John 1:12 But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name,
John 1:13 who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God.
I have heard it taught that if one believes on His name (as is portrayed in the 2nd half of John 1:12), that they are ok and they are saved, but let's have a closer look.
I am interested in that as many as receive Him, He gave the authority to become the children of God. It can be argued that if you have received Christ, then you are born again and therefore a child of God already.
The interesting thing here is that there are three relationships to enter into. Yes, when you ask Jesus to come into your life as Lord and Saviour with a heartfelt commitment to follow Him, He does come into your life and you are born again. Your eyes (and mind) are opened to see life in a completely new way because you are now able to see from a spiritual perspective. This relationship with Jesus is portrayed in the Feast of Passover.
For those who have also received the Holy Spirit, they will know that until such time as the Holy Spirit was received, they had no relationship with Him as such. They were void of the fruit and gifts of the Spirit. One of the more common evidences of having received the Holy Spirit is the ability to speak in tongues, or a Heavenly language as it's also called. There are different aspects to speaking in tongues, but this isn't the place to discuss that. The leading of the Holy Spirit and greater insight into Scripture are also signs of having received the Holy Spirit, but these are harder to define. The relationship with the Holy Spirit is portrayed in the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost).
The third relationship to be entered into is with the Father, this is portrayed by the Feast of Tabernacles, and is the relationship Jesus died in order for us to come to. With this understanding it is perhaps more easily understood what was meant when "He gave them the authority to become children of God."
Receiving Jesus
I find it interesting that receiving Jesus is a matter of choosing to follow Him and asking Him into your life. This is repentance. Saying sorry is a good thing, but is not in itself, repentance. Choosing to leave the old life behind and follow Jesus is repentance. John 10:7 Then Jesus said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. If Jesus describes Himself as the door, then it is reasonable to think there must be more to follow. There is more to repentance than that, but that will suffice for now.
Receiving the Holy Spirit
Receiving the Holy Spirit is as simple as asking for Him, Luke 11:13 says: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? My experience of receiving the Holy Spirit included giving me a far greater, heartfelt ability to praise the Lord, as well as the ability to speak in tongues. There was a lot more to it than this, but those two things were the most noticeable from the onset.
Becoming a child of God
I interpret this as coming into a relationship with Father. If you know your Bible, you will know that when the priests of Old Testament times entered the Tabernacle, they had bells on the hem of their garments so that the people outside could no longer hear the bells they would know that the priest had not survived the experience of facing a Holy God and they would pull him out with a rope that had been tied around his ankle in case of such an event.
More to come on this...
John 1:13 who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God.
I have heard it taught that if one believes on His name (as is portrayed in the 2nd half of John 1:12), that they are ok and they are saved, but let's have a closer look.
I am interested in that as many as receive Him, He gave the authority to become the children of God. It can be argued that if you have received Christ, then you are born again and therefore a child of God already.
The interesting thing here is that there are three relationships to enter into. Yes, when you ask Jesus to come into your life as Lord and Saviour with a heartfelt commitment to follow Him, He does come into your life and you are born again. Your eyes (and mind) are opened to see life in a completely new way because you are now able to see from a spiritual perspective. This relationship with Jesus is portrayed in the Feast of Passover.
For those who have also received the Holy Spirit, they will know that until such time as the Holy Spirit was received, they had no relationship with Him as such. They were void of the fruit and gifts of the Spirit. One of the more common evidences of having received the Holy Spirit is the ability to speak in tongues, or a Heavenly language as it's also called. There are different aspects to speaking in tongues, but this isn't the place to discuss that. The leading of the Holy Spirit and greater insight into Scripture are also signs of having received the Holy Spirit, but these are harder to define. The relationship with the Holy Spirit is portrayed in the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost).
The third relationship to be entered into is with the Father, this is portrayed by the Feast of Tabernacles, and is the relationship Jesus died in order for us to come to. With this understanding it is perhaps more easily understood what was meant when "He gave them the authority to become children of God."
Receiving Jesus
I find it interesting that receiving Jesus is a matter of choosing to follow Him and asking Him into your life. This is repentance. Saying sorry is a good thing, but is not in itself, repentance. Choosing to leave the old life behind and follow Jesus is repentance. John 10:7 Then Jesus said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. If Jesus describes Himself as the door, then it is reasonable to think there must be more to follow. There is more to repentance than that, but that will suffice for now.
Receiving the Holy Spirit
Receiving the Holy Spirit is as simple as asking for Him, Luke 11:13 says: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? My experience of receiving the Holy Spirit included giving me a far greater, heartfelt ability to praise the Lord, as well as the ability to speak in tongues. There was a lot more to it than this, but those two things were the most noticeable from the onset.
Becoming a child of God
I interpret this as coming into a relationship with Father. If you know your Bible, you will know that when the priests of Old Testament times entered the Tabernacle, they had bells on the hem of their garments so that the people outside could no longer hear the bells they would know that the priest had not survived the experience of facing a Holy God and they would pull him out with a rope that had been tied around his ankle in case of such an event.
More to come on this...