The topic of our conversation today is Jesus Christ—Our Redeemer.

As we saw in Episode 8, from the time He banished man from His presence, God set a plan in motion to deliver man from the dominion of the devil.

The prophets prophesied the coming of this Redeemer various times in the Old Testament.

Isaiah prophesied in 7:14:
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (NKJV)

And in Isaiah 9:6:
“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (NKJV)

Eventually, God’s plan to send a Redeemer to save His people was perfected when His Son Jesus Christ came to the world through the womb of a virgin. At the appointed time, He suffered death on the cross to redeem us from our sins.

By His death on the Cross, Jesus Christ offers us the opportunity to be restored to man’s original relationship with God. And even to enjoy a more intimate and powerful relationship with Him than Adam and Eve.

And how do we restore our relationship with God?
Simple. By being born again.

What exactly happens when we are born again?
In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” (NKJV)

Now, what does it mean when we say that God created us in His image and likeness?

It means that God created us as spirit beings like Himself. You are a spirit. You possess a soul, and you live in a body.

Apostle Paul reveals to us that man is a triune being consisting of spirit, soul, and body. He prayed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24:
“And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NKJV)

Our spirit is the innermost part of us. The Bible sometimes describes it as the inner man. Our spirit is the part of us that God interacts with.

Our soul consists of our mind, including the intelligence, the will, and the emotion. The body is the physical part of man that we can see and touch.

Recall Jesus’ response to Nicodemus:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6, NKJV)

Flesh gives birth to flesh when a woman gives birth to a new baby biologically.

The born-again phenomenon takes place when the Holy Spirit overshadows the spirit of a man and regenerates it. “…that which is born of the Spirit [capital S] is spirit [small s].” (John 3:6)

The born-again process is God recreating the spirit of man and depositing His divine nature into the spirit of man. Just as Adam deposited the nature of the devil in man—whether they did anything wrong or not—so Jesus Christ takes that nature away and replaces it with the nature of God, so that the person becomes righteous and perfect.

Note that the born-again experience takes place only in the spirit. Only the spirit of man is recreated. The flesh and the soul do not change. They remain the same. They are not born again.