When Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” He revealed the path to personal salvation and God’s way of delivering spiritual captives from the power of sin. Christ’s conversation with the Jewish ruler revealed the foundation of true religious liberty.

The name Nicodemus literally means “victorious among the people.” The Bible describes him as “a ruler of the Jews” (John 1:1), and undoubtedly he represented the top one percent of Jewish society at that time. Well educated, wealthy, influential, and respected among his peers, Nicodemus appeared to have it all. Imagine his surprise, then, when Jesus told him, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 1:3). Feigning ignorance to the spiritual application of Christ’s words, Nicodemus attempted to swing the conversation away from any personal meaning. “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus retorted. “Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (John 3:4). Jesus replied, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

Jesus always chose His words carefully, and this conversation was no exception. His response to Nicodemus revealed three successive steps in the new birth process. First, a man must be born again to see the kingdom of God. Second, a man must be born of water to enter the kingdom of God. Third, a man must be born of the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. These three steps of the new birth correspond to the three curtains found in the wilderness sanctuary. They lead the way from sin and darkness to salvation and light.

God explicitly commanded the Israelites to orient the sanctuary toward the west, so that a person entering through the first curtain gate into the courtyard would have their back toward the east. When a priest passed through the second curtain into the tabernacle, or the high priest entered the Most Holy Place behind the third curtain, they would likewise be facing westward. The reason for this command was simple. Sun worship is one of the oldest forms of idolatry, and God wanted the sanctuary and its services to be distinctly opposite from pagan rites and customs associated with sun worship.

There is also a deeper spiritual significance connected with the westward-facing orientation of the sanctuary. After Adam and Eve rebelled against God in Eden, the Bible says that God “drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). The gate leading out of Eden was positioned on the east side of the garden, and as Adam and Eve left God’s presence, they traveled toward the east. When their son Cain fled from his family after killing his brother Abel, he too went eastward. “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden” (Genesis 4:16). Centuries later, when some of Noah’s rebellious descendants searched for a place to build their city and tower, they also traveled toward the east. “And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.” (Genesis 11:2, ASV). In the Bible, therefore, facing or traveling eastward indicates rebellion against God. In contrast, facing or traveling westward indicates a return to divine favor and obedience to divine law. 

This becomes very significant in relation to the sanctuary and the new birth process. To pass through the sanctuary’s three curtains and finally stand in God’s presence in the Most Holy Place, one must move toward the west. In the first step of the process, one must pass through the curtain gate leading into the courtyard. This corresponds to Christ’s first statement to Nicodemus that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Standing outside the courtyard curtain, it was impossible to see what was taking place inside the courtyard or inside the tent of the tabernacle. 

However, as soon as one passed through that first curtain, the activities in the courtyard became visible. And the first thing that would become visible after entering the courtyard was the altar of burnt offering, which represented Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. The spiritual meaning is simple. The first step in the new birth process is to acknowledge and accept Christ’s death as the payment for sin and the promise of eternal life. Until a person makes this decision for themselves, they remain in spiritual darkness and cannot even see the path toward freedom from sin.

This explains why Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night. He had not yet accepted this Man as the Messiah or as his personal Savior. Instead, he addressed Jesus merely as “Rabbi” and “a teacher come from God” (John 3:2). The polite and even flattering forms of address betrayed a spiritual blindness that threatened to keep Nicodemus in the dark shackles of sin. Christ’s first statement to the Jewish ruler indicated that Nicodemus, in his natural self-centered and self-confident condition, could not even see the kingdom of God.

The services conducted in the courtyard represented Christ’s earthly ministry—those things that He did here on earth and that were visible to human sight. The sacrifices consumed on the altar of burnt offering pointed to Christ’s death, while the washbasin standing behind the altar of burnt offering was a symbol of Christ’s baptism in the waters of the Jordan River and, more broadly, of the believer’s baptism that should accompany a genuine acceptance of Christ into the life. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3, 4). This second step of the new birth process moves a person from the courtyard experience of accepting Jesus Christ as a personal Savior, to the Holy Place experience of growing daily in the Christian experience. The three items of furniture in the Holy Place represent three aspects of character growth―daily Bible study, symbolized by the table of shewbread; daily prayer, symbolized by the altar of incense; and personal witnessing, symbolized by the candlestick.

When Jesus told Nicodemus that a man must be born of water to enter the kingdom of God, He was saying that salvation is more than merely claiming Christ as one’s Savior. We must also become more like Jesus every day. This growth process begins at baptism and continues through Bible study, prayer, and witnessing. As we do these things, the principles and values and beauties of God’s kingdom become more and more real to us, and we gain a clearer view of the kingdom of God. Ultimately, through this process of sanctification, God enables us to be good citizens of His kingdom, and we are prepared to enter the kingdom of God.

This brings us to the third and final step of the new birth process. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). A person is free from the power of sin only when they have surrendered completely to the control of the Holy Spirit. This transformation is revealed in continual loving obedience to God’s commandments in every situation, no matter what the consequences may be. The book of Romans describes this experience this way: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. … That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, 4).

The ark of the covenant that sat in the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary represents the union of human and divine nature through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Its wooden frame, representing humanity, was covered on the inside and the outside with a layer of gold, representing divinity. It held the tables of the Ten Commandments, the written expression of God’s perfect character. It is here, behind the third curtain, that the full experience of the new birth is realized. It is here, through the power of the Spirit, that we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Jesus told Nicodemus, “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). Nicodemus did eventually accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, and took his stand with the disciples after Christ’s death. When he did, he became truly victorious among the people. This same victory, and this same freedom in Christ, is promised to us today. The power of redemption and transformation is God’s. The choice is ours.