Nicodemus came to Jesus in the evening. He was a religious man with a spiritual position. He was a Pharisee and a member of the ruling council, the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees were divided whether Jesus was a good man sent from God or a religious rebel.
Nicodemus must have been on the side that believed Jesus came from God. He came to Jesus at night and began his conversation saying that Jesus must have come from God because of the miracles He was doing. Jesus replies that a person must be born-again to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The conversation and questions lead to one of the most familiar passages in the Bible:
John 3:16 “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.”
Nicodemus wanted information from Jesus to try to understand Him more and received truth that would transform his life. The next time Nicodemus appears in the Bible, his colleagues, the Pharisees, had determined that Jesus was deceiving people and was really a false messiah. Nicodemus asks whether it is right to condemn a person without a hearing.
The third and final time we read about Nicodemus, he is helping take Jesus off the cross, cleaning his lifeless body and placing it in a tomb.
Read the full story of Nicodemus in John 3:1-21, 7:50-51, 19:38-42.
In what ways are you like Nicodemus and in what ways are you different?