John 3:1-5 English Standard Version
You Must Be Born Again
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
What can we learn from the Old Man named Nicodemus? I call this man the Old Nick because I do believe he came to know salvation through Christ.
John 7:50-51 English Standard Version
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
Old Nick tried to defend Christ in front of his contemporaries, unsuccessfully. Being a Pharisee gave him a place to stand and be heard but he wasn’t armed with the truth. The whole truth of God had not yet been revealed. Old Nick was firmly entrenched in the failed doctrine of his order. They all had limited understanding and used the law to gain power and prestige.
Old Nick recognized that God the Father was on Jesus’ side but had not yet come to understand that He was the Son of God and God in the flesh. He did not recognize Jesus in the scriptures that called Him Immanuel, God with us.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
A long history of liturgy does not in and of itself reveal all truth. Knowledge alone is insufficient to bring us to a saving grace salvation. We know that knowledge puffs up, builds the ego.
Ref. 1 Corinthians 8:1
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
Not many implies that some were and like Old Nick had to let go of what they knew to become born again.