One of the best illustrations I have heard (or read) of the process of salvation.
“It is no accident that the Bible often uses the imagery of birth in speaking of how God has called men and women into his spiritual family. God has given human birth as an illustration of what the new birth means. In human birth there is first a conception in which the seed of the father unites with the egg of the mother to begin a new life. There is a period of gestation in which that which was begun in such a quiet and small way begins to grow and take form. At last there is the actual birth. In the birth the first cries of the child are heard, and those who stand by rejoice in a new human being. In the same way, men and women become God’s children when God the Father of his own will takes the seed of his Word and plants it within the heart, causing it to unite with the ovum of saving faith, which together begin to grow. At this stage of God’s work, those without cannot tell whether spiritual life is present or not. But in time the life within grows and the actual birth takes place. As those standing by hear the public confession of Christ by the newborn they know of the new life and rejoice in it with the Father.”
From “The Epistles of John” by James Montgomery Boice, Baker Books, 1979.
