I recently purchased a book entitled “On the Resurrection: Evidences.” It is a hefty 1054 pages and is marked as Volume 1. It will take me a while to read that book.  The author intends to prove through evidence within the Bible and external to the Bible that Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  The reason for this is that the resurrection of Jesus is the moment that the history of the world was forever changed.  Without Jesus’ resurrection, we would not be here today.  There would be no New Testament.  There would be no hope.  And so, for the next 11 weeks, I would like us to journey together to the world-changing event of Jesus’ resurrection.  Along the way, we will meet some named characters like Nicodemus, Lazarus, Mary, Martha, Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate, and Mary Magdelene.  Some are loving and kind people while others are nasty and villainous.  We will also meet some unnamed people who were crippled, blind, scared, and hungry. Each, in their way, brings greater depth to the story of Jesus’ resurrection.  Our journey’s aim is not to become historians of Jesus’ resurrection. The aim is to allow the Holy Spirit to excite and renew our faith, confidence, hope, and joy that Jesus is the Son of God who lived, died, and arose from the grave conquering death and giving life to all who would believe in Him.  To accept Jesus' resurrection without reservation or hesitation is to change your life forever.

          We begin our journey to Jesus’ resurrection in a quiet setting of total darkness.  It is dark, except where Jesus sat in the light with his disciples.  The Gospel of John described the scene this way, “1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night” (John 3:1-2a).  Our journey to Jesus’ resurrection has begun and it begins with a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, a member of the ruling council of Jerusalem, and it starts at night.

          Some significant events had already occurred by the time of this nighttime encounter.  Jesus, who had lived in obscurity doing manual labor, had been baptized in the River Jordan by his kinsman, John.  As Jesus arose from the water, John “saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him [Jesus]. 33 And [John said] I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this [man Jesus] is God’s Chosen One” (John 1:32b-34).  Jesus, upon his baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, began his journey to the resurrection moving from the anonymity of a small town in Galilee to notoriety in the heart of Judaism of Jerusalem.  Jesus’ baptism gives us a visible image of transformation.  Baptism is that chief moment when believers say publicly, I am a new creation because of the work of God.  My old life, whether lived quietly or loudly, is over.  My new life, focused upon God as my greatest good, has begun.

          Jesus left behind his old life and went into the center of Jerusalem.  It was Passover, and “14 In the temple courts he [Jesus] found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he [Jesus] made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he [Jesus] said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’ 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’” (John 2:14-17).  Jesus demonstrated that his life would be focused on doing the work of God until his life itself had been consumed.

Jesus had caught the attention of the people and the ruling council, comprised of Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Chief Priests.  Council members confronted Jesus and said, “‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’  19 Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’  20 They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ 21 But the temple he [Jesus] had spoken of was his body. 22 After he [Jesus] was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he [Jesus] had said. Then they [Jesus’ disciples] believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:18b-22). From the beginning of Jesus’ transformation from unknown to known, Jesus began speaking of his death and resurrection. There was nothing secretive about Jesus’ behavior.  Jesus cleansed the Temple, responded to the challenge from the Council, and healed the sick within the Temple openly and in broad daylight.

“1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:1-2).  What do we learn here?  First, a Pharisee emerged from the darkness into the light of Jesus’ presence.  The Pharisees were one of the two major religious groups that guided the Jewish people in the ways of God.  Pharisees were recognizable by their dress and careful follow of religious practices, some Biblical and some they created.  Second, John reminds us that this Pharisee is a man who had a name, Nicodemus.  To point out that Nicodemus is a man seems like an unnecessary detail.  But that Nicodemus is a man reminds us of his humanity. It reminds us that Nicodemus, as well as you and me, were born and that before God we stand not by the strength of any title of life but as man or woman made in God’s image.  Third, Nicodemus is part of the power structure of the Temple that opposed Jesus' cleansing of the Temple and immediately challenged Jesus’ authority.  The Council’s challenge to Jesus’ authority was immediate and relentless, and their resistance to Jesus grew into a murderous rage that ended in Jesus’ death on the cross. Finally, Nicodemus said he came to Jesus because “we know you are a teacher who has come from God.”  We will soon discover that Nicodemus’ statement is not true.  The Council did not know Jesus and did not believe Jesus was from God.  In Nicodemus’ opening statement, we do not learn why he came out of the dark and into the light to meet with Jesus.

But Jesus’ decided to accept Nicodemus’ visit and began to teach the man named Nicodemus. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one [man or woman] can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).  Jesus had introduced a central teaching of Christianity.  To move from one realm, the world, into which we were all born, and enter the realm of God, each man and woman must be born a second time. There is no natural birthright that entitles anyone, man, woman, Pharisee, or Council member the right to the realm of God.  No set of prayers or rituals can create a right to the realm of God.  To see and enter the realm of God requires a second birth.

Nicodemus was stunned, confused, and misunderstood Jesus’ words.  4 “‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’” (John 3:4).  Nicodemus had perhaps witnessed Jesus heal someone or heard reports of healing but had not listened to Jesus teach about God.  Nicodemus heard Jesus’ words now as nonsensical thoughts about the physical realm and not words about the realm of God.  Born again, how can that be?  We benefit from Nicodemus’ misunderstanding because Jesus goes deeper into God’s truth.

“5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:5-6).  Jesus addressed Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second birth.  Jesus was not speaking of a second physical birth. Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is closed unless a person is born a second time supernaturally. A person must be born of water and then of the Spirit or said differently a person must be born of the flesh and then the Spirit.  There is no alternative for moving from the realm of the world to the realm of God. The second birth must be given to each man or woman as a gift from God.

Jesus continued Nicodemus, “7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:7-8).  The wind follows the path of its choice.  That choice cannot be altered by human intervention.  Likewise, a person born of the Spirit follows the path of the Spirit’s choice.  Human voices no longer control that person's movements as they move from the realm of this world to the realm of God.  A person born of the Spirit is no longer the same as when they were only born of the flesh.

9 “‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.”  How can it be that one must be born supernaturally to enter the realm of God?  For Nicodemus, his entire life was about rituals and sacrifices to please God. His whole life was about being a child of Abraham and worshiping in the Temple of Jerusalem.  Nicodemus’ status among the people was based on being seen as holy in the way he dressed and what he ate.  Jesus no said none of that mattered.  To be in the realm of God, Nicodemus must be born again and start life afresh being led by the Spirit.  “How can this be?”

Jesus said, “10 ‘You are Israel’s teacher, and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people [Pharisees, Council members] do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:10-15). Nicodemus may not have understood much of what Jesus said.  But Nicodemus would have understood the reference to Moses lifting up the snake in the wilderness.  This was done to save the sinful people of Israel from death caused by snake bites. The lifting up of the snake upon a pole was God’s way of moving people from physical death to physical life. Jesus said it will be in a similar way that when the Son of Man (Jesus) is lifted up, when He is crucified and then glorified, then those who believe in Him shall have eternal life.  Jesus was equating the belief in Him to a spiritual second birth.

Again, Jesus was speaking of the necessity and the power of his death and resurrection for people to move from the realm of the world and into the realm of God.  The second birth will be one of faith, not of work. The second birth will be marked by accepting Jesus as God’s anointed One.  This thought would be emphasized again a few verses later with the most favorite verse of all Christianity, “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Unless a person is born again, they will not see the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5) and that birth comes in the form of belief in atoning sacrifice of Jesus as Savior (John 3:16).

Nicodemus said nothing and faded back into the darkness.  What was Nicodemus’ reason for coming into the light of Jesus’ presence? We do not know.  What was Nicodemus’ report to his fellow Pharisees and other Council members?  We do not know.  We do know that after Jesus was lifted up, crucified, and glorified, Nicodemus was born a second time.  Nicodemus would help bury Jesus’ lifeless body.  Nicodemus became a believer and receiver of the salvation offered by Jesus and Nicodemus moved from the realm of this world to the realm of God. Nicodemus did so not by ritual or animal sacrifice but by the movement of the Holy Spirit within him.

Where does Nicodemus’ story leave us on our journey to the resurrection?  We need to see that Jesus was forthright about what lay ahead.  He was moving from His baptism to his death and resurrection for the sake of His disciples as well as you and me.  We need to see that Jesus’ desire was for everyone to believe in Him and be born again, only this time by His Spirit.  The outward symbol of belief in Him of that second birth would be baptism. Jesus’ message was loving and blunt. You will not see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

We must ask ourselves, “Have I been born again?”  If our answer is “No” or “I am not sure,” then we are like Nicodemus, we stand in the dark and watch Jesus, who is in the light.  “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his [God’s] Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).  Do not let the day go by without coming out of the darkness and joining Jesus for His journey to the resurrection and your eternal salvation.  Amen and Amen.