In John’s Gospel, Jesus often speaks of things on two levels, leaving the separation to those who are spiritual. This is the case with the Lord’s two statements about the Kingdom of God. The first, in John 3:3, refers to a condition resulting from spiritual perception: unless we are “born from above” we cannot perceive the Kingdom. The second, in John 3:5, makes it a twin imperative — unless we are “born of water and of the spirit” we will not enter the Kingdom.
This reminds me of the parallel in John 5:25, where Jesus says, “The hour is coming and now is when those who hear the voice of the Son of God shall live” (i.e. come to life spiritually); and its other aspect in verses 28 & 29, where “the hour is coming” — but without any “and now is” — when “all that are in the grave shall hear his voice” (come to life physically, in the Resurrection). So, a spiritual life is ours now and a physical one then in the full sense.
Back to John 3:3, which must refer to the present because we will not need spiritual perception in the Resurrection — we will see him as he is and will be changed into his likeness. John 3:3 refers to the present and the condition required to perceive the kingdom of God spiritually. Those unable to perceive the kingdom in its present, spiritual form have been “born from above”. Knowledge about the Kingdom is good but does not in itself allow present entry.
Spiritual perception is needed to see the Kingdom and enter it now through water baptism, in which you identify yourself with the Lord’s Resurrection and so identify with that event. You cannot see the spiritual Kingdom until you are “born from above” — are “born again” and can see it now and so will rise in the future, physical resurrection. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the [future] Kingdom but it can be perceived and then experienced in this life.
Summary: If you wish to see the Kingdom in its present, spiritual form, you must be “born from above” now through a total, final surrender of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ! This is a “must” — an imperative! It was a “must” to the sinless Jesus, who insisted to John the Baptist that he must baptize him in the Jordan River “to fulfill all righteousness”
This submissive act of total obedience will enable you to see the Kingdom of God now spiritually and to enter it then, after it has taken a physical form at the Lord’s return. In the meantime, water baptism will be the template which will help keep your life in line with the way Jesus lived while on earth. (“Crucified with Christ”, Buried with Christ”, “Made alive in Christ”, “Raised with Christ” and “Seated with Christ” in heavenly places.)
Through water baptism, the sinless Jesus ‘died’ to all that he could have been in life. When he rose from water baptism in the Jordan River, he received the gift of the Holy Spirit, which descended upon him spiritually in the form of a dove. Then the voice of God his Father declared: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
God will say likewise of you when you are baptized in water by total immersion and then arise to “walk in newness of life” — live an entirely different life from the one you lived — the old life that was before you surrendered yourself to Jesus. You will then be ready for yet another amazing, life-empowering experience: The Baptism in the Holy Spirit. More on that in another post…