“To be born again” (John 3) and “to have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 16:19-20) are two basic spiritual gifts originally given at the beginning and at the end (later reversed) of discipleship training, respectively. As any modern-day, bona fide disciple of Jesus Christ can confirm, knowing the exact manner of Jesus Christ’s death and experiencing His baptism work in the Holy Spirit, acting in concert, are our two exclusive sources of knowledge on His Divine identity. It is this knowledge which, in turn, serves as the “rock” foundation for the “Church” (Matt. 16: 13-19)and as sole prescription for sustainable faith (John 19:34 -35)--however, widely omitted by the churches and Christians today! True to type, both gifts are referred to explicitly or implicitly only in the context of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death which, in turn, make up His greatest and most conclusive defining moment whether as previewed in Prophecy (e.g., Exodus 3:1-15, Numbers 21:4-9, Psalms 16:8-11;132:11, Joel 2:28-32 and Zechariah 12:10;14:6-9); or made known and developed progressively, for reasons of slow but complete re-education of the disciples, in Jesus’ early ministry (John 3: 1-15), mid-ministry (Matt. 16:13-23) and late ministry. All that remained was the once-and-for-all accomplishment on the cross when Jesus declared “It is finished!” (John 19 especially verses 30-37). What was "finished" or authenticated was the “New Covenant” or testament as once promised (Jeremiah 31: 31-34) and finally announced on the eve of its enactment (Matt. 26: 26-30; Mark 14: 22-26; Luke 22: 14-20). The cross, on which Jesus verifiably died by His own will and absolute power, is uniquely capable of producing non-stop wonder followed by increasing understanding of the hard proof of His Divine nature, i.e., His demonstrable Self-sufficient Life completely independent of the flesh (Acts 1: 3; 1 Corinth. 11: 23-26). In this altogether new way, did God put His law within us and write it on our hearts so that everyone will know Him personally (Jeremiah 31: 31-34) and even be conformed to His image and share His glory (Rom. 8: 28-30). Herein is the conclusive proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ with Him being "the way, the truth and the life" (John 10:37-38; 14:6) . No wonder, the last words of Jesus on the cross were "IT IS FINISHED!" (John 19:30)

Are you born again on the basis of the prescription of the “ blood ” and “ water ” that poured out from Jesus' side? Is your faith founded on the security of genuine objective basis or on the spurious subjective basis of “ personal decisions ” based on Bible verses quoted out of context?

CAUSE AND EFFECT

The cause and effect of Jesus' death are the two exclusive and unexcelled sources of personal knowledge of His Divine nature (John 8: 23-30) which, in turn, are the binding requirements for being born again with dynamic and sustainable faith based on the security of two crucifixion-based , supernatural works of Jesus . Without these, there is no enduring faith! These two works make up, in other words, the two keys of the Kingdom of Heaven reopening the once closed way to the “tree of Life” in Paradise or in the Garden of Eden ! TO RECIEVE ETERNAL BLESSINGS INCLUDING IMMORTALITY THE READER IS ADVISED TO IDENTIFY THESE KEYS AND UNDERSTAND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE BY MAKING SERIOUS EFFORT TO ANSWERTHE FOLLOWING 2 QUESTIONS BASED ON THE TEXTS PROVIDED.

QUESTIONS FOR IDENTIFYING THE 2 KEYS

1.) If the cause of Jesus' hasty death (Mark 15: 43-45) was neither the torture of the crucifixion, nor breaking of His legs (John 19:36), nor the piercing of His side with a spear (John 19:34), what other cause (symbolized by the issue of “blood” from His side) is attributed by the four evangelists ( Matt. 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30 and 1 John 5:6 )?

2.) What other great event occurred simultaneously (John 16: 1–15) as a direct effect of Jesus' death (symbolized by the issue of “ water” from His side) with power to draw everyone to Him whom they pierced ( John 19:37 based on Zech. 12:10 )?

APPLICATION

The “blood” can produce non-stop interest in the cause of Jesus' death satisfying the requirement for the promise of His continuous self-revelation to and sharing of His self-sufficient Life with “ whoever accepts His commandments and obeys them” (John 1:4-5; 14:15-21 ; Acts 1:3; Rom. 8:28-30; 1 Cor. 11:26) as a basis for faith without any shadow of doubt about Jesus (John 19:35) and for worship of God as he really is, i.e. in unbounded spirit and truth (John 4:21-24 ). What a glorious Gospel! One has to look elsewhere for “ the other Gospel ” of make-belief (Gal. 1:8-9).

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