone. It is a complete change in one’s way of life, making it what it should be. The implication is a return to a former state or relationship. In other words, God renovates His people to be what He intended people to be before sin separated them from Him in Eden.

This is never self-effort. Ephesians 2:1 declares that “You were dead in the trespasses and sins” then verse 5 says, “Even when we were dead in our trespasses, (He) made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved!” Titus 3:5–7 says:

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

This idea of renovation is not only applied to sinners but to the whole world. The only other place this Greek word is used is when Jesus said in Matthew 19:28, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The term ‘new world’ means a regenerated world, one made new by the power of God.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. The power of God to regenerate is illustrated in every genuine Christian. It is also illustrated in transplant heart surgery when the new heart is connected and begins beating all by itself. Most of all, this power resurrected the crucified One, not to renovate Him for He is sinless and needed no makeover, but to give life to a body that was not alive. I’m gazing at a God that can do that. He does it every spring when dead winter flora shoots up alive again, and He does it every time I fall back into my old ways, confess such folly and am restored to the power of His life in me. Words fail to describe the wonder of this God who can bring life to anything dead, even those dead in sin. Lord Jesus Christ, You are amazing!