Truly Begotten Again
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
—1 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)
There is a moment. It's not a metaphor, an emotion, or a suggestion. It is not an expression or a mere description. It is an actual moment in time, an event> to be more precise, it is an encounter. This divine break in time is a spiritual rupture, an invasive entry of the Holy Spirit into a surrendered soul. Peter calls it begotten again. Paul calls it regeneration. Yahshua calls it being born again.
This is not a process. It is not a product of church attendance, upbringing, or moral living. It is not gradual and it is not inherited. It is not a warm feeling or a hopeful decision. It is the literal and actual indwelling of the Spirit of Yah upon full, unguarded, blood-acknowledging confession of Yahshua as Messiah. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit… You must be born again.” (John 3:6–7)
Paul affirms, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) This is not wishful belief, not a nominal profession, not lip service. This is believing from the heart, the core. The sincerity of that belief is the forensic evidence of real salvation. If it is not sincere, there is no conversion. There is no indwelling. There is no transformation. There is no hope.
Hope only comes after the new birth. Hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is the full awareness that this world, its pleasures, and its securities are not home and pale in comparison.
I think of Doc Hall. A killer and moonshiner in the Appalachian backwoods—hardened, feared, godless, until one night, the gospel pierced him. He didn’t walk the aisle; he ran into the woods, dropped to his knees, and cried out to Yahshua. That night, he was begotten again. He preached for twenty years after that.
On his deathbed, surrounded by friends, his eyes shot open. He looked to the ceiling and whispered:
“I see it. It’s real. The gates are open. I see Him—the Lamb…”
Then he was gone—no theatrics, no fantasy, just a ripped veil. A man once full of death, was now full of resurrection...a man whose conversion took, a living hope realized.
You and I must not wait for the deathbed. We must live with the veil ripped open. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. (Luke 23:45) This happened upon the death of the Savior on the cross. When we truly believe, we see Yahshua clearly suffering on the cross for us, for our sin, paying the penalty on our behalf. We see Him dead, then buried, then resurrected and ascended. What we miss is to pause right after He dies, and to realize the veil wsa ripped open. Eternity and the heavens are made available to us in the here and now. The eternal and temporal, the spiritual and material are open to one another. It is truly a portal. Have you not come to this point yet? If you truly believe, you have. If you have not, then you must.
This is why Peter says we have been begotten again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He is the prototype, the proof, the firstborn from the dead. “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (John 11:25–26)
If this hope does not guide our ambitions, define our direction, and filter our decisions, then it is not real. A living hope breathes. It moves. It reorders. It kills off the idea of FOMO, YOLO and YBLN “your best life now.”
Hebrews speaks to it: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14–15)
Fear of death is not just the fear of a coffin. It is the fear of missing out. It is the fear of dying without experience, without enjoyment, without reaching one's earthly goals. This is the root of false conversion. This is where YOLO and “living your best life” become antichrists. They deny the necessity of the cross. They undermine the resurrection. They expose a deep mistrust in eternal life.
Many in the church, in Christendom, or claiming Christ and Christianity today—“saved,” churched, and moral—are living this way. They are not overtly rebellious. They tithe. They serve, but their hope is not alive; it is cosmetic. Their Christianity is a construct, not a crucifixion.
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)
Peter’s audience had lost this life—literally. Their homes. Their communities. Their status. Their comforts. They had been scattered for their faith. They were not building a better earthly life. They were laying it down. Their reward was not here. They had been crucified to it. Their life was hidden. “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)
This is the marker of the born again: disconnection from the values of this world. The moment of regeneration does not elevate us in this world; it severs us from it.
“Yahshua said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:62)
To be begotten again is not to be a better version of yourself. It is to die. It is to come alive to a hope that lives beyond this breath, beyond this economy, beyond this reputation. It is to live as though the resurrection is already inside you.
“Therefore, if you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:1–2)
You must examine yourself. Do you live in fear of missing out? Are you still concerned with comfort, ambition, and social respectability? Is your hope anchored to the resurrection or to a crafted Christian lifestyle?
To be begotten again is to live crucified. It is to count everything else loss. It is to die to now and live for then. This is the only living hope.