EVEN AS THE “WATER BIRTH” has a nine-month gestation period…so does the “spiritual birth” have a period of “gestation” and developmental growth…and this maturation period is called “the journey of ‘taking up one’s cross and following the path outlined by Jesus’.”
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 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. (John 3 – KJV)
Without the New Birth (being born again) Jesus relates to this master in Israel and lawyer in the Sanhedrin – no person can “see” or understand or experience the inter-workings of the kingdom of God. Salvation will “justify” one in the sight of the Father and afford them a place in heaven, but it takes the deeper “journey” of suffering to satisfy the demands of understanding the “kingdom message,” and how we relate to the “principle players in the kingdom” – the Trinity!
Jesus is saying, Nicodemus, even if I told you who “I am” – you could not receive it until you have followed me beyond the grave and experienced the New Life (in a resurrection or New Birth), having carried “your cross” and having experienced the death of your “fleshly nature.” Nicodemus, the natural man cannot receive the spiritual understanding of a “spiritual kingdom.”