John 3:5:
“Jesus answered, 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.”
What exactly did Jesus mean by these words?
Paul the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:1,2:
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea…”
And this is how the people of Israel were born of water and of the Spirit during the time of the old testament.
There are many examples of how God chose to deliver his people by water and spirit in the old testament scriptures, from the flood in the days of Noah, to the Red Sea crossing, to the Jordan river crossing, etc…
Peter the apostle wrote:
“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”
1 Peter 3:20,21
And so, we know that water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, being for the remission of our sins, gives us the answer of a good conscience before God, because our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ in baptism.
God has always used water and spirit to deliver his people.
And this is what Jesus expected Nicodemus to understand during their conversation, recorded for us in John chapter 3.
But, he didn’t understand at the time; and so the Lord said to him, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?”
When the new testament began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the 120 disciples that were waiting there as the Lord Jesus had commanded them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Then, when others which stood by asked about this miracle, they were commanded to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
Acts 2:37-40
And so, being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and filled with the Holy Ghost, they were born of water and of the Spirit, just as the Lord had said to Nicodemus.
The times during the old testament where God saved his people by water and spirit were a foreshadowing of the new testament way of salvation for all men, whether we be Jew or Gentile.
This is what Jesus meant in John 3:5, and this is how a man is born of water and of the Spirit.
“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.”
Amen.