We all know the story. Nicodemus was the man who came after dark for a talk with Jesus. Together they had a deep, meaningful conversation about spiritual matters, and we have the record of it in the gospel of John, chapter 3. Through the centuries of time that have elapsed, popular Christian theology has extracted some weighty conclusions out of what these two men said.

GETTING 'SAVED'

The general idea has come to be that Nicodemus came and talked to Jesus that night to find our how he could be saved, so Jesus therefore gave him instructions about how to get born again -- which is supposed to be the same thing as being "saved."

Moreover, later in the conversation Jesus spoke the famous words, "For God so loved the world..." This is part of the well-known verse, John 3:16. The assumption here is that Jesus meant that God loves everybody in the world -- and therefore wants everybody to be born again. These are the popular conclusions that are made from this conversation.

But are they accurate conclusions? No, they are not. In the first place, Nicodemus did not come to the Lord Jesus to ask him anything. He came with a statement to make, one that required nightfall and secrecy. He came to give a remarkable minority report from his political party, and it was a dangerous one to make.

Why call him "doctor?" Because if he were with us today that is how he would be called. He had what amounted to Th.D. and Ph.D. degrees, and the party to which he belonged would be the equivalent today (in the U.S.A.) of Baptists, Catholics and Republicans or Democrats all rolled into one. That kind of power is always protected by careful protocol. It was embarrassing for him to seek out a professional visit with an unlearned commoner, no matter how famous he was becoming. Therefore, he came by night.

But Nicodemus knew that this Jesus was no common man and was probably even the promised Messiah. This Healer and miracle worker exhibited far too much power to be anyone else -- even more than the miracle working Elisha of ancient times. Therefore he made his opening statement, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that you do unless God is with him" (3:2).

A MINORITY REPORT

By this time Nicodemus had also seen the resentment and opposition toward Jesus that was developing among the Jewish rulers. And he saw the danger in this. If this Jesus were indeed the Messiah he knew that He would someday become ruler of Israel and even of the world. God would allow nothing to stop that. Nicodemus had faith as well as scriptural learning, and he knew that. This meant that any opposition toward Jesus on the part of the Jewish government would result in worse destruction for their nation than the Empire of Babylon had shed upon them five hundred years before. As it turned out, it did happen just as he probably feared. About forty years later their nation was obliterated by the Roman forces. That night Nicodemus knew he had to do something. He would start with a visit. The now popular idea that he came to get himself "saved" derives from a later time. During the time of Jesus' ministry there was no concept of believing on Jesus to get eternally saved. The people were not even sure who He was, and much less did they know the New Testament theology that was written and developed many decades later.

So Nicodemus made his minority report, and it was a significant one. Scripture tells us that there were some other Pharisees who believed on Jesus too but who did what Nicodemus did -- kept it secret for their own safety.

THE MAJORITY REPORT

The rest of them, the majority, had another report (Matthew 12:24). It was that the many miracles that Jesus did (which they knew were real miracles) were powered by the devil. Believing this, they went on to form their policy toward Jesus around that assumption, and this as well as other factors finally led them to spearhead our Lord's eventual execution upon the cross. They wanted to save their nation from harm by the Roman legions too, but their idea of deliverance was opposite from the understanding of their wise associate, Nicodemus.

After he made his opening statement that night he may have expected Jesus to discuss the issue of political dangers with him. Who knows? But our Lord replied to him instead about a far greater subject than the rise and fall of nations. He immediately addressed the issue of why Nicodemus was making such a positive statement about His identity in the face of the obvious disbelief by the majority of his party, the Pharisees. He said, "Truly I tell you that except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

No, Jesus was not changing the subject in order to tell him what to do to go to heaven. He was right on the subject that Nicodemus had started. He was saying in essence, "Nicodemus, Why do you see something that the rest of the Pharisees are not seeing? Why are you so different that you have to come to Me by night with this confession?" That was the real issue, as Nicodemus was about to learn, and it continues to be the real issue today.

What is the answer? It is the new birth. It is the birth of spiritual eyes and spiritual ears and a spiritual heart that can perceive things that the world cannot perceive. There is no reason why Nicodemus should have been any different from his unbelieving Pharisee friends except for this. And it had already happened. Nicodemus had at some time been born again even before his perception of Jesus had been formed. His resulting born-again faith is what led him to form his perception so that he could say, "We know..."

Who knows when this new birth had happened within him? But it had happened. Who knows when any of us experience the event of being born again? One thing is sure. It had happened for Nicodemus prior to his belief about who the Lord Jesus is, because it was his spiritual nature that had formed his belief about this unique miracle worker who was among them.

BLOWING LIKE THE WIND

Jesus went on to reveal to him the only technical information we have about the new birth in the entire Bible. It is simply that the Spirit of God, like the wind, is independent of the will of man and blows upon whomever the Spirit wills to blow upon with life giving power (verse 8). If a Christian wants to believe that he was born again when he walked a church aisle, said certain  words or prayed a certain prayer, that's all right. God can still use him. But the evidence in John 3 shows that he never would have prayed that prayer unless the new birth had already happened in his heart. You see what this does don't you? It takes the responsibility for the new birth of spiritual life away from humanistic mankind and places it just where it belongs -- in the hands of the Father in heaven. This is the Father who sovereignly births His children. This is made plain in John 1:13, "...Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

SEEING IS BELIEVING

The Lord Jesus, as always, gave His visitor that night some information he wasn't expecting. "Seeing" the reality of the kingdom of God is something that belongs only to the born again people of God. To the rest of the Pharisees who thought He was doing miracles by the power of the devil Jesus said some very pointed and plain things, such as, "He that is of God hears God's words. You therefore hear them not because you are not of God" (8:47). This was why Nicodemus was different, and this is why you and I are different as well, if we do indeed see with spiritual eyes the marvelous kingdom of God.

In the course of this conversation the Lord Jesus said even more revealing things to Nicodemus. As a good Jew he believed that the kingdom of God encompassed only the nation of Israel. The rest of the world was simply outside the economy of God. A few years later the Apostle Peter was going to learn some new truth about this situation when he had his vision upon the housetop (Acts 10). But here Jesus gave a ruler of the Pharisees a glimpse into just how large the kingdom of God is. He told him:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (3:16).

GOD LOVES "THE WORLD"

Once again, Jesus was not changing the subject. He was explaining that this man -- who walked through the door believing that Jesus had come from God -- had a host of other brothers and sisters who believed and would be believing just as he did, and they would be from all nations of the world (Revelation 6:9).

This was an almost unbelievable revelation for a Jew of that time (and for many Jews of our time as well). It was especially hard for a Pharisee, and Nicodemus probably didn't receive or understand it right away. Even Peter and the apostles had a hard time absorbing it. The thing that convinced Peter was when he saw the Holy Spirit fall upon some Gentiles just as He had done upon Jews. That convinced him.

So that is what Jesus was saying, that the kingdom of God is world-wide and encompasses people of all nations. What He was not saying is that God loves everybody in the world and loves them all equally. Why should we read something into scripture that is not there?