Most people consider regeneration to be reborn second time (e.g., Nicodemus thinking it was a return to the mothers womb in John 3:4). That seems silly to modern people who seem more educated, but we foolishly think of regeneration as returning to the state at our birth. Babies are innocent it seems, but soon parents discover that their "innocent" babies are budding gods and goddesses whose sole purpose in life is appeasement.
David was a king and had his own realm. As many did in those days, the kings were as gods. David the king desired appeasement and committed adultery, although he was "after God's own heart" (1 Sam 3:14). He was after God's heart or to do God's will, but he wasn't quite there yet. When he convicted himself of sin to Nathan the profit, he felt guilt, and repented. David was born again, and experienced a re-genesis. Psalm 51 is his sinner's prayer and is a great confession and format for sinners to pray for regeneration. David didn't turn back to the way he was after his birth, but the way the Designer of Creation intended him to be. By David's own mouth, he said, "I was shapen in iniquity" (Psalm 51:5).
The iniquity which existed as he was shapen during gestation was twofold: (1) He was born with the original inclination to sin thanks to Adam, and (2) the nature of human-beings is to indulge in pleasure at the expense of procreation, just as the beasts do. Conception is a blessed event, placing the flesh within pre-existing souls. Mankind has a tendency to consider it no more than an orgy of the flesh for self-satisfaction.
The point is that regeneration is indeed a re-genesis. Those who are born again are re-created (not recreation) just as Adam was in the beginning. Adam was created innocent just as Jesus was. Scripture compares the two half-brothers: "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor 15:45). In other words, Adam's soul pre-existed his creation, then life was breathed into him (Gen 2:7). Before Adam became alive, he was mere dust put into the container of his ever-existing soul (his cup, so to speak). It was the Spirit of God that made Adam a living soul in contrast to the animals which were mere beasts without souls. On the other hand, the last Adam - Jesus - was God's Spirit who was made physically alive. In other words, the process of their genesis was reversed.
The hardest endeavor of anyone is to be like Jesus - an alive Spirit. God's Holy Spirit conceived Jesus. That process was when God's Existence transfigured into a living being. On the other hand, Adam merely had an empty cup into which God poured into His Holy Spirit. Essentially, Adam desired too much "sugar" in his cup, and was overcome by temptation. Jesus's "cup" remained pure and "sugarless" so to speak. Adam's purpose was to live for God; God's Purpose was to live for mankind, in that he was predestined to serve mankind by sacrificing Himself. He required flesh to sacrifice, so God became incarnate, not by coitus but by breathing life unto Mary: "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). Adam and Jesus came into life by God's breath.
The angel called Jesus "that holy thing," indicating that the unborn person was more than man! He was not God's Son, but God made flesh, but was called "the Son of God," just as he was called Jesus, Emanuel, and the Christ. God always existed. Thus, at Jesus's birth God's Existence was given a "face." That is crucial because the First Commandment is better said, "Thou shalt have no other gods in my face." Each and every person, with the exception of Jesus, are "as gods" (Gen 35). We are gods putting on as if we are Jesus. The First Commandment was forbidding others their idea that they have the power to control their own fate. It is disrespect for God's "face" who is called Jesus.
Hence, Jesus was neither created nor re-created. He was born pure as God breathed life unto him. Later on the Holy Spirit came upon him, and it seems at the transfiguration his identity as fully God was revealed as Moses finally saw God's face!
On the other hand, Adam was created, and after he sinned, God re-created him by covering his sin with the sacrfice of blood and the skin of an animal, presumably a lamb as Jesus was the "Lamb of God."
Chapters one and two of the Book of Genesis is about the creation of the heaven, the earth, the things of the earth, Adam, and Eve. Chapter three is about the fall of Adam and Eve, and a re-creation. Their sins were washed clean by the blood of a lamb. The Lamb of God provided the sacrifice because Jesus was there in Spirit, which would later be "quickened" or made alive. Adam and Eve experienced a re-genesis and were the first two who were regenerated. They tried to transform themselves by covering their shame with fig leaves, but that was ineffectual. God saw that they thought they were gods, and showed them. He removed their fig leaves, exposing their shame, and then covered their bodies, not just their loins, but with coats made from skins (Gen 3:21).
Therefore, the grace God bestowed upon Adam and Eve was the first re-genesis. Their sins were covered by the water and the blood. Water is the identifier of the Holy Spirit (John 4:10, Rev 7:17), and the blood came from the sacrifice of the innocent animal. Re-generation is both physical (life in the blood) and spiritual (God's Holy Spirit).
In a short time, mankind became degenerate, or corrupted. Sin degenerated mankind, and made regeneration necessary. Regeneration isn't forced upon anyone. Some prefer the degenerate condition. Scripture refers to degeneration without regeneration as reprobation (Rom 1:28) which Paul called "a condition of the mind" therein. Reprobation occurs when anyone sets their mind against the authority of God, either thinking they can save themselves, that they only face annihilation, or are apathetic to the idea of regeneration.
The world became degenerate and required renewal. Thus the flood of Noah's time was a re-genesis. Life was cleansed from the earth, save one righteous man and his family - eight living souls who were saved by water. Water represents life because it cleanses and nourishes. Water alone could not save; animals became obedient to God unlike the foolish men who scoffed. Immediately upon the re-genesis, Noah sacrificed an animal to God for His grace. Therein is a symbol of the requirement for both water and the blood which Jesus seemed necessary for salvation (1 John 5:15. The events around Noah represent the water and the blood that flowed from Jesus as he was crucified for our sins (John 19:34). That was pre-incarnate Jesus (John 1-2, 14) who regenerated the world by water and blood.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was another type of re-genesis, that time, not the whole world but as a demonstration of God's judgment to the world. Those cites are now gone and are believed to have been were the dead sea now exists. Lot's family were a re-genesis after fire cleansed sin from their lives, and that was because God had the grace to allow just a few to escape those cities. Lot's wife, who looked back at the pleasures of sin, was the same type as those who refused to board the ark. She thought wrongly that God would not take her life.
The Jews were in bondage to the Pharaoh of Egypt who are symbols of Satan and sin, respectively. The Jewish people who followed God and Moses were saved by water just as Noah. They crossed the Red Sea but the Egyptians were destroyed by water. According to His promise, the entire world would never be destroyed by water again (as God promised Noah), and water did not destroy the Jews but saved them. The Jewish people experienced a re-genesis and became a new people. On the other hand, like Adam who was also, they were expelled into the wilderness until all were gone. Regeneration doesn't mean prosperity in a physical sense, but more importantly, spiritual prosperity with the gift of eternal life.
Time and again, Israel was provided a re-genesis and was again when they became a nation in 1948. After Nebuchadnezzar destroyed their city and temple, and endeavored to destroy their God, the Persians Cyrus and Darius came along and had mercy on them. That was at the direction of God. Israel had a re-genesis as the walls and God's Temple were re-built (Ezra, Nehemiah).
Jesus, in John chapter three, told Nicodemus all about re-genesis when he said, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). To explain himself, he referred to the time of Moses when those who were bitten by poisonous snakes were restored to life by merely lifting up Jesus by seeing the dead Serpent dead on his tree. The Jews were again given a second opportunity and experienced another re-genesis.
Re-genesis has always been a personal thing. God deals with individuals, examines the hearts of men, and either judges them fit for regeneration or damnation. They never deserve reprieve, but God examines the willingness of their hearts to obey His commands whether they are successful or not. That is God's grace.
Jesus spilled water and blood that mankind could corporately experience a re-genesis. The crucifixion was when the world was provided the opportunity for another chance which was again by blood and water. When Jesus died, the world changed again. His blood and water transformed the world for those who don't look back at the pleasures of the old world before Jesus. One thief on the cross experienced re-genesis that day when he was transported with Jesus back to the Garden Paradise in Heaven. Thereafter, people who experience re-genesis by diminishing themselves and elevating Jesus, will have a personal re-genesis or regeneration until the time of the resurrection. At that time is when all those dead and alive in Christ will experience re-genesis with the rapture as they put on incorruptible, glorified flesh.
In the end the Book of Revelation reveals that the earth will be cleansed by fire at that time, God keeping his promise to Noah. After the cleansing, the world will be re-created clean and pure for Jesus's abode. The entire world will experience a re-genesis, and New Jerusalem will come down to its foundation on the site of old Jerusalem (Rev 21:2). The harlot Babylon, which I consider to be sinful Jerusalem, will experience a re-genesis as well - Paradise returning to the Garden where it all began! The old Garden, again populated with the souls of men, will be the City of God.
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