One of the most often quoted verses in the Bible is John 3:16 "For God so loved the world..." As I read that verse this morning, I was seeing a small lamp lit room, with two people sitting near each other in deep conversation. Those words were spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus, a pharisee, who had paid Him a night time visit. Nicodemus was wondering if Jesus was the Messiah who would usher in the "Kingdom of God".
As I read that conversation this morning, I was struck by the fact that Jesus was taking the time to instruct this man as He did later with His disciples when they asked the meaning of the parables. Why? What did He see in Nicodemus? As I read where He answered the question "How can a man be born again?" with the verse in the image I used today, I realized that Jesus was letting this man know something that even His disciples did not know yet. His Kingdom was not going to be an earthly kingdom like the Jewish people had been taught. It was going to be a spiritual kingdom. Like the wind, the Kingdom that Jesus was bringing into existence, was invisible but powerful! You can't see it, you can't touch it but you can feel it's power!
And then Jesus said something that must have struck Nicodemus in a powerful way. Far from being an earthly ruler, the Messiah (the Son of Man) would be lifted up like Moses lifted up the brass serpent in the wilderness, to keep the people from dying as a consequence of their sins (read Numbers 21: 4-9). I wonder what Nicodemus thoughts were as he remembered that story and realized the implications of being "lifted up". Was he reliving the whole Jewish history of sacrifices made to God for the remission of sin? Did he remember the story of how Abraham was told to sacrifice his "son, his only son" in Genesis 22? And what were Nicodemus thoughts when Jesus said "For God so loved the World..." Did he begin to see where all this was heading?
I think that Nicodemus walked out of that lamp lit room a changed man. He did not know it, but he was to be involved in all the events that led up to Jesus being "lifted up" on the cross.
In John 7:50, Nicodemus is recorded as having stood up for Jesus against the rest of the chief priests and Pharisees. Some people think Nicodemus was a coward for not saying more, but I wonder. Was he perhaps the one person who knew that all of this was just leading up to a sacrifice? That the very sacrifice that Abraham had not been required to make was going to be made by God himself? Did he hear those powerful words again "For God So Loved the World that He gave His Only Begotten Son..."
The final mention comes in John 19:39, it says Nicodemus came to the cross and helped Joseph of Arimathea bear away the body of Jesus to be buried. As he reverently washed and wrapped the body of Jesus, did he see again the lamp lit room? Did Nicodemus hear again the earnest voice of Jesus as He spoke those words about the Spirit and the Kingdom of God?
As Nicodemus exited the tomb and watched the stone being rolled into place, I wonder if he lifted his face and felt the gentle evening breeze ruffle his hair? Would this have reminded Nicodemus that Jesus had given him a glimpse one night of the powerful wind of change that was coming. A Spiritual wind of change that had just begun to blow around the world, changing all of our lives forever!