Jesus and Nicodemus

A leader came. Nicodemus was “a man of the Pharisees” and “a ruler of the Jews” (3:1). Pharisees worked hard to keep every part of God's law, and people looked up to them. He came by night. “This man came to Jesus by night” (3:2). Whatever his reason was, Jesus did not turn him away. Jesus still welcomes people who come with honest questions. He knew something true. Nicodemus said, “We know that You are a teacher come from God” (3:2). He had seen Jesus' miracles, and he could tell that God was with Him. Jesus went to the heart. Jesus answered, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (3:3). Nicodemus wanted to talk about teaching. Jesus talked about new life. Good is not enough. If anyone could get into God's kingdom by being good, it was Nicodemus. But Jesus said even he needed to be born again. Our hearts need more than better habits. They need a new start that only God can give. What this means for you. Going to church and knowing Bible facts are good things. But they are not the same as having new life from God. Jesus invites you to come to Him, just like Nicodemus did.

Nicodemus (3:1). As a Pharisee, Nicodemus belonged to a group devoted to keeping God's law in every detail. As “a ruler of the Jews,” he was most likely a member of the Sanhedrin, the high council in Jerusalem. Jesus calls him “the teacher of Israel” (3:10). Rabbi (3:2). Rabbi (say: RAB-eye) is a Hebrew title of honor that means my teacher. A respected leader gave that honor to a carpenter from Nazareth who had never studied under the rabbis. Signs (3:2). John calls Jesus' miracles signs (2:11; 3:2). A sign points beyond itself. Nicodemus saw the signs and decided that God was with Jesus. That was true, but it was not yet the whole truth: Jesus is God's own Son (3:16). Born again (3:3). The Greek word anothen (say: AH-noh-then) can mean again, and it can mean “from above” (compare 3:31). Both fit. The new birth is a second birth, and it comes down from God. Nicodemus heard only “a second time” (3:4). See the kingdom (3:3). To see the kingdom of God means to enter it and belong to it (3:5). The kingdom is God's rule, and Jesus is its King. Why it matters. Nicodemus had training, a good name and a careful life. Jesus did not tell him to add more. He told him he needed a new beginning from God. Isaiah said, “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Salvation is God's work in us, not our work for God.

Nicodemus knew a lot about God. He prayed and kept many rules. People looked up to him as a leader. Still, Jesus told him he needed to be born again. Being good on the outside is not enough. Every person has sin on the inside. We cannot fix our hearts by trying harder. God has to give us a brand-new life. Jesus did not send Nicodemus away for coming at night. He welcomed him and answered his questions. Jesus welcomes anyone who comes to Him. You can bring your questions to Jesus too.

Nicodemus knew a lot about God. But he needed a new life. Only God gives it.

A real question. Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old?” (3:4). He thought Jesus meant a second birth like the first one. Water and the Spirit. Jesus answered, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (3:5). Jesus was talking about a new life that God gives. The Holy Spirit is the One who makes a person new. Two kinds of birth. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (3:6). Your parents gave you your body. Only God's Spirit can give you new life with God. God promised this. Long before, God said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:26). Nicodemus taught the Scriptures, so he knew God had made this promise. Like the wind. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it” (3:8). You cannot see the wind, but you can see what it does. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is unseen, but you can see the change He makes in a person. Baptism. Baptism is a picture of this new life. It comes after a person believes, and it shows the change on the outside. The water does not make a person new. The Holy Spirit does. What this means for you. You cannot make yourself born again, just as you did not make yourself born the first time. New life is a gift. Ask God for it, and trust Jesus.

A second time? (3:4) Nicodemus took Jesus' words in the most physical way possible: “Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered by pointing him to a birth that comes from God. Water and the Spirit (3:5). Jesus puts the two words side by side as one new birth. In Ezekiel 36:25-27 God promised to sprinkle clean water on His people, give them a new heart and put His Spirit within them. Many Christians see Jesus reminding Israel's teacher of that promise: God washing the heart and giving it new life. The new birth is the Spirit's work, not the result of a ceremony. Flesh and spirit (3:6). Flesh here means human nature on its own. It can only produce more of itself. Better rules and more effort cannot turn flesh into spirit. Wind and Spirit (3:8). The Greek word pneuma (say: PNOO-mah) means both wind and spirit. Jesus used one word for both, so the wind became His picture of the Spirit: real, free and powerful, known by what He does. The Holy Spirit is a Person, not a force. Titus 3:5. Paul describes salvation as “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,” and he says it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done.” Regeneration means being born again. Baptism. Baptism follows repentance and faith (Acts 2:38). It is an outward picture of the inward change: the old life buried and a new life raised with Jesus. It does not cause the new birth. Application. If you have trusted Jesus, the Spirit lives in you. Ask Him to keep changing you from the inside.

Nicodemus thought Jesus meant being a baby again. But Jesus meant a new birth from God. Our first birth gives us a body. God's Spirit gives us a new life inside. Jesus said we must be born of water and the Spirit. This new life comes from the Holy Spirit. Nobody can make it happen by trying hard. Jesus said the Spirit is like the wind. You cannot see the wind. But you can see trees bend when it blows. When the Spirit gives new life, people change. They start to love God and want to obey Him.

A new birth comes from God. The Holy Spirit gives us a new heart. We cannot see Him, but He is real.

How can it be? Nicodemus asked, “How can these things be?” (3:9). Jesus answered, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” (3:10). Jesus knows. “We speak what We know and testify what We have seen” (3:11). Jesus is not guessing about God. He came “down from heaven” (3:13). The snake in the desert. When Israel complained against God, poisonous snakes bit the people. God told Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8). Lifted up. Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (3:14). Jesus was lifted up on the cross. Later He said this showed “by what death He would die” (John 12:33). Just look. The bitten people did not need medicine or a long list of good deeds. They only had to look. Believing in Jesus is like that look: we trust Him to save us. Eternal life. “Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (3:15). Eternal life is life with God that never ends, and it starts the moment you believe. What this means for you. Sin has hurt every heart, like poison from a snake bite. Look to Jesus, who was lifted up for you.

Earthly and heavenly (3:12). The new birth happens on earth, in real people. If Nicodemus would not believe that, he was not ready for the deeper truths of heaven. Son of Man (3:13). This was the title Jesus used most for Himself. It comes from Daniel 7:13-14, where “One like the Son of Man” comes “with the clouds of heaven” and receives a kingdom “which shall not be destroyed.” Only the One who came from heaven can tell us about heaven. Numbers 21:4-9. The people spoke against God and Moses, and God sent fiery serpents. When they confessed, “We have sinned,” Moses prayed, and God gave an unusual cure: a bronze serpent on a pole. A likeness of the very thing that was killing them became the way to life. Must (3:14). Jesus said the Son of Man must be lifted up. The cross was not an accident; it was God's plan. In John, “lifted up” points to the cross (12:32-33). 2 Corinthians 5:21. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.” The bronze serpent looked like the deadly snakes but had no poison. Jesus had no sin, yet He carried ours. Faith as looking. A bitten Israelite added nothing to the cure. Faith is not a work that earns life. It is looking away from ourselves to Jesus, and “by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Application. When guilt weighs on you, do not try to fix yourself first. Look to Jesus on the cross and trust Him.

Nicodemus asked how all this could happen. Jesus said He tells what He knows. Jesus came down from heaven, so He knows heaven well. Then Jesus told about Moses in the desert. God's people grumbled, and snakes came into the camp. God told Moses to make a bronze snake on a pole. Anyone who looked at it was healed. Jesus said He must be lifted up like that snake. He was talking about the cross. God gave the cure, and the people trusted Him. Sin hurts us like a snake bite. When we look to Jesus and trust Him, we live forever.

Long ago, snakes bit God's people. They looked at a bronze snake and lived. Jesus was lifted up on a cross. We look to Him and live!

So loved. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (3:16). God's love is not just a feeling. He showed it by giving. The world. The world means all people, even people who did not love God back. Nobody is too far away for God's love. Only begotten. Jesus is God's one and only Son. God gave the One most precious to Him. Whoever. “Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (3:16). Whoever means anyone at all. Perish means to be lost forever, away from God. Sent to save. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (3:17). Condemn means to judge someone guilty. Believe or refuse. “He who believes in Him is not condemned” (3:18). A person who refuses Jesus stays in his sin, because there is no other Savior. Light and darkness. “The light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (3:19). People hide from light when they do not want their sin seen. But “he who does the truth comes to the light” (3:21). Nicodemus later. Later, Nicodemus spoke up for Jesus in front of the leaders, and he helped bury Jesus' body (John 7:50-51; 19:39). The man who came at night stood with Jesus in the open. What this means for you. You do not have to hide. Come to Jesus just as you are. He came to save you, not to shame you.

Love that gives (3:16). “So loved” means God loved the world in this way: He gave. Romans 5:8 says that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God's love is measured by the gift. Only begotten (3:16). The Greek monogenes (say: moh-noh-geh-NAYS) means one of a kind, the only one. Jesus did not begin to exist: “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He is the eternal Son, and the Father gave Him. Genesis 22. Abraham told Isaac, “God will provide for Himself the lamb” (Genesis 22:8). On the mountain God spared Abraham's son. At the cross God “did not spare His own Son” (Romans 8:32). Perish or live (3:16-18). Perish does not mean to stop existing; it means to be lost and ruined, cut off from God. Everlasting life is more than endless time. Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Condemned already (3:18). Jesus did not come to condemn, because the world already stood guilty through sin (Romans 3:23). Refusing the only rescue leaves a person where sin put him. Light (3:19-21). Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Light shows sin, and that is why people run from it. Light also guides and heals: “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Nicodemus. Later, Nicodemus defended Jesus' right to a fair hearing and brought spices to bury Him (John 7:50-51; 19:39). He came out of the night and stood with the Light. Application. Bring what you have hidden into the light of Jesus. He came to save, not to condemn.

God loves the whole world. That means every person, everywhere. He loved us so much that He gave His only Son. Whoever believes in Jesus will not be lost. They will have life that lasts forever. God did not send Jesus to punish the world. He sent Jesus to save it. Jesus is the Light. Some people loved the dark because they did wrong things. Light shows what is hidden. But we do not need to hide from Jesus. We can come to the Light, and He will make us clean.

God loves the whole world. He gave His Son, Jesus. Whoever believes in Jesus lives with God forever. Come to Jesus, the Light!

Jesus and Nicodemus

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