As told in the third chapter of John's Gospel, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a man representing the temporal power of his day, came at night to Christ Jesus, the meek and mighty Teacher—mighty because more than all those who had preceded him he demonstrated the all-might of Spirit, God.
Was it hesitancy to acknowledge a power above that of his own position that led Nicodemus to come to the great Master by night? Was it fear of what friends or co-religionists might think if he came openly to the one who taught the true religion of love in place of dogma, form, and bigotry, that made him come alone and in the cloak of darkness? Or were there in Nicodemus' thinking mistiness and doubt, a dim realization of the impotence and insubstantiality of material place and power? His salutation indicated an acknowledgment of the spiritual power manifested by the great Teacher, for he said, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."
Whatever his motives, surely his thought was startled by Jesus' remarkable statements, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;" and, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." Small wonder at Nicodemus' amazement and his question to Jesus: "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" It is, of course, impossible that the mortal could the second time be materially born, or that the real spiritual man could experience material birth, growth, decay, and death.
