Born of Water

Tonight we’ll study the first part of John chapter 3, particularly verse 5 which says, “… Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”.  Right now the kingdom of God is within you, Lk 17:21, if you’re saved.  But when Jesus returns, people who are born again will be able to see the kingdom of God, Jn 3:3, and enter it, Jn 3:5.

This verse has, most commonly, been taught to be water baptism  by many churches.  Or it’s been taught to be your natural birth, by those who don’t believe that “born of water” is water baptism.

I believe that born of water refers to Jesus Christ and born of the Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit.  As Jn 1:12-13 says, sons of God are “born, not of blood… but of God”.

To verify that born of water refers to Jesus, look at Jn 4:10-14.  The gift of God is “living water”.  The water Jesus gives “shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”.  We get this “living water” and everlasting life by believing on Jesus Christ, Jn 3:16-18, 36.

In Jn 6:35, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst”.  His living water quenches our spiritual thirst.

In Jn 7:37-39 Jesus said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”.  He said this “of the Spirit”.  Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit incarnate, Lk 1:35.  When the Holy Spirit is in you, Jesus is in you (Jn 14:17-20).

Interestingly, John records something at Jesus’s crucifixion “that ye might believe”, Jn 19:34-35.  When the soldier pierced Jesus’s side, “forthwith came there out blood and water”.  This water was not pericardial effusion or pleural effusion (fluid from around the heart or lungs).  This was the water of life that’s in Jesus.

The blood that John saw was man’s blood (Heb 2:16; Phil 2:8) and the water that he saw was God’s blood (Acts 20:28).

Thus, John wrote in his first epistle that Jesus didn’t come by water only, but by water and blood, 1 Jn 5:6, 8.  And he said that the Spirit bears witness to this truth.  Jesus had, as the Son of God, the water of life, and as the Son of man, blood which is the life of the flesh, Lev 17:11.

As an additional reference to this water of life, in Rev 22:17, we read, “And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”.

Returning to John 3, in Jn 3:7-8, Jesus describes those who are born of the Spirit like “the wind bloweth”.  And sure enough, when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost “there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind… And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost”, Acts 2:2-4.

And then in Jn 3:13, Jesus speaking of himself said, “no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven”.

So, right there in the context you see the Holy Spirit, evidenced by wind, and Jesus, who came down from heaven.

In Jn 3:9-10 Jesus asked Nicodemus, “art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things”?  Evidently, then, we should be able to find references in the Old Testament that would have helped Nicodemus understand what Jesus just said.

Here are some of these Old Testament passages.

In the wilderness journey, the water out of the rock and the manna are connected with Jesus, the water of life, 1 Cor 10:3-4, and the bread of life, Jn 6:33-35.

In Jer 2:13 the Lord said of Judah, “they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters”.  He is the living water.

In Ezek 37:1-14, the wind is the breath of life.  The Lord said, I “shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live”.

In Ps 22:30-31, at the end of this great psalm about the crucifixion, a seed shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation and a people shall be born.

And then in Is 53, another great crucifixion passage, v.8 says, “who shall declare his generation”, and v.10 says “he shall see his seed”.

Both of these passages speak of the generation and seed of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again.  “In Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”, 1 Cor 15:22.

With all of this, we now have some references that help us understand not only Jn 3:3-7, but also the seemingly strange things Jesus said in Jn 6:51-55.

In Jn 6:48 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life”.  And then in Jn 6:51 Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”.

Then he said in Jn 6:53-54, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life”.  His flesh is the bread of life and his blood is water of life.  See 1 Cor 10:3-4.

Of course, the disciples who heard him murmured at him.  His saying was hard to understand, Jn 6:60-61, because it sounded just like cannibalism.

So, Jesus clarified his statements.  In Jn 6:63 he said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life”.  You eat and drink by believing his words, not by literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood.  You must believe on Jesus, Jn 6:35, 47.

When Jesus asked Peter if he would go away, Peter answered, “thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jn 6:67-69.  Peter had it just right.