When I was a child, I would hear the expression, "Born again Christian". It meant someone who was serious about his or her faith. This was a person who was deeply committed to Jesus and someone who would actively try to get others to believe as well. Today, we may prefer the term, "Evangelical Christians".

As a 12-year-old, I thought the term Born Again was intriguing. When I encountered the gospel of John, Chapter 3, I grew in my understanding of the term. We read about a Pharisee named Nicodemus who visited Jesus one night to find out more about his ministry.

Theologians speculate about the reason why Nicodemus visited Jesus at night. Perhaps he did not want the other pharisees to know that he was inquiring about Jesus, or possibly considering becoming a disciple (student) of Jesus. He was able to approach Jesus in secret under the cover of darkness. Or, he could have met Jesus at night so that he would not be surrounded by crowds who may have competed for Jesus' attention.

Nicodemus gives Jesus a compliment and states that no one could do the miracles that Jesus was doing unless God was with him. Jesus, who knows us better than we know ourselves, gets right to the point. He tells Nicodemus that unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). His reaction to Jesus' statement reflects his confusion.

How can someone be, "Born again?" What does that even mean? Is it physical rebirth? Jesus explains that it is a spiritual transformation in a person's life and must happen for a person to be able to go to heaven when he or she dies.

I had always thought that becoming a Christian was a good thing that one may decide to do later in life. However, this passage of Scripture showed me the urgency of this commitment. Without this life transformation, we have no hope that we will go to heaven when we die -- "You must be born again."

Jesus uses an illustration from the Old Testament to explain to Nicodemus how he must be lifted up on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, and whoever looks to him for salvation will be saved from eternal condemnation.

In Numbers 21:4-9, we read:

"From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.' 6 Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.' So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live."

Jesus says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."

Then we read John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

What follows is an explanation that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn people. That does not mean that he is indifferent to sin. Because of sin, people are already condemned -- like people dying from a poisonous snake bite.

"Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

Those to look to Jesus are saved from condemnation. They are, "Born again."

Shawn Wasson, D.Min., is the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church.