Here we see that Redemption is the work of  Hashem and not something man can boast of.  Salvation is not something earned by a righteousness of one's own, by a self-achieved righteousness.  Moshe warns not to even THINK that in exchange for "my tzedakah (righteousness)  Hashem hath brought me in to possess this land."  Redemption from bondage in Egypt and the gift of Eretz Yisroel did not come about on the basis of human merits or deserts.  Redemption came at the cost of the Pesach Lamb.  G-d did not say, "When I see the zechus of the mitzvos, I will pass over you."  Hashem says, "When I see the blood [of the Pesach Lamb], I will pass over you."  For the redemption, the Lamb has to die.  The Go'el Redeemer will pay.   Dovid HaMelech said in effect, "Let the plague fall on me and on my mishpochah" (see Divrey Hayamim Alef 21:17; Isaiah 53:8.) Until Ben Dovid was hanging pierced on the tree, the mevaser (bringer of Good News) could not herald the peace-bringing  Besorah Tovah (see Shmuel Beis 18:9-14, 27 also Zecharyah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5-7; Sandhedrin 98b).

The Bris Milah Metaphor

Moses uses the metaphor of circumcision to show that Israel's stiff-necked and stubborn nature would be changed.  The obstinate attitude to the things of G-d would be removed.  He is not talking about the outward sign of the covenant.  That would be literal circumcision, and if that were the point it would be unnecessary since in the flesh all Jews were circumcised.  Moses is  instead referring to the heart and in  Dt 10:16 Moses says that the "foreskin" of the heart will be trimmed clean.  The spiritual impurity of the heart, its evil lusts and longings, all that impedes its service to Hashem, these will be circumcised and cut away.  Every resistance to Almighty G-d will be trimmed away.  All haughtiness and stiffness of neck toward Him and His creatures will be cut away.  There is an inward reality of surrender here that Moses is referring to.  Jeremiah speaks of the same thing in  Jer 4:4.  The total inner life of the people of G-d will be changed.  Whatever is stony or cold or incorrigible  or dead will be cut away (see Ezek 36:26).  Moses says in  Dt 30:6 that the Nation of  Hashem will have a new birth, for the L-rd will circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their children.  The fulfillment of this promise has been ongoing from the beginning.  We look at Ezra and Nehemiah and see a remnant spiritually reborn as they return from the national death of the  Golus in the Babylonian Exile.  We see another remnant at the time of the Roman Diaspora. Finally, since Jerusalem became no longer trodden down by the heathen but was restored back to the hands of the Chosen People (Lk 21:24; 29-31), we see a vast throng turning with circumcised hearts to  Hashem through Moshiach Ben Dovid.  This will increase, according to Rom 11:25, and sovereignly by the Ruach Hakodesh, according to Yn 3:6-8. The Ruach Hakodesh convicts us to the point where we cease trying to justify or excuse ourselves. This happens because our eyes are finally opened to the worm-like horror of ourselves as unholy sinners before a Holy G-d, a G-d we have offended and wounded and angered by the wormy ruin of our wretched lives in His sight (see Ps 51).

Remember that the unrepentant Pharisees went to hell (Mt 5:20). Also, when you think you have identified all the Pharisees, don't forget that you too have a Pharisaic dark side yourself that could easily become an accomplice to Satan. Because Moshiach died for all (Ro 5:6,8; 6:8), all have died (2Co 5:14).

Let this be an illustration of what it means when we say, "All have died." It sometimes happens that a condemned felon on deathrow suddenly, perhaps on the day of his execution, becomes contrite and weeps with remorse for his sins. At such a time it is not unknown that a call from the Governor's mansion offers clemency or pardon. We must see ourselves as condemned felons, accused and indicted by our own wickedness. So we put on the condemned prisoner's prison garb and we put flowers on the grave of our old self. The lusts and vanities of the old sinful self we realize are now consigned to the prison graveyard. We see that old things have passed away. We pay a visit in the spirit to the cemetery of our old life. We look down and see our name inscribed on the tombstone. We read our name on the headstone and see that our old selfish life is over. We walk down the hall toward the execution chamber. NOW we die IN Him, in the sense that the old sinful self is booted off its throne and taken out to be strung up hanging on a tree. This is repentance. The carnal mind is the mind of a condemned person. It must be executed in Him. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The carnal mind is hostile toward G-d. (Ro 8:7). G-d is offended by this carnal mind and it arouses His Wrath. Was I returned to G-d from my estrangement only to be estranged again? G-d forbid!

Now if anyone is in Moshiach he is a new creature. This opens a vista of new possibilities as we live a new life in Him of sanctification, not living for ourselves any longer, but rather living for Him who died for us. So we died. This bears repeating. You have heard the expression, "He died a thousand deaths." Although He died only once, because He died for all, you might say that one of those "thousand deaths" is yours. You died. This was so that the life you now live would not be for yourself, but for Him who loved you and gave Himself for you. Because Moshiach died for all, all have died. So we have broken from the old "self" life. We don't live for the old "self." It died; what's to live for? How can you live for the dead? Moshiach died for all and so all died. The old self life we once knew has died. And in regard to the death He died and the new life we now live in the power of His Resurrection, Hashem has "shalom macht" (made peace) and given us the ministry of making peace (see Yiddish); indeed He has given us the message of making peace. So we no longer live for ourselves. The old self has died. When Moshiach died, the old self died with Him, just as surely as the repentant thief died with Him and went to Paradise with Him. We died, and the life we now live we live by faith in the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Those who are truly born again have eternal life (Dan 12:2) and escape the Second Death in the Lake of Fire of Gehinnom.

The second miracle is now before us. The eternal Memra of Hashem, the Moshiach His Devar and creative Chochmah, does a creationary miracle and creates a new clean heart in us and we become a new creation. The worm-like larva of a caterpillar we once were, alienated and lost under some leaf of darkness, has a metamorphosis and is transformed into a butterfly of glory ready to take flight from its former life bound to the olam hazeh. You see, Ishmael was born in an ordinary way, but Yitzchak was born through a nes (miracle) of Hashem, and such is the new birth. Hashem promised Abraham and his Seed (the Moshiach Ben Dovid) an eternal Kingdom (see Gen 22:17-18 and Isaiah 53:10 the akedah and 2Sm 7:12-14 and Dan 2:44).

SEE BORN AGAIN ARTICLE