In John 3 we have a story of a Pharisee called Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night to try and discover who He really was. The word Pharisee means to be separate. The Pharisees separated themselves from all other people and groups who did not believe like they did and that were not zealous for the rituals and traditions they they held dear.. They believed that their rituals for religious purity and righteousness according to the Law of Moses and their traditions gave them entrance into the Kingdom of God.  They were the most orthodox Jews of their day and there were about 6,000 of them in the time of Herod according to the historian Josephus. The Pharisees believed in the Oral Law and that it was equal to the written Law. I have a great problem with anything that is outside the canon of Scripture. They were looking for the physical Kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a name that had Greek influence and means victor over the people. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews meaning he was a member of the Sanhedrin which was a ruling council of the Jews. He was one of the seventy highest ranking Pharisees of the 6,000.

     He came to Jesus by night which we might speculate that he came to Jesus in secret as not to come under condemnation of his peers. The Sanhedrin were the ones mostly responsible for having the Romans crucify Jesus but we know that this was predetermined by God the Father. They hated Jesus of Nazareth so much because His teaching undermined their control over the people.

    Nicodemus realized that God was with Jesus. Acts 10:38   How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power (dunamis), who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Jesus knowing the heart of Nicodemus went straight to the message that Nicodemus needed to hear. Nicodemus at this time did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah but did believe that the Messiah would establish the Kingdom of God on the earth and sit on David's throne.

     Jesus said to Nicodemus if you are going to see the Kingdom of God you must be born from above or be born again. Being born physically or born of natural means would not gain you entrance into the Kingdom of God but you would have to be born spiritually by the power of God. Jesus attacked the very core belief system of Nicodemus and crushed all that Nicodemus was and all that he believed and what he taught. What Jesus said was totally foreign to Nicodemus because Nicodemus had been told his whole life that to enter the Kingdom of God you must adhere to the law and be of the seed of Abraham. Nicodemus was not a man without intellect. He asked the question of Jesus how can a man be born again when he was old. Could he enter a second time into his mother's womb. This question was to push back at what Jesus had just said.

     Jesus gave Nicodemus the answer that if Nicodemus would receive would transform his life, give Him eternal life and entrance into the eternal Kingdom of God. Nicodemus would have to be born of water and of the Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God. Entering into the Kingdom of God is NOT by what you do but by what you become by believing that the Son of Man, Jesus Christ would have to be lifted up on a cross and die for the sins of man. To be born of the water according to Ezekiel 36 is be cleansed from your idols and your filthiness by being washed. We know according to the Word of God that cleansing comes from being washed from our sins by the blood of Jesus. We are born of the blood and born of the Spirit. We have been granted entrance into the Kingdom of God. Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up which is what Jesus told Nicodemus.

    It would cost Nicodemus everything that he was and everything he believed to follow Jesus the Son of God. The cost would be great. Did Nicodemus come to this knowledge of the truth or did he continue to follow the rituals and traditions which he held so dear? We hope he did and it seemed by his actions after the resurrection he did believe.

     Will you be born again today by believing in the finished work of the cross or will you continue  to try and please God by your works and what you do? Come unto to Jesus and find the Sabbath rest that He promised. Truly keep the Sabbath by faith and not by works. Jesus Christ is LORD. Bro James