BORN FROM ABOVE

"Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”" -- John 3:3

What does it mean to be "born again?"  The phrase has been used in our culture (it began to be used more frequently in the 80's) to describe people who have found religion or turned over a new leaf, but it is much more than that.  

The religious leader Nicodemus came to Jesus to inquire about the supernatural edge that was on Jesus' ministry.  Jesus stood out in his day.  All the Pharisees had was rules, but Jesus' ministry had results.  The supernatural power of God was very evident upon the life and ministry of Jesus.  Miracles were happening.  People's lives were being changed.  There was an undeniable power working in and upon this Rabbi that were unprecedented in his day.  Nicodemus had to know.
Jesus didn't explain the miracles to Nicodemus.  He actually stopped the conversation dead in its tracks and brought a simplicity into the equation.  "You must be born again."  

The phrase "born again" literally means "born from above" (see John 3:3 in the Berean Literal Bible [BLB], Amplified Bible, CEV, or GWT).  It implies that heaven must come down to your world.  Heaven is born in you when you are born again.  Then you enter into a life in the Spirit.  
He was saying to Nicodemus that day, "This will not make sense to you until heaven has made its home in your heart."  Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "The man without the Spirit does not understand the things that come from the Spirit."  But when the Spirit comes -- when heaven is born in you -- when you are born from above, you can suddenly see and savor and love and treasure the things that come from the Spirit of God.  Because heaven is here.  

Have you born from above? Has heaven been born in you?