Nicodemus

This is very common even with us today. We pressure others to think and act as we do. Most of us do not want others to believe differently than we do. So we pressure them and challenge them in polite ways. Adults apply peer pressure in a more graceful way. The Pharisees were doing the same thing. But there was danger in disagreeing with the Pharisees. They would malign your character with the goal of destroying you. That is also common today.

There is one key book that we all need to trust and it is the Bible. Why? Because God has spoken to us in that book. It is sin to pressure others to think as we do. Ultimately it is the Holy Spirit who brings conviction over sin and guides us into truth (John 16:13). When someone disagrees with us, the best approach to take is to pray for them. Otherwise, we might force people to yield to us without really changing what they believe.

So it appears that Nicodemus recognized the danger of being seen with Jesus. Consequently he did not want anyone to know that he was visiting Jesus. So he came by night.

You Must be Born. We are not told about their first words of welcome or embraces. Jesus did not talk about His ministry or about how God had used Him. He was not sharing the Sunday School attendance, the annual church budget, how many programs the church had, or the latest building program of His church with this Pharisee. Jesus was not into pride and worldly measures of success. Apparently, Jesus skipped the introductions and focused on a key question. It was a question about the most important thing in Nicodemus’ life - his eternal destiny.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (NASB) John 3:3