Divine Teacher

One night, a respected teacher of the people came to talk with the man. He did this under cover of darkness for fear of what the other teachers might think. The man told this teacher that a person must undergo a spiritual re-birth in order to be accepted by God. The teacher was surprised and confused with these words. This had never been taught among the people. When the teacher asked how a person could be reborn, the man explained—this is not a physical re-birth but a spiritual one. Not a conception of a man and a woman, but a divine birth by God, himself. That is what it is like to be changed by God. The man referred to a story that the teacher would be familiar with—about when the prophet Moses lifted up a metal image of a snake in the desert and how when the people would look at it they would be healed. He said that something similar would happen again. Some day soon, this man would also be "lifted up," and all those who would look upon him and believe in him would be healed. They would be saved from sin and death. He said this was the exact purpose that God, his father, had sent him. That the people had lost their way and were in darkness, but light had come to them. The man claimed to be this light. He claimed to be the truth.