Into every kingdom, human or divine, there is a legal door of admission. This is, in the statute book of heaven, called a birth. Into the kingdom of nature we are born. Into the future and ultimate kingdom of glory we enter, soul and body, by being born from the grave. As Christ, the first-born from the dead, entered the heavenly kingdom, so must all his brethren. And as to this kingdom of which we speak, as now existing in this world, Jesus himself taught that into it no person can legally enter who is not born again, or "born of water and the Spirit."¹ The analogy is complete between the kingdoms of nature--of grace--and of glory. Hence we have natural birth, metaphorical or spiritual birth, and supernatural birth. There is a being born of the flesh--born of the Spirit--born of the grave; and there is a kingdom for the flesh--a kingdom for the Spirit--and a kingdom for the glorified man.

      This second, or new birth, which inducts into the kingdom of God is always subsequent to a death and burial, as it will be into the everlasting kingdom of glory. It is, indeed, a literal death and burial before a literal resurrection, into the heavenly and eternal kingdom. It is also a metaphorical or figurative death and burial, before the figurative resurrection or new birth into the kingdom of heaven. Water is the element in which this burial and resurrection is [249] performed, according to the constitutional laws of the kingdom of heaven. Hence Jesus connects the water and the Spirit when speaking of entering this kingdom of God.

      In naturalizing aliens the commandment of the King is first to submit to them the Constitution, or preach to them the gospel of the kingdom. Soon as they understand and believe this, and are desirous of being translated into the kingdom of Christ and of God, that "they may receive the remission of sins and inheritance among all that are sanctified," they are to be buried in water, into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and raised out of it confessing their death to sin, their faith in Christ's sacrifice and resurrection; and thus they are born of water and the Spirit, and constituted citizens of the kingdom of heaven. To as many as thus receive hint he gives privilege to become the children of God; for they are "born of God"--born of God, when born of water and of the Spirit, because this is the institution of God.

[A. C.]      

Source:

Alexander Campbell. "Induction into the Kingdom of Heaven." The Millennial Harbinger Extra 5 (August 1834): 412-413.

[MHA1 249-250]