Life in the Word 185 the process, particularly in the initial stage of germination, which is the beginning of a new individual existence by the quickening of a seed derived from a previously existing indi vidual of the same species. How much more mysterious, then, must be the process of spiritual generation! The Lord Jesus, in His conversation with the learned and intellectual Pharisee, Nicodemus, indicated that the subject was 'a very mysterious one, by the words, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but const not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born [or begotten] of the Spirit.” Therefore, even after we have learned all that is given us to know concerning the beginning of physical life in the nat urally begotten, and of spiritual life in the supernaturally be gotten, the subject remains as mysterious as ever, since the Author of life has reserved it among the “secret things” which “belong unto the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29). But the fact of natural generation cannot be questioned, though the process be involved in unfathomable mystery. The fact of spiritual generation is equally sure to all who believe the Word of God. The Bible plainly declares it, and those who believe on the Christ of God know also by experience the beginning of a new kind of life in their own souls. For present purposes it is sufficient to point out that spir itual generation is analogous (as might be expected) to natural generation, being effected by means of a seed, which, having been deposited in a prepared place, is quickened by the Spirit of God, and becomes itself “spirit,”—that is. to say a new nature which is spiritual in its character; for “that which is born [or begotten] of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The fact of spiritual conception, and the nature of the seed whereby it is effected, are plainly declared in 1 Peter 1:23: “Being born [or having been begotten] again, not of cor ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by THE WORD OF GOD WHICH LIVETH and abideth for ever.”
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