re: “In Scripture, it is so strange, that the demons (fallen angels) recognize Jesus Christ for who he really is, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Meanwhile the Pharisees, scribes, etc. do NOT recognize Jesus.”
I’m not so sure that the Pharisees didn’t recognize Jesus - but, you’re probably correct. They clearly understood His claims as Messiah - they also clearly understood His claims as the Son of God, and by extension, His claim to equality with God (remember they tried to stone Him for this on a couple of occasions). The demons understood and recognized all this about Jesus, yet were not “saved”. The demons did not repent nor call Him “Lord” either.
It is also true that the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin condemned Jesus to death at the trial because of His claims to be God - they saw this as blasphemy. I think they just didn’t want to see. They chose not to believe.
On the other hand, Nicodemus, though he had doubts, came to Jesus with his doubts. Somewhere along the way Nicodemus believed and accepted Christ as Lord, or at least there is evidence in Scripture that he did. It does remind me of the song lyrics that says “a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”. The Scribes and Pharisees saw all the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, was Son of God, but refused to believe.
Do you find it puzzling that Jesus said to the Pharisees “Your scriptures say that “You are Gods.” in John 10 when He was referring to Psalm 82? There is much truth to this scripture.