Have you noticed the extreme contrasts throughout the Bible? Whether through miracles, testimonies, or spiritual parallels, they’re all miraculous and indicative of something greater than meets the eye. Each contrast demonstrates God’s mighty hand at work in the world around us. Only He can turn sorrow into rejoicing, darkness into light, and hopelessness into victory.
Saul of Tarsus, changed from a persecutor of Christians to a persecuted Christian and author of the majority of the New Testament.
God also displays His handiwork throughout His creation with more polar opposites. Here are a just few examples:
Night & Day
Dry/Land & Wet/Sea
Old & New
Sad & Happy
Closed & Opened
Winter & Summer/Fall & Spring
Young & Old
Life & Death
Evil & Good
Sick & Well
Empty & Full
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Contrasted assurance
Enemies are accepted, Same or new creature, Born once or twice, Death or life
In The Bible, there is never someone who has been half healed but always made whole, without doubt or uncertainty.
The birth of a child is known by the child and the world around him/ her. It's dramatic and life altering. The 2nd birth should be just as dramatic, whether coming from a church background or prison!
If you're struggling with which time you got saved, please prayerfully consider that it is likely that salvation has not taken place; being brought to life and revived from being dead in your sins has no comparison to reciting a prayer. Stoney hearts know when they have been transformed to flesh. You will know when you become a son of God, accepted in the beloved and made whole.
Unregenerate or unblameable?
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.2 Timothy 1:7
God’s perfect Word refers to salvation as being Born Again (John 3:3) with brilliance. The term reinforces the certainty of the event.
In Strong’s Concordance, the term ‘Born’ can have 2 meanings; “the literal (I) or the metaphorical (II) birth of regeneration from death to life.” Both types are required for eternal life. “(I) Born of men who fathered children; to be begotten of women giving birth to children.” (II) While figuratively/metaphorically born: ‘Again’ has 3 definitions:
(I) “from above, from a higher place; of things which come from heaven or God
(II) From the first, from the beginning, from the very first
(III) Anew, over again.
Crystal grew up in the world but God used her back injury to draw her to Himself through the miracle of salvation. She was born again in 2016 and since then has possessed the yearning desire to learn more about His miraculous truths in His perfect Word. Oftentimes, she journals from her hammock near a stream and hopes to serve the Lord in a sailboat one day! In order to choose the title of her column, Crystal combined her heart’s desire with Proverbs 31:14, “She [the virtuous woman] is like the merchant’s ships; she bringeth her food from afar.”