LeGrand L. Baker

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

That story is told in the Old Testament, but its meaning is not given there. Jesus tells Nicodemus that it is symbolic of himself and of the saving powers of his Atonement. He is not just talking about mercy in this life, but also about eternal life through the resurrection.

Here is the story as it is told in the Old Testament.

5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. [the light bread was the manna which the Lord had provided for them to eat]
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived (Numbers 21:1-10).

In the Book of Mormon, when Nephi was confronted by apostate judges he cited the testimonies of many prophets, saying that the Messiah to come was the Son of God. Among those prophets was Moses, about whom he said,

13 But, behold, ye not only deny my words, but ye also deny all the words which have been spoken by our fathers, and also the words which were spoken by this man, Moses, who had such great power given unto him, yea, the words which he hath spoken concerning the coming of the Messiah.
14 Yea, did he not bear record that the Son of God should come? And as he lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come.
15 And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.
16 And now behold, Moses did not only testify of these things, but also all the holy prophets, from his days even to the days of Abraham (Helaman 8:12 – 16).

The Hebrew word, Messiah, is the same as the Greek word, Christ. They each mean “the Anointed One.” In ancient Israel, kings and priests were anointed to become such.

About the time Lehi left Jerusalem, the Jews lost their king, and temple, and Melchizedek priesthood. The were never to become an independent nation again until the last century. The oppressed Jews then chose to understand that the Messiah to come would be a king who was a remarkable military leader. But, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, his being the Messiah meant something quite different from that: “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

There was a time when the Jews had understood that, but that time had long since passed. The ancient Feast of Tabernacles temple drama told of the crucifixion of their Messiah, and of his ultimate triumph in bringing the gospel to the people who had died without it. The account was still in their Psalms, but in Jesus’s time there were probably few who knew what it meant. It is likely that the scholar Nicodemus was among those who did understand, and it is also llikely that he and Jesus talked about this psalm during their conversation.

As part of ancient temple drama, the Jews had recited the 22nd Psalm which contains a vivid description of the Savior’s pain while he was on the cross.

After his crucifixion, each of the authors of the gospels cited Psalm 22 as prophetic evidence that Jesus was the Messiah (Matthew 27:35,46; Mark 15:24, 34; Luke 23:34; John 19:24).Luke 23:34; John 19:24).

The first two thirds of Psalm 22 are about Jesus on the cross. Its first lines were quoted by the Savior as he experienced the horror the psalm had prophesied:

1  My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. [gossips] {1}
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

In the last third of the Psalm, we see the triumphant Messiah fulfilling his covenants in the midst of the congregation among the dead where “all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee,” as described in Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the redemption of the dead (D&C 138).

22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s: and he is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this (Psalms 22:1 – 31).

John began this story by telling us that Jesus was very careful whom he talked to. It is a testimony of the character of Nicodemus that Jesus told him that he had the authority to perform the ancient temple rites, that he was a true prophet, that he was Jehovah, and now that he is the Messiah. That was not all, before this conversation is over, Jesus will tell Nicodemus everything.
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FOOTNOTE

{1} In the phrase “strong bulls of Bashan” the word “bulls” is in italics and was added by the translators, leaving room for us to wonder if “bulls” was the intended meaning. Jacobs’s reports that “cow of Bashan” was a derogatory term describing a gossip. Paul F. Jacobs, “‘Cows of Bashan’—A Note on the Interpretation of Amos 4:1,” Journal of Biblical Literature 104 (1985): 109-10.

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In John’s encoded account of Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus, we have a very brief but accurate description of a sode experience.{1} Jesus said,

13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven (John 3:13).

The Hebrew word for “council” is sode. It means the secret decisions of the council, so sode is frequently translated as “secret” in the Old Testament. For example, Amos says,

7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret [sode] to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).

A “sode experience” is when the prophet returns to the Council in Heaven where he relearns and re-accepts the assignments he originally received there before the earth was created. It is likely that Paul was remembering his own sode experience when he wrote,

2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

A complete description of a sode experience contains the following elements: The prophet is in a meeting and mentions that other members of the Council are also present. Heavenly Father sits upon his throne and presides. Jehovah conducts and makes the assignments. An ordinance is performed which gives the prophet the authority to speak the words of God. After that, the prophet returns to his own time and place in mortality to fulfill the assignment. A short, but very complete example is 1 Nephi 1:8-14 where Nephi tells about Lehi’s sode experience.

8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne [presiding], surrounded with numberless concourses of angels [other members of the Council] in the attitude of singing and praising their God [they are in a meeting].
9 And it came to pass that he saw One [Jehovah] descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day.
10 And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.
11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first [Jehovah] came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read [Then we read Lehi’s response to the assignment] (1 Nephi 1:8-11).

The book Lehi reads contained his premortal assignment and his reading it represented an ordinance giving him the authority to teach the words of the book. (More about that below.)

In the days of Solomon’s Temple, the measure of a true prophet was that he had had a sode experience, and therefore, he could, with authority, speak the words of God.

Reports of sode experiences by the Israelite prophets are quite common in the Old Testament up until the time of the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. When that happened, the Jews not only lost their Temple, but also their king, and they never again performed the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama. Consequently, at the time Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, no Jew had claimed to have had a sode experience in the past 600 years.

However, Jesus words to Nicodemus declared that he had a sode experience, had reaffirmed his premortal covenants in the Council and was, by definition, a true prophet. John tells us all that in one short sentence. Jesus said,

13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven [returned to the Council to reaffirm his covenants], but he that came down from heaven [to teach the words of God], even the Son of man which is in heaven (John 3:13).

Jesus tells Nicodemus that not only did he attend the Council, but that he conducted its affairs is Jehovah, “the Son of man which is in heaven.”

In his writings, John keeps sacred things sacred. He tells the initiated just enough that they can know what this conversation was about—and leaves it to them to fill in the blanks. But to the reader who does not have “ears to hear,” John says almost nothing.

That simple sentence, as John reports it, lets us know that Jesus told Nicodemus a great deal about his own premortal Self. Indeed, he may have told him almost everything.

At the premortal Council in Heaven, the prophets (and probably also each of us) received and accepted assignments to be fulfilled in a specific time and place in mortality. For the ancient Israelites, their temple drama was a generic review of those assignments. During the drama they learned where they came from, how they came to be here, what they were to do while they were here, and how to go home again. For us, as we study that ancient drama, our patriarchal blessings, and what we are taught by the Holy Ghost about what is in the scriptures and what our prophets say, augments the generic drama to make it very personal.

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The following are excerpts from the prophets’ descriptions of their sode experiences. I have chosen to quote the part about their receiving authority to speak God’s words. The ordinances are described differently, but as far as I can tell, they represent the same thing. Lehi read the words of a book. John ate a book. Isaiah had a “hot coal” placed on his lips to make his mouth clean. Ezekiel ate a scroll. The Lord touched Jeremiah’s mouth with his hand and said, “Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”

About himself, John records,

7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings (Revelation 10:7 – 11).

Isaiah chapter 6 is widely recognized as the most complete account of a sode experience in the Old Testament. However, there are places that are difficult to understand. All of those difficulties are cleared up in the brass plates version that is found in 2 Nephi 16.

1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I: Wo is unto me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar;
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said: Lo, this has touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said: Here am I; send me.
9 And he said: Go and tell this people—Hear ye indeed, but they understood not; and see ye indeed, but they perceived not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes—lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed.
11 Then said I: Lord, how long? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate;
12 And the Lord have removed men far away, for there shall be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet there shall be a tenth, and they shall return, and shall be eaten, as a teil––tree, and as an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves; so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof (2 Nephi 16:1-13. See Isaiah 6:1-13).

In the first several chapters of Ezekiel he recalls his sode experience. This is the part where he received the authority to speak God’s words.

1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them (Ezekiel 3:1 – 4).

Jeremiah also takes several chapters to describe his sode experience. It begins with the Lord telling him,

5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).

Later, God gives him the authority to speak his words.

7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant (Jeremiah 1:7 – 10).

It was also Jeremiah to whom the Lord explained that false prophets were those who had not had a sode experience and therefore did not have the authority to speak in God’s behalf.

18 For who hath stood in the counsel [sode] of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my counsel [sode], and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings (Jeremiah 23:18-22)

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FOOTNOTE

{1} In Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, Stephen and I discuss that prophet call in the chapter called “Sode Experience—Returning to the Council in Heaven.” In the first edition it is on pages 195-209. In the paperback edition (the one that is in PDF on this website under “published books) it is on pages 139-48.

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Hugh Nibley once said that a translation is really a commentary. The next verse in the Savior’s conversation with Nicodemus is a perfect example of that. As it is translated, it makes no more sense than Nicodemus’s question about how a man can be born again. The translators of the King James Bible did the best they could (and what they did is truly beautiful), but they did not know the ancient Israelite temple code and clearly had no idea what was going on here. They believed Nicodemus was simply dumbfounded by the Savior’s answer, so they have Jesus saying something to him that reflects their attitude.

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (John 3:8).

I suspect almost every missionary of the LDS Church has explained to their new investigators the same thing that Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus. “The feeling you are experiencing is the Holy Ghost. If you will learn to listen to it, it will teach you wonderful things.” That is what the Savior is saying to Nicodemus.

8 The wind [Strong # 4151] bloweth [Strong # 4154, to breathe, to blow] where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit [Strong # 4151] (John 3:8).

The word translated as “wind,” and the word translated as “Spirit” is the same Greek word (Strong # 4151). It means,

A current of air, i.e. breath or a breeze;
the spirit, i.e. the vital principal by which the body is animated;
the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides
the soul {1}

That same Greek word is translated as “Holy Ghost” in 89 places in the New Testament. There is no good reason why “the Holy Ghost” would not be appropriate in our verse. In which case it might read, “The Holy Ghost bloweth where it listeth.”

The Greek word translated as “blow” (Strong # 4154) might also have been translated as “breath.” In ancient texts we find the belief that giving breath is sycomorus with giving life. Hugh Nibley frequently stressed that throughout his book on the Egyptian endowment. In its first chapter he wrote,

For the Egyptians, the giving of breath is endowment with life in the widest sense. {2}

That idea is also found in the Bible where Elihu reminded Job,

4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life (Job 33:4).

The creation stories in the scriptures echo that same principle.

7 And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Moses 3:7 & Genesis 2:7)

7 And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man’s spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Abraham 5:7).

Perhaps a correct way of understanding what the Savior said to Nicodemus is this: “The Holy Ghost gives the breath of new life to whomever he will.” That would be a nice parallel with what follows, “so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus was a great scholar, but the Savior’s explanation was likely as foreign to him as that same explanation from our missionaries is foreign to their new investigators. Like them, it seems that Nicodemus was experiencing something he had never felt before, or at least that he had never identified, and Jesus is simply explaining what that feeling is. Nicodemus response is entirely in line with his amazement.

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:9-10)

Jesus is not making fun of Nicodemus (as many interpretations suggest), but is acknowledging that he is a renowned teacher. The word “master” here is the same Greek word as “teacher” in verse 2. {3}

If Jesus were chiding, then his words mock Nicodemus’s scholarship. But that does not fit the rest of the situation. If Jesus were smiling (as I believe he was), then his words would have meant: “Lets look into the depth of your knowledge so I can show you the meaning of what you already know.”

That is also consistent with the rest of the conversation, for where he then takes Nicodemus’s mind insists that both were happy.

When John introduced this story to us he wrote,

24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man (John 2:24 – 25)

Now, John is going to show us how Jesus unreservedly “committed” himself to Nicodemus. He opens his own soul to him. During this conversation we find the most comprehensive single statement (that I am aware of) in all the scriptures about who and what Jesus really is.

However, before Jesus does that, knowing that Nicodemus’s first impulse will be to help others also understand, Jesus explains that it will not do any good to try to teach those who do not want to know. He tells the Jewish scholar that he must not share what he is about to learn. The principle is the same as was taught by Alma.

9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell (Alma 12:9-11).

Jesus says essentially the same thing to Nicodemus.

11Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:11-12)

In these two sentences, the words “you” and “ye” are plural. They are roughly equivalent to the Southern “y’all.” {4} Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. When Jesus says “y’all believe not,” he is not talking about Nicodemus personally, but is warning him that most of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders do not then, and will not ever, believe what he tells them.

11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye [y’all] receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you [y’all] earthly things, and ye [y’all] believe not, how shall ye [y’all] believe, if I tell you [y’all] of heavenly things? (John 3:11-12)

In the Inspired Version of the Bible, Joseph Smith helps us understand that. To the beginning of the next verse he adds the words, “I tell you,” which I take to mean, “I am telling only you, and therefore you are not to tell those Pharisees because they will not believe.”

What he then tells him must have been both amazing and wonderful to Nicodemus. I am convinced that the next lines would never have been spoken by Jesus to anyone whom he did not completely trust.

(Continued)
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FOOTNOTES

{1} This definition uses words from two different editions of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance off the Bible.

{2} Hugh Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1975), 8.

{3} “The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher [ # 1320 – teacher] come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him (John 3:1-2).” “Jesus answered and said unto h im, Art thou a master [ # 1320 teacher] of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:9-10).”

{4} Strong’s # 5213 “ irregular dative case of # 5210; to (with or by) you:—ye, you, your(-selves).”
Strong’s # 5210 – “irregular plural of # 4771; you (as subjective of verb):—ye (yourselves), you.”

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(This will make much more sense if you first read part one.)

John’s report of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus is very succinct and deeply encoded. The code is the ancient Israelite temple drama, so anyone who knows the drama also knows the code. It is to be understood only by those who “have ears to hear.”

The conversation is already in full swing before we become privy to what is being said. Jesus is answering a question, but the question is not given in the text.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

When this answer is placed within the context of the bits of the conversation that follow, Jesus’s response is arguably a reference to the adoption/kinship rites that were performed near the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles temple drama during the time of Solomon’s Temple.

In this drama the king was the chief actor, and his words and actions represented those of every man in the congregation. The multiple parts of the coronation rites are identified in Isaiah 61:3.

The rites begin with a ceremonial washing, where the king was made clean in preparation for his coronation. Then he went into the temple where he was clothed in royal priesthood robes, anointed, crowned, and given a new king-name. {1}

When one made a new covenant there was always a new name associated with it. The new name was a new identity. These rites were a rebirth in that when the king was anointed he became a legitimate son and heir of Jehovah.

At the time the anointing was performed the king announced his new relationship with God.

7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee (Psalms 2:7).

The anointing was a dual ordinance. “Thou art my son” is the pronouncement of the new royal king-name. “This day have I begotten thee” is a declaration of the formal adoption of the king by Jehovah. {2}

Jehovah is the eternal King of Israel, and now because of this adoption, the earthly king is his legitimate son. He can take his place on the Lord’s throne in the Temple and not be a usurper. {3}

We see something like that at Jesus’s baptism, and coronation on the Mount of Transfiguration. His Father’s words, “This is my beloved Son,” confirmed Jesus’s royal birth and his Kingship (2 Peter 1:16-18).

When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, those coronation rites had not been performed in a Jewish temple for more than 600 years—not since Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, and the last Jewish king sat upon its throne. If Jesus had just told Nicodemus that he had the authority to perform those rites again, then Nicodemus’s next question reflects his amazement and his challenge. He asks for clarification, and does it in a silly, somewhat condescending way that is still typical of some scholars. His intent is to see if Jesus really knows what he is talking about.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4)

Jesus’s response shows that he respected both the questioner and the question. His answer (as John gives it to us) addresses Nicodemus’ concerns precisely, and in terms Nicodemus, the scholar/teacher of Israel, would have understood.

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:5-6).

There are two ways of our understanding these verses. One, which we use all the time in missionary work, is about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The other way is that they are references to the washing and anointing that were part of the ancient coronation rites. In that case, “to be born of the Spirit” was a reference to the belief that at the time of one’s anointing one received an abundant gift of the Spirit of the Lord. There is an important example of this in the Old Testament.

When David was only a boy, “Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13). Aubrey Johnson referred to that story, and called the experience an “endowment of the Spirit” whereby the king received extraordinary religious authority, as well as wisdom in government and military matters. Sigmund Mowinckel understood that the “Ideas about the fruits of this endowment with the spirit are, naturally, strongly influenced by older biblical conceptions of the gifts of the spirit in the Messiah.” {4}

That same principle is taught in the New Testament where Peter said,

37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judæ a, and began from Galilee, after the ism which John preached;
38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him (Acts 10:37-38).

We do not have complete accounts of the anointing of all of the kings of Israel, but we do of David’s. He was first anointed to become king and later anointed king. Perhaps that is reflected in the difference in Jesus’s statements, “he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and “he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

Even though those ceremonies were no longer performed after Solomon’s Temple was destroyed, there is sufficient evidence in the New Testament to know that the memory of those rites was not entirely lost by the Jews. After the Savior established his church, the Saints in New Testament times understood that a similar adoption ceremony was necessary to make one a son and heir of God. Thus, Paul wrote,

5 [The Father] Having predestinated [foreordained] us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself [the Father], according to the good pleasure of his [the Father’s] will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his [the Father’s] grace, wherein he [the Father] hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:5-6)

If this sonship and adoption is what Christ meant when he told Nicodemus that he must be born again, and if Nicodemus understood that, it is little wonder that this learned Jew was amazed. The Savior said,

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again [from above] (John 3:7).

In the next verses we learn that part of Nicodemus’s amazement had to do with what he was feeling as well as what he was thinking. The Savior also explained that to him.

(To be continued)
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FOOTNOTES

{1} “Act 2, Scene 9: The Coronation Ceremony in Isaiah 61,” Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 461-99, second (paperback) edition 366-73.

{2} For a more complete discussion of the anointing and Psalm 2 see “Psalm 2, The Ancient Israelite Royal King-name,” Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 499-517, second (paperback) edition 360-73.

{3} Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 517-605, second (paperback) edition 373-431.

{4} Quoted from Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, first edition 353-54, second (paperback) edition 254-55.

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I read the conversation between the Savior and Nicodemus as a very intimate, deeply encoded, intensely personal account of how Jesus and Nicodemus became close friends. {1}

John treats this conversation as sacred. For that reason he gives us just barely enough information that we can follow what was being said, but not enough that people who do not know the plan of salvation will be able to plumb its depths. He does that frequently in his writing, usually with the marker, “he who has ears let him hear.” The code he uses is the language of the ancient temple drama. {2}

Because Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord is about the Israelite temple drama, in some ways the book can be read as a key to the ancient temple code. So I am using the ideas in the book to decode the story of Nicodemus. In other words, I am using my opinions to support my opinions, and I leave it to you to decide if that has value.

Of the gospels, only John tells us about Nicodemus. After the account of his first meeting Jesus, John mentions him twice more. The first of those shows that Nicodemus was a man of considerable influence. John tells us that he was “a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.” That is, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish senate. This story is about a meeting of the Sanhedrin in which Nicodemus used his knowledge of the law to deflate an attack on Jesus and his followers. He reminded the Jewish leaders that their law said they could not condemn Jesus on hearsay evidence, and they had not heard for themselves what he taught.

32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him
…………
45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
53 And every man went unto his own house (John 7:32-53).

The second shows that Nicodemus was a man of great wealth, and perhaps even greater courage. Pilate was a scoundrel of the first order. He fleeced the people to fill his own pockets. The Jews hated him and eventually got him deposed. Now consider the situation. One does not just go visit the Roman procurator and ask for a favor. To get to Pilate they would have to bribe the under secretary, bribe the secretary, and be prepared to give a huge bribe to Pilate.

The story does not say Nicodemus was there to talk to Pilate, but it does say that at the burial he “brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.” That was a lot, and very expensive.

38 And after this Joseph of Arimathæ a, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand (John 19:38-42).

Tensions were very high. The Jews knew of the prophecy that Jesus would rise from the dead and wanted to control what happened to his body. It is likely that Joseph of Arimathæ a and Nicodemus both put their lives on the line to approach Pilate, remove Jesus’s body from the cross, and put it in the tomb. Matthew describes that tension.

62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch (Matthew 27:62-66).

Nicodemus’s actions were not those of a “secret” follower, but those of a man who knew who he was, and what he believed, and who was not ashamed to support his friend.
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The following story is one of my favorites in the New Testament because it lets us watch as Jesus and Nicodemus become friends.

John lays the background of the story by contrasting the way Jesus responded to people who came to see him only out of curiosity, as opposed to the way Jesus responded to Nicodemus. About the curiosity seekers John says,

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man (John 2:23-25).

John says that Jesus’s attitude was that he was willing to let the people see what they wished to see. If being entertained by miracles was all they were interested in, then that was all they would see. He would not let them know who he was, or by what authority he did those miracles.

John says Jesus knew in advance how they would respond to him because he knew who they were. He could read their souls, so he “needed not that any should testify of man”

That is the key to this whole story. The footnote in our Bible says that “commit” might have been translated “entrust.” The Greek word for entrust is a form of pistis, so the idea of covenant is at least implicitly part of what John is trying to tell us. President David O. McKay explained why it was impossible for those people to hide from the Savior who they really were.

Every man and every person who lives in this world wields an influence, whether for good or for evil. It is not what he says alone; it is not alone what he does. It is what he is. Every man, every person radiates what he or she really is. Every person is a recipient of radiation. The Savior was conscious of that. Whenever He came into the presence of an individual, He sensed that radiation — whether it was the woman of Samaria with her past life: whether it was the woman who was to be stoned, or the men who were to stone her; whether it was the statesman, Nicodemus, or one of the lepers. He was conscious of the radiation from the individual. And to a degree so are you. and so am I. It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us (President David O. McKay, “Radiation of the Individual,” The Instructor, October, 1964, 373).

With that assurance that the Savior never revealed himself except to those whom he knew he could trust, John tells the story of Nicodemus.

He came “by night.” Most scholars assume that he was afraid of being seen, but he does not show that fear in anything else we know about him. I think it much more likely that it was because he knew he would be able to speak to Jesus privately, after the curiosity seekers had all gone home and gone to bed.

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, 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 (John 3:1-2).

Nicodemus appears to have introduced himself to Jesus by saying the very thing that would have disqualified him from receiving Jesus testimony. “…for no man can do these miracles that thou doest…” But Jesus knew his heart, so the words were not the things by which he was judged.

After that introduction, John writes, “Jesus answered and said unto him.” Something is missing there. John does not give us the question that evoked that answer, nor, indeed, does he tell us much of what was said thereafter. That leaves us to ask, why did John give us only snippets of the conversation? I’m convinced John carefully gives us just enough of the conversation that we can know what ideas were discussed—but only just enough that we cannot know if we do not already know. To do that, John wrote in the code of the ancient Israelite temple drama.

So the first thing we hear Jesus saying is answering a question that is unspoken in our text.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).

Often, in the scriptures, we have questions without answers, but here we have an answer without a question. The way we almost always read that scripture is that one must be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost to see the kingdom of God. Since those principles are absolutely true (and as Nephi suggests, we should “liken all scriptures unto us” – 1 Nephi 19:23), using the scripture that way is perfectly valid and perfectly correct.

Several years ago a missionary from France was serving in the Provo Utah Mission. (His first name is Matthew, but since I have not asked him if I can tell this story, I am not going to tell you his last name.) He is a very dear friend. He let one of his investigators read something I had written and the investigator called and invited me to come to his baptism. I sat in the audience beside Matthew during the service. Matthew gave an excellent talk about the importance of baptism and of listening to the prompting of the Holy Ghost, and he used John 3:3 as his text. He returned to his seat, smiled at me and asked, “How did I do?” “Wonderful!” I replied. We each knew that there is another way to understand what the Savior said to Nicodemus. And we each knew that the way Matthew had used that scripture was exactly the way he should have used it.

The distinguished scholar, Frederick H. Borsch saw that there was something left out, and explained, at least part, what Jesus really said:

Of much more interest to us is the water imagery of the Gospel along with some of its associations. Let us look first at Jesus’ meeting with Nicodemus in John 3:1ff. and the discussion there about entering the Kingdom of God. Here one of the key words is [words written in Greek]. This adverb has two primary meanings, ‘from above’ and ‘anew’, but the former has predominance. This is true in the New Testament as well as in other literature, and, more importantly, in John, where, outside this passage, ‘from above’ is the meaning. The whole force of the culmination of this passage (3:13) along with the use of the word in 3:31 strongly suggest that ‘being born from above: is the primary sense intended in 3:3, 7. Yet it is probably just as obvious that Nicodemus, understands it as ‘anew’ when he asks Jesus, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ Almost surely, then, we are dealing with Johannine irony. Not only does Nicodemus misunderstand [words written in Greek], but he fails to understand the mode of the birth which Jesus is describing. (Frederick Houk Borsch, The Son of Man in Myth and History (London, SCM Press, 1967, 270)

That is as far as Borsch could go. He recognizes that there is much more to the conversation than John reported, but like many scholars, he does not know the ancient temple, therefore, cannot know the temple code, and therefore, is left to assume that Nicodemus (like himself) does not understand what Jesus is talking about.

Nicodemus was a scholar. Jesus reminded him of what he already knew when he asked, “Art thou a master [teacher] of Israel, and knowest not these things?” While surprised at what Jesus was saying, he surely would have understood what Jesus said. Still, the sacred drama of Solomon’s temple with its coronation rites had not been performed for 600 years—not since the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. Nicodemus’s next question reflects his amazement that the Savior would suggest those ordinances might be performed again. So he asks for clarification, and does it in a silly way (typical of some scholars). His intent seems to be to challenge Jesus to see if he really knew what he is talking about.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4)

There are two ways to read that. The usual way is to assume that Nicodemus did not know and thought that Jesus had just said something stupid. The second way – the way I think is a necessary introduction to the rest of the story – is that Nicodemus did understand and wanted to know if Jesus was really saying what he thought he was saying. His question implies the larger questions: what, how, and why. The Savior, who understood Nicodemus’s motives, answered all those questions.

END OF PART ONE

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FOOTNOTES

{1} Most scholars read the story of Nicodemus as Jesus’s chiding an unbelieving Jew. Here is a typical example:

[Nicodemus’s name] appears in the Bible only as the name of a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin who came at night to talk with Jesus (John 3:1 ff). He was not only a “ruler of the Jews,” but a teacher as well (vs. 2). In fact, the presence of the definite article in the Greek text of John’s Gospel-” the teacher” – points to his pre-eminence as a teacher, and therefore as one who should have known the truth about God and his people. But the course of his conversation with Jesus shows that he did not understand the basic truths about the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and as such should have had interest in and knowledge about the coming of the kingdom, but Jesus’ answers to his questions are more provocative than explanatory, and make him appear as a symbol of Israel’s spiritual blindness. [The rest of the article continues to assert that John used Nicodemus as an example of the unbelieving Jews.] (Interpreter’’s Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols. plus a Supplementary Volume. Nashville: Abingdon, 1962, 3:547).

{2} Much of the New Testament is written in a temple code, and its authors tell us so over and over again. The phrase the Savior uses is “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15, 13:9-17; Mark 4:9; Mark 7:16; Luke 8:8; Luke 14:35.) The gospel of John does not use that phrase, but it quotes the Savior as saying: “they that hear shall live (John 5:25-31)”; “He that is of God heareth God’s words (John 8:47)”; and “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27).” However, in his letters to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, John uses a variant of the Savior’s phrase many times. In the surface text, those chapters are seven unrelated letters to seven churches. But in the encoded sub-text they are a colophon in which John identifies himself as one who really knows. If we read only the first half of each of John’s letters, he walks us through an encoded version of the New Testament temple drama. If we read only the second half of each, he tells us why it is important. He alerts us to what he is doing by repeating over and over again, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”

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