Water and Spirit Conversion | The Institute for Creation Research

Water and Spirit Conversion



“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)

John 3:16, the most quoted Bible verse in history, is declared by our Lord Jesus Christ at a private meeting with Nicodemus, a “ruler of the Jews” (John 3:1) who was a key member of the Pharisees (John 7:47-50). If you only focus on the famous words “for God so loved the world,” the rich color of our Lord’s point is entirely missed. Nicodemus also missed Christ’s point, asking, “How can these things be?” (John 3:9). The great prophet Ezekiel has the answer: “For I will take you [future restored Israel]…[and] sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean….A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit….and [I will] cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:24-27).

Having New Covenant implications with Israel’s future conversion, this passage clearly describes anyone in the kingdom who repents and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. In fact, unless the Lord transforms our hardened hearts, we cannot be in His kingdom. The water and Spirit point to the hidden work of the Holy Spirit (who’s like the blowing wind, John 3:8) in producing cleansed and renewed hearts (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5).

After Nicodemus asked, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). That evening, Nicodemus walked away undecided and unchanged. What’s your response to our Lord’s urgent call? CM



Days of Praise Podcast Days of Praise Podcast is a podcast based on the Institute for Creation Research quarterly print devotional, Days of Praise. Start your day with devotional readings written by Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Henry Morris III, Dr. John Morris, and others to strengthen and encourage you in your Christian faith.
 
         

 

The Latest
CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Getting the Gospel into People's Hands | Creation.Live Podcast:...
Can God use an atheist airline pilot to reach other nations with the truth of the Gospel? The answer, obviously, is yes.   Host...

NEWS
Chimp Genome Only 75% Similar to Human?
An oft-repeated claim of evolutionary propaganda is that chimpanzee and human DNA are 98.5% identical. This high level of DNA similarity, which has...

NEWS
''73-Million-Year-Old'' Alaskan Salmon
Fish evolution remains an enigma. Evolutionists can only say fish first “appeared” over a half-billion years ago.1 Creationists...

NEWS
God's Memorial Day
“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of...

NEWS
The Origin of Eukaryotes
Eukaryotes are multicellular organisms that contain diverse differentiated cell types. Within almost every cell there are subcellular compartments called...

CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Fossil Fish Finally Filmed
The bizarre lobe-finned coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) “that flourished some 350 million years ago”1 continues to be a thorn...

NEWS
The Mosasaur: A Giant Sea Dragon
Mosasaurs (order Squamata) were massive marine lizards that were common in the pre-Flood oceans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their fossils...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2025
...

NEWS
Was Life Detected on a Distant Planet?
There was celebration, albeit briefly, for the discovery of potential life on a planet called K2-18b, which is 124 lightyears away from Earth. The...