Being born again is why a person can begin to discern the scriptures.
Dear Behold,
But
when is a person "born again"?
The new birth only happens after Christ (by His own choosing) has given an Elect person both the Early and Latter Rains of the Spirit, followed by judgment. This is called "conversion" and is when the new birth occurs.
After a person is given the Early Rain of the Spirit, they will have a "measure of faith" but they will remain spiritually blind, carnally minded and unconverted. In this condition, they will have faith to believe in Christ and to understand Christ's physical work that took Him to the cross but little else. The spiritual teachings of the New Covenant will remain blurred to them. It is only after a person is converted that their spiritual blindness is healed so that the truth of Christ's spiritual teachings will open up to them.
Consider what Christ teaches below:
Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. 16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we have no bread. 17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? 18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. 21 And he said unto them, how is it that ye do not understand?
In the verses above, Christ is giving His disciples a lesson on the spiritual language of God's Word - His language:
Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11 For with stammering lips and another language will he speak to this people. 12 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
At this point in time (before they were converted at Pentecost), the disciples had received the Early Rain of the Spirit but had not yet received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Latter Rain of the Spirit). And because of such, they were still
spiritually blind and could not understand the spiritual language of Christ.
Christ ends His comments above by asking the disciples this question: “
How is it that ye do not understand?” No response from the disciples is recorded in scripture. However, Christ answers His own question in the very next four verses.
Mark 8:22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Since Christ is the Word of God, He teaches us not only through His words which are recorded in scripture but also by the things that He did. In answering the question that He proposed to the disciples in verse 21, Christ goes to Bethsaida and gives us His answer in
type by the healing of a blind man.
In verse 23, Christ leads a blind man out of the city. Once outside the city, Christ places spit on his eyes and touches him with His hands. These actions occur as the blind man is looking down which symbolizes the
carnal aspect of His healing. Christ does not have to tell the blind man to look down, the blind man just does it naturally. The spit (water) symbolizes the blind man receiving the
Early Rain of the Spirit with its accompanying vision (carnal understanding). This event represents the time when an unbeliever is called out from the world and enters the church.
After Christ asks the man what he could see, the man looks up and says that he could see men "walking as trees". "Walking as trees" is a spiritual symbol for called out believers who walk by sight (the flesh, carnal nature) rather than by faith & the Spirit. The man’s blindness was not total any longer but he was still very near-sighted and could only see Christ carnally. Paul stated that this near-sighted type of understanding will only allow a believer to see "Christ and Him crucified"
(1Cor 2:2). This means that the new believer can see Christ's physical work that He did under the Old Covenant, but Christ's spiritual work that He is presently doing under the New Covenant will remain blurred.
This first healing of the blind man reflects the true spiritual condition of a new believer when they first enter the church. At this time, the believer is left carnally minded and spiritually near-sighted. They can see a little, but that only opens the door to Satan's carnally based deceptions - deceptions which each new believer will
readily accept due to their carnal nature still being in control of them (
Mat 12:43-45, Mat 24:24 & Luke 5:39).
For a carnally minded and spiritually blind believer (Early Rain only), the Old Wine still tastes better than the New Wine:
Luke 5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desires the new: for he says, The old is better.
The Old Wine represents the Old Covenant which is based on the
works of man. The New Wine represents the New Covenant which is solely based on the
spiritual works of Christ.
Peter says that this near-sighted condition is the same as being blind:
2Pet 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Peter makes this statement because the believers to whom he was addressing were mixing their own works with faith. They were still preferring the Old Wine.
In the final verse of the story of the blind man, Christ lays His hands upon the man’s eyes again, but as He does, Christ has the man look up instead of down. This second healing represents the
Latter Rain of the Spirit when true spiritual vision is given to a believer. The man’s upward gaze represents the
spiritual aspect of the healing in contrast to the carnal aspect when the blind man was looking down at the earth.
From that moment onward, we now know that the blind man is a type for a
called AND chosen believer who has received
both the Early and Latter Rains of the Spirit (
James 5:7-8). The man has been given eyes that can see spiritually (
"drawn from the breasts" Isa 28:9). From his new ability to understand God's Word, he will then come out from Satan's deceptions and will begin walking by faith. He will be included in the resurrection of the First Fruits and will receive the reward of life during the ages.
Joe
