Nicodemus had stood up for the Christ, telling his unbelieving colleagues that they should at least go to Him and hear what He had to say. This was fully in keeping with the Law of Moses (7:51). The other Pharisees quickly turned on Nicodemus: “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” But they were wrong. Jonah the prophet’s hometown was Gath Hepher, which was situated in the lower Galilee region (2 Ki. 14:25). Gath Hepher was about five kilometers north of the town of Nazareth. Also, the city the Lord Jesus based his Galilean ministry in was Capernaum, Kfar-Nahum, which means village of Nahum (the prophet).

Further, the prophet Isaiah predicted, “By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isa. 9:1–2). This is quoted in Matthew 4:15–16, referring to the ministry of the Lord Jesus in Galilee. Indeed the people had “seen a great light” with the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ and His ministry. He was the Light which had come into the world (Jn. 1:9).

Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus “by night,” realized this and had come to the Light. Light and darkness are a major theme in John’s Gospel (see 1:9; 3:19; 8:12; 9:4–5; 11:10; 12:46). This theme is illustrated in the story of Nicodemus. However, he was now a pariah within his own religious sect, but it didn’t matter anymore. The “wind” had mysteriously blown upon him, and he would never be the same (3:8).