"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
(Hebrews 11:6, KJV)

Of course, I am sure that you have already understood that
in this example I have shared, the Coupon is the Bible; and
the words written on the Coupon are the many Precious
Promises concerning Eternal Life which are found within its
holy pages. Thus, because these people have rejected these
Promises, and have hardened their hearts to the truth, they
won't settle for anything less that hard physical evidence
before they will believe. Well, they can make their foolish
demands all they want, but it won't be until the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ that our 'earnest expectation' will
be fully manifested, that is, revealed, before a shocked and
unbelieving world; and they will all finally see that we
truly are the born-again Sons and Daughters of God. They may
laugh at our "invisible Friend" and our "invisible faith"
now, but the time is coming when we will have the last laugh
when we are revealed in our purchased possession, that is,
in our new and glorified bodies:

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not."
(1 John 3:1, KJV)

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed."
(1 Corinthians 15:51-52, KJV)

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his
name:"
(John 1:12, KJV)

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he
is."
(1 John 3:2, KJV)

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God."
(Romans 8:14, KJV)

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse
nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;"
(Philippians 2:15, KJV)

Notice that in the previous set of verses, John specifically
says "the power to become the sons of God". Even though he
is probably writing after-the-fact, that is, after Jesus has
already returned to Heaven, John still indicates that it is
something which is yet to happen in the future. Thus again
we see that we will actually become the Sons and Daughters
of God, that we will be adopted into God's Household, at the
time of the Resurrection when we are all transformed, and
not before. To continue then, another Greek word translated
in the New Testament as "begotten", is the word "gennao",
which is pronounced ghen-nah'-o. While like the previous
words, its primary meaning is to be born after the flesh;
that is, through natural childbirth, in the examples found
in the New Testament, it appears to be primarily used in a
metaphorical sense to denote this second birth when we are
actually raised from the dead and/or changed at the Lord's
Second Coming. Following is the definition found in the
Greek lexicon:

----- Begin Quote -----

1) of men who fathered children
1a) to be born
1b) to be begotten
1b1) of women giving birth to children
2) metaph.
2a) to engender, cause to arise, excite
2b) in a Jewish sense, of one who brings others over to
his way of life, to convert someone
2c) of God making Christ his son
2d) of God making men his sons through faith in Christ's
work

----- End Of Quote -----

Consider the following example where this Greek word
"gennao" is used. As you will see, it is used to refer not
to our physical birth, but rather to our rebirth at the time
of our Resurrection or bodily change. This is evident by the
fact that the Apostle Paul uses the term "in that he hath
raised up Jesus again", and then he explains that this is
what is meant by the word "begotten" in Psalm Two:

"God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that
he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the
second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee."
(Acts 13:33, KJV)

In other words, Paul is saying that when David speaks of
Jesus being "begotten", he is not talking about Jesus being
born or created in the Heavenly Realm at the beginning of
the Creation; neither is he referring to His physical birth
in Bethlehem; but rather, David is speaking of the moment
when Jesus rose from the dead and became the Firstfruits, or
the Firstborn, of the Resurrection. This is what David means
by "begotten", and nothing else, as Paul makes perfectly
clear by the previous verse. To simplify this even further,
let us remove some of the extraneous words so that you can
clearly see Paul's main message: "he hath raised up Jesus
again; as it is also written in the second psalm". Exactly
where does Paul say that David is speaking about God having
raised Jesus from the dead in the second Psalm? In the
phrase "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee". In
other words, Jesus was raised up again, He was born again at
His Resurrection. This is when Paul says He was "begotten".
Additional verses in the New Testament where the Greek word
'gennao' is translated as "begotten", and is used to denote
spiritual rebirth and/or bodily change at the moment of
Resurrection, are the following:

"For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet
have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have
begotten you through the gospel."
(1 Corinthians 4:15, KJV)

"I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in
my bonds:"
(Philemon 1:10, KJV)

"For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art
my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be
to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?"
(Hebrews 1:5, KJV)

"So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high
priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day
have I begotten thee."
(Hebrews 5:5, KJV)

"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God:
and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that
is begotten of him . . . We know that whosoever is born of
God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth
himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."
(1 John 5:1, 18, KJV)

Similar to the previous verses which use the Greek verb
"gennao", in Peter's first Epistle, he again shows us that
the words "begat" and "begotten" are normally used to refer
to our physical birth. This is why he says "hath begotten us
again" to show that he is talking about a second birth after
the first physical birth. The word used here is "anagennao",
pronounced an-ag-en-nah'-o, which means to produce again, to
be born again, or to be born anew:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead,"
(1 Peter 1:3, KJV)

In the opening verses of John chapter three, we find the
story of Jesus's conversation with a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus. While some legalistic religionists have
argued that Jesus was referring to water baptism when He
mentions being born of water, I honestly do not believe that
this is what He meant. In my view, Jesus was talking about
being born the first time through human conception and
childbirth. In other words, I believe that He was referring
to the amniotic sac which is full of a watery liquid called
amniotic fluid. In God's ordained time, this sac, or 'water
bag' as it is also commonly known, bursts, and the child
passes through the birth canal, or cervix and vagina, to
enter the outside world. It is right after this that Jesus
speaks of being begotten, or born, a second time through
spiritual rebirth; that is, being born of the Spirit;
precisely as we saw in the previous verses:

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be
born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his
mother's womb, and be born? 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. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must
be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born
of the Spirit."
(John 3:3-8, KJV)

Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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