Base Camp
John
3:1. There
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
A man of the Pharisees
We
learned in the introduction that Nicodemus was a part of that brood of public hypocrites,
known as the Pharisees that held a minority of seats in the ruling council of
Israel. Outside of the Sanhedrin, it has been said that the number of Pharisees
estimated at the time of Herod the Great (B.C. 37 – 4) to be “above six
thousand.” This number is provided by a first-century Jewish historian by the
name of Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37 – 100).1 It
is believed that FJ was a Pharisee as well.
Nicodemus
(Gk.,
Nikodemus, a masculine proper noun from nikos (victory) and demos
(people), meaning victor among or victor over the people, conqueror. His name
appears five times in the NT, exclusively in John’s gospel: Jn 3:1, 4, 9; 7:50;
19:39.
A ruler of the Jews
Our
man Nick had some clout, sitting on one of the 71 seats of the ruling council
of the Sanhedrin. Israel had no king in the first century (cf. Jn 19:15);
Jerusalem was occupied by the Romans. According to MacArthur, “The Sanhedrin
was composed of the high priest (president), chief priests, elders (family
heads), and scribes for a total of seventy-one people.” There were two schools
of theological thought within the ruling council. The one that occupied the majority
of seats was Sadducean; the minority was Pharisaism. The former was liberal and
secular; the latter was “conservative” and externally religious. Not only was
Nicodemus on the council as a ruler of the Jews, but Jesus referred to him as the teacher of Israel (Jn 3:10).
John
3:2. This
man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a
teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is
with him.
This man came to Jesus by night.
This
was a dangerous thing for Nicodemus to do, given the police-state nature of
Israel. But it was Nicodemus who came to Jesus, not the other way around. Jesus
was on the radar of the Sanhedrin for his miracles, Nicodemus was a part of that
governing body. The eyes and ears of the Sanhedrin were everywhere. This made
Nick’s covert meeting with Jesus even more perilous, a ruler of the Jews meeting
with Jesus under the cloak of darkness?!
There
was a fear of the power and far-reaching influence of the Sanhedrin hanging
over Israel like a bad storm cloud, like a police state, leading to furtive
behavior (cf. Jn 3:2; 7:13; 9:22; 12:42; contrast Prov 29:25). At this time, it
was the early stages of Jesus’ ministry (cf. Jn 2:11 with Jn 4:54). His violations
of the sabbath and claims of deity will accelerate their hatred of Jesus as
public enemy #1. After 3 years of dealing with Jesus, they would eventually
crucify Him, not on their time schedule, but on the timing of God the Father
(Jn 17:4). Jesus never claimed to be a victim in any of this but a volunteer
(cf. Mt 20:28)!
Given Nick’s position, approaching Jesus during the day might create a curious look up as
to why a ruler of the Jews was conversing with Jesus; if such a meeting was
conducted in the night, however, it would certainly arouse suspicion demanding
answers which could pose a significant risk to his career, family, social
standing, his very life. In other words, he was taking a calculated risk by
this nocturnal venture. It will turn out to be the best decision that he
had ever made, bar none.
Rabbi
Notice
that Nick didn’t refer to Jesus as the “Messiah” but as a master, a title of
honor. Willful unbelief, the veil of satanic spiritual blindness, was
still shielding him from the light. It is the same for all unbelievers (cf. 2
Cor 4:4). Given Nick’s credentials, of the Pharisees and a ruler of the Jews, he is not patronizing
Jesus at all. This
man came to Jesus in a spiritual condition of blindness. It will become more
obvious later on in the conversation.
We
Denotes
plural, more than one, yes? This pronoun obviously includes Nick, but who else does he have
reference to? I am of the opinion he came alone; he couldn’t afford the
liability of a witness. There is no evidence to the contrary. Since he held one
of the 71 seats in the Sanhedrin, he may be referring to his colleagues on the
council. He was simply relaying to Jesus the general consensus of the Sanhedrin
concerning Jesus at that time – “This teacher must be of God for no one can do
such signs unless God is with him!?” That opinion of the council will quickly
degrade with Jesus purposely healing on the sabbath and making claims of deity.
With
those two, in particular, there will be a major shift in opinion concerning
Jesus. Instead of His signs being from God, the Pharisees will accuse Him of
doing the work of Beelzebub (ruler of the demons, Mt 12:24)! Most of the members of the
Sanhedrin will historically die in their sins (cf. Jn 8:24; 12:37, 42). The usage, of the plural pronoun we, is being way too kind in the early stages of Jesus’ ministry,
before suspicion of this ruling body turned into outrage, given their theological and political
bents. They were all looking for a political Messiah to set them free from the
Roman yoke, not a spiritual Savior (cf. Mk 15:32; Lk 24:21)! They did not see or consider themselves as “sinners” but law-keepers (cf. Jn 9:16, 24, 28, 34).
know (Gk., eido)
This
is an intellectual assent, having no experiential knowledge as ginosko.
Nick is fixing to experience Jesus! This is suggested by John 7:50; 19:39.
A teacher (Gk., didaskalos)
Instructor,
master, teacher. Of the 48 occurrences of didaskalos (teacher) in the
Gospels (NASB, added), 41 have reference to Jesus, 29 of the 41 are in direct
address (Spiros Zodhiates, Word Study).
Come from
God
Perhaps
better would be, “You have come from God as a teacher.” This emphasizes his
acknowledgment, No one can do these signs unless God is with him.
For no
one
Don’t
you know that the Sanhedrin was investigating the authenticity of these signs.
They could find no evidence or bring any charges of fake or false healings. The fault will come when Jesus heals on the sabbath. Things get rather animated after that divine intention.
Can do (present active infinitive)
“Can
go on doing”
These signs
This
refers to Jn 2:23; Nick may have got word of the water turned into wine in Cana
of Galilee; he was from Galilee (Jn 7:25). These miraculous and wonderful signs
were undeniable. Unlike faith healers today, never do we read in Scripture of
these miracles ever being disproven by the enemies of Jesus, for you know they
would if they could. God the Father used these miracles in drawing Nick to
Jesus that night in Jerusalem (Jn 6:44, 65). Nick felt compelled to go to the
very Source of all of these miracles. “Why be suspicious of a Man performing bona
fide miracles?” He may have asked himself.
This
intimates that this man could be persuaded by the truth regardless of the
position of most of his colleagues. There were others in the same boat as
Nicodemus, but they were not as bold (Jn 12:42). The reality of these signs of
Jesus was not going away unless suppressed through unbelief (Jn 8:47-48). The miracles
validated that Jesus was the true Messiah. It was so blatantly obvious that
Jesus was from God, that even the blind man from birth, after being healed and questioned
by the Pharisees, knew the answer,
If this Man were not
from God, He could do nothing (Jn 9:33).
That you
do (present active indicative)
“That
you continually do”
Unless God is with him
This
is stated as a probability, not a definitive fact, but physically being there,
risking it all, tells me that the evidence is so compelling that Nicodemus was
willing to risk it all for the truth! “Why would a demon help people?” He may
have thought. Keep in mind, he has yet to be born again. So, he is still
wrestling with the data.
Spiritually,
Nicodemus was at the receptive stage. He had seen and heard of the signs, but
he wanted to meet the Man personally, privately. He was not at the receiving
stage just yet that God was with Jesus (Jn 1:1, 14). Nick was being drawn by
the Father, and he was clueless about what was going on behind the scenes in the spirit world.
Though it is not crystal clear if Nick was born from above with this
rendezvous, but Jn 3:11 suggests that he did not that night. There are two
other passages that may support Nick was born from above later on. In Jn
7:50-51, we see where Nicodemus raised a procedural point to his colleagues
concerning Jesus, and in Jn 19:39-42, Nick took courageous action, along with
Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, concerning the lifeless body of Jesus.
How
Nick knew where to find Jesus and keep his secret rendezvous a secret was a God
thing. Recall, the council had a lot of resources at their disposal. Eyes and
ears were everywhere; there were a plethora of Pharisaical busybodies and
snitches willing to report back any deviations of judicial and religious expectations to the council. A
ruler of the Jews seeing Jesus of Nazareth in the night was definitely an
anomaly. One thing is for sure; Jesus did not betray Nick’s confidence given
the fact that he was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, and the teacher of
Israel. Since his disciples were with Jesus, more than likely, that weasel,
Judas Iscariot was there at our base camp.
No
matter how many times I come to this passage, I am thrilled to see this man experience the unspeakable joy of spiritual regeneration. All, of the
millions who have been born again since then, can identify with the unspeakable
joy that Nick experienced! In fact, it is indelibly etched in my brain to associate Nicodemus with the phrase born again or born from above. My eternal redemption came
in 1976. When Nick left Jesus, he went into the night a child of the Light. Hallelujah!
Sadly,
so many of Nick’s colleagues never moved beyond being skeptical, suspicious, and downright hostile, and then there were others who realized what was happening but feared a backlash (Jn 12:42). As long as they remained in a state of unbelief, Jesus would never qualify as their Messiah, even though His miracles
declared that He was according to the Prophets. The very prophets the Pharisees
declared to believe in, by the way (Lk 7:22; cf. Isa 35:5-6; 61:1)! Jesus was
doing precisely what was prophesied of the Messiah (Lk 7:21). He was forever tagged as a “sinner” for violating their interpretation of the sabbath and making claims of deity and worthy of death. Therefore, in spite of the amazing miracles, in their minds, He could not be the true Messiah.
Satan
was able to intervene through their unbelief and circumvent the miracles of the unbelieving heart by having the
spiritual leadership solely focus on Jesus as breaking the sabbath, being born in the
wrong place, claiming equality with God, talking spiritual mumbo jumbo, hanging
around with sinners, and making audacious, insane, non-sensible claims, for
example, the 46/3 statement at the Temple (Jn 2:19-21). The list could go on
and on why Jesus could not be Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, but basically,
these were the stumbling blocks of the ruling authority preventing them from accepting or
believing that Jesus was truly the Messiah, the Son of God as revealed by the
signs (Jn 20:30-31).
In
fact, one of the most heartbreaking verses in John is found in John 12:37,
But although
He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him,
This
informs us that they kept on not believing in Jesus although He had done so
many miracles; 35 are recorded in Scripture, but there is no telling how many
miracles Jesus actually performed that were unrecorded (cf. Jn 21:25)! Perhaps
Jesus will tell us in glory. He could have done 10,000 miracles, but they never
would have believed in Him. If bringing back a man to life that is known to be dead doesn’t convince you, nothing will (cf. Jn 11:53; 12:10). He was never going to fit their Messianic profile in a million moons. Nonetheless, the offer was genuine; to receive Jesus or not was an individual choice (Jn 1:11-13). They chose to pursue their own agenda, ignore the prophets, and reject God’s
Son.
Most of Nick’s colleagues were not interested in the truth like him. They knew if they bought into the claims of Jesus, they stood to lose control over the
people and their way of life, not to mention their livelihood. Unbeknownst to them, it would all come falling down around their ears in
A.D. 70 when the Romans besieged and conquered Jerusalem. Israel, as a nation,
would be no more until 5.14.1948.
The
signs Jesus performed were not primarily for physical healing to relieve
suffering, but validating that Jesus was the Christ according to the Scriptures.
Healing was a byproduct of that objective that the Messiah was in their midst. Sadly,
not all who were healed physically or fed became children of God (e.g., the man
at the pool of Bethesda, Jn 5). Many followed Jesus for the benefits: healing
and free food, but never saw their spiritual need of Him (Jn 6:66; Mt 23:37).
These
blind and foolish leaders of Israel knew they would lose it all if they
acknowledged that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. They had to acknowledge the
miracles everybody else was witnessing and talking about, but they refused to
believe He was of God because it would have unmanageable ramifications. They
were unwilling to take that risk. They ended up reaping the whirlwind (cf.
Hosea 8:7). We will continue to hang around base camp awhile and listen in on the
conversations (Jn 3:1-13) and expound on this or that until we begin our ascent in v14 to the summit of John
3:16. Once we are there for a time, we will talk about what we see from a higher elevation in vs.17-21. <><
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1. Flavius Josephus, The
Works of Flavius Josephus, Vol III, trans. William Whiston (Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1977), 475. Or see Antiquities of the Jews, 17.42 at https://lexundria.com/j_aj/17.23-17.45/wst.
