Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3, 3.
Nicodemus, the Pharisee who once came to Jesus by night, asked Him how it was at all possible that someone could be “born again”? What is this new birth?
The new birth, often called regeneration, is brought about by the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person who receives the Word of God (cf. v.5). Everyone who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as his Redeemer by faith, receives new life from God, eternal life (cf. v.16). He then belongs to a “new creation” and has been “born of God” (John 1, 12.13).
Turning to God is, in a way, the human side, regeration the divine side of the same basic occurrence.
In an old cemetery there was a gravestone with the inscription: “A.N.Other, born …, born again …”. The deceased had been born again; he had experienced regeration.
Whoever has been born only once will die twice; but whoever has been born twice will only die once. That is, whoever dies in his sins is not only subject to physical death, but will also experience the “second death”, the lake of fire, as the Bible teaches (cf. Revelation 20, 14).
On the other hand, the “second death” has no authority or power over a born again Christian, for whoever believes in Christ will not come into judgment (cf. John 5, 24). When his mortal body dies, heaven and glory are his eternal portion.