Nicodemus
I want, in this letter to tell you about a man named Nicodemus, who came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews – a Pharisee. Most of the Pharisees were very proud, and they did not believe that Jesus was the One sent from God. Nicodemus was not like the other Pharisees. He heard Jesus teach the people who had come to worship at the Passover, and he thought to himself, "Surely, this Jesus is very great." While other Pharisees were finding fault with Jesus, Nicodemus wanted to hear more of His teachings.
One night he went to the place where Jesus stayed, to talk to Him. Nicodemus said to Jesus, "Master, we know that you are a teacher from God: for no man could do the miracles you do, unless God was with him." But Jesus wanted Nicodemus to know about the Kingdom of God, and so, He said to him, "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
Nicodemus was puzzled. He asked, "How can a man be born after he has grown up? Can he become a tiny baby again?" Jesus did not mean, of course, that a man must be born again in his body, but in his heart. He said, "Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Do not be surprised when I say this to you, that you must be born again," said Jesus; "the wind blows; you hear it, and you see what it does. Yet you do not see the wind itself. You cannot tell where the wind comes from, or where it goes. That is the way it is with those who are born again by the Spirit of God."
Nicodemus thought about Jesus' words. No man could see the Spirit of God. Yet, a person whose heart was changed – who had been "born again" – would act as if the Spirit of God was in his life.
And this is how we become real Christians, boys and girls. It is when God's Holy Spirit lives in our lives, so that we learn to love God and serve Him. Later on in the Bible we read of how Nicodemus lived to glorify Christ.