Encounters with Jesus
“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
John 3:1-21 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.1-21.NIV
Under the cover of darkness
It was a dark and windy night as Nicodemus waved goodbye to his wife and children and left his Jerusalem house to meet Jesus.
Had Nicodemus been watching Jesus? (2:23). Could he have heard the uproar in the temple as tables were overturned and merchants selling cattle and sheep were driven out? (2:13-17). Perhaps during this Passover festival, he couldn’t escape the stories of God’s deliverance from Egypt that lingered in his mind. Who was this young Rabbi displaying such zeal? Nicodemus was curious and impressed by Jesus. In that sense, he stood out from his peers. But why meet at night? Was Nicodemus eager to keep their discussion confidential, or did the establishment send him to engage in politics? Regardless of his motives, Nicodemus was caught off guard by what unfolded, and if anyone should have been ready, it was undoubtedly him.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a profoundly moral individual who dedicated his life to adhering to the commandments and regulations of God’s law. He was also a prominent teacher and a member of the ruling council. To all outward appearances, Nicodemus seemed like someone who did not need a spiritual transformation. He epitomised religion in Israel, and few possessed more impressive credentials for gaining acceptance with God. He was the person we expected to be on Jesus’ team. However, by noting that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, John wants us to recognise a more profound truth. The Gospel of John frequently employs the contrast between light and darkness to illustrate the spiritual condition of people’s souls (3:19-21).
Can John share something about Nicodemus that we need to understand about ourselves?
However, by noting that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, John wants us to recognise a more profound truth.
A radical metaphor
Timothy Keller observed:
“Jesus Christ’s call to the new birth is not a call to morality and religion; it’s a challenge to morality and religion.” (1).
How could this be? Isn’t it counterintuitive? We assume moral failures, not religious elites like Nicodemus, need the call to a new birth. But as we shall see, Nicodemus, for all of his religion and morality, lacked an understanding that prevented him from seeing Jesus as “The true light that gives light to everyone…” (1:9). He came with his convictions and preconceived ideas about who Jesus was. As far as Nicodemus was concerned, Jesus could be no more than a teacher—on par with himself. Anything other than that could not fit in with his worldview. Nicodemus was convinced about the coming Messiah, and Jesus didn’t fit the bill. As John already told us, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (1:11).
Jesus addresses a question that Nicodemus doesn’t ask, as Nicodemus believes he is already part of God’s Kingdom. After Nicodemus finishes his opening statement, Jesus interrupts, essentially saying, let me stop you there, Nicodemus. You are not part of God’s Kingdom unless you are born again. The questions that follow reveal Nicodemus’s confusion. The implications are clear: if even Nicodemus, a member of the religious elite, requires the radical transformation that comes with being born again, then we all need it.
To enter the Kingdom of God, says Jesus, a natural birth alone is insufficient; an individual must also experience a supernatural, spiritual rebirth. Jesus anticipated that Nicodemus, a foremost teacher in Israel, would understand this expectation for a renewed work of the Spirit as the Kingdom of God was established. Nicodemus would have been an expert in the scriptures and would have been familiar with passages like those in Ezekiel chapter 36:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Surprised by his response, Jesus rebukes him with a hint of irony, saying, “You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things?” The implication is that if the foremost teacher in Israel could not put the puzzle pieces together, what hope is there for anyone else? Nicodemus believed that being a descendant of Abraham automatically made him part of God’s Kingdom. However, Jesus states, “Flesh gives birth to flesh.” Heritage is not enough; we cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God without a new birth. Mark Johnston writes:
“He needs to grasp our true state as fallen human beings—we are a race with a self-perpetuating problem… John’s main use of the word ‘flesh’ is to denote humanity in rebellion against God and the word ‘spirit’ to denote a heart with new life from God. The point is simple: left to our own devices, we cannot rise above what we are as a race by nature.” (2).
Have we understood this?
The implications are clear: if even Nicodemus, a member of the religious elite, requires the radical transformation that comes with being born again, then we all need it.
A necessary condition
According to Jesus, “born again” is essential for entrance into God’s Kingdom. This transformative work of the Spirit brings about such a radical change in a person that “new birth” is the only fitting metaphor. But what is the new birth? To understand, we must first recognise what it is not. It is not merely “turning over a new leaf” or undergoing moral reform. While such changes can occur in a person, moral reformation signifies a change from within; the new birth, on the other hand, is a transformation that originates from outside ourselves, initiated by God. Like we did not choose our natural birth, it is the same with spiritual birth (1:12-13). We need God’s pardon and power (see Eph 2:1-10). Without violating a person’s character, this represents a profound change. J.C. Ryle writes:
“The change which our Lord here declares needful to salvation is evidently no slight or superficial one. It is not merely reformation, or amendment, or moral change, or outward alteration of life. It is a thorough change of heart, will and character. It is a resurrection. It is a new creation. It is passing from death to life. It is the implanting in our dead hearts of a new principle from above. It is the calling into existence of a new creature, with a new nature, new habits of life, new tastes, new desires, new appetites, new judgments, new opinions, new hopes, and new fears.” (3).
The question is—do we know this transformation?
The wind blows
When Jesus encountered people, he always approached them as individuals. He aimed to get this expert in the Scriptures to connect the dots. Firstly, he uses the wind to illustrate something that is there but is beyond human control. Nicodemus would have picked up on the fact that Ruach, the Hebrew word for “wind” and “spirit”, are the same. The wind blows where it wants, but we cannot see it. However, we can see its power and consequences; it’s the same with God’s Spirit. Nicodemus needed to learn that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9).
Nicodemus would have been familiar with Ezekiel chapter 37:
“Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.”
God’s Spirit brings signs of life to individuals who are spiritually dead. Therefore, if there are no signs of new life, we have no reason to believe that a spiritual rebirth has occurred. Jesus challenges Nicodemus’s natural understanding of himself and his relationship with the Kingdom of God.
Have we experienced such a challenge?
This transformative work of the Spirit brings about such a radical change in a person that “new birth” is the only fitting metaphor.
Lifted up
Secondly, Jesus refers to a peculiar event from Israel’s history in Numbers chapter 21. As a consequence of their disobedience, God sent snakes into the camp of the Israelites. God told Moses to make a bronze snake and lift it on a pole. If a snake bit anyone, they could look up to the bronze snake on the pole and be healed. In the same way, said Jesus, the Son of Man, must be lifted so that all who look to him by faith may have eternal life. This answered Niocodemus’ question, “How can this be?” Looking to Jesus on the cross by faith is how we experience the new birth. By referring to himself as the “Son of Man,” Jesus gives Nicodemus another piece of the puzzle, as this was a divine designation he would have been familiar with (see Dan 7).
Jesus later taught: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Why must Jesus be lifted up? Because the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross as a means of our forgiveness was the ultimate expression of the love of God for humanity (3:16). Nicodemus, says Jesus, your religion and morality count for nothing until you look up at the crucified Christ and receive the gift of eternal life. Nicodemus needed to get to grips with grace.
People often look around the world today and ask, “Why doesn’t God do something?” But he has! God’s grace sent his Son, Jesus, into the world. God gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
There is life for a look at the crucified one,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto him and be saved,
Unto him who was nailed to the tree.
Look, look, look and live;
There is life for a look at the crucified one,
There is life at this moment for thee. (4).
Have we looked up at the crucified Christ?
Looking to Jesus on the cross by faith is how we experience the new birth.
The verdict
Jesus has a last remaining challenge to Nicodemus, who came to him at night. How will he respond to the light? Will he step into it or remain in darkness? At this moment, Nicodemus, not Jesus, is under scrutiny. The tables have turned. The word translated as “verdict” in verse 19 is the Greek word κρίσις, which is where we get the word “crisis.” The arrival of the light has created a crisis for both Nicodemus and ourselves. “Why do people not believe in me?” says Jesus. Because people love darkness rather than light because of their evil deeds, and we who hear the gospel face a crisis that leads to either condemnation or salvation. The light has come into the world and exposed us for what we are. How will we respond? Josh Moody writes:
“It is an extraordinary fact, but the human condition is such that we all experience a gravitational pull to the black hole of sin’s “darkness.” Our better instincts may long for the stars, but our evil desires, our sins, mean that we are attracted to “hiding,” to being “in the dark,” away from the “light,” which so uncomfortably reveals our darkness to ourselves, to others, and most scarily of all to God himself. We “will not come into the light for fear that [our] deeds will be exposed.” (5).
Nicodemus began by saying, “We know” (3:2). However, as his conversation with Jesus ends and he begins his walk home, he realises that he doesn’t know as much as he thought. Could it be that this prominent teacher and member of the ruling council of Israel—who assumed he was part of God’s Kingdom—was living in the dark? Knowing what he was thinking as he walked through Jerusalem’s darkness would be fascinating. In John chapter 8, Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” I wonder when Nicodemus stepped into that light.
Have we?
The light has come into the world and exposed us for what we are. How will we respond?
Losing my religion
The next time we encounter Nicodemus in the Gospel of John is in chapter 7, where he defends Jesus in front of his unbelieving peers. Later, in chapter 19, after Jesus has been crucified, we find Nicodemus alongside another notable figure, Joseph of Arimathea. Together, risking their safety, they brought precious ointments and fragrances to anoint Jesus’ body by Jewish burial customs and laid Him in the tomb. John wants us to know that the man who initially came to Jesus secretly has entered the open. As Nicodemus witnessed Jesus being lifted up, he likely recalled this conversation: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
How can we tell if someone has stepped into the light and is no longer under condemnation? The answer lies in their response to the light. The evidence is found in a transformed life—not in the cloak of outward religion, as was the speciality of the Pharisees, but in coming to Jesus as the only hope of salvation, which is impossible for light haters without the work of the Holy Spirit. No longer was Jesus merely a teacher, but Nicodemus saw on the cross the saviour of sinners through whom “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:7).
Later in John’s gospel, we read about another encounter Jesus had, this time with a Samaritan woman whose life was deeply affected by sin. She was the complete opposite of Nicodemus. Like Nicodemus, she also stepped into the light (4:1-42). Significantly, John presents these two accounts close together as they illustrate that the light of the gospel shines for everyone, whether one is cloaked in religion or broken by sin.
Whoever you are, do not wait like Nicodemus. Look now at the Son of Man, lifted up and step out of darkness into the light.
Notes
- https://subsplash.com/ginl/media/mi/+29b1396
- Mark Johnston – Let’s Study John, Banner of Truth Trust, 2023, p46
- J.C. Ryle – Expository thoughts on John, Volume 1, Banner of Truth Trust, 1997, p122
- Amelia M. Hull – There is life for a look at the crucified one
- Josh Moody – John 1-12 For You, The Good Book Company, 2017, p37-38
All scripture quotations are from the NIV.
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