| These notes are provided by Aaron Howard, who taught the class in my absence. Thank you, Aaron, for standing in for me. |
John 1:43-51
(43) The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. (44) Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. (45) Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (46) And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. (47) Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! (48) Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. (49) Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. (50) Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. (51) And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
The Seeking Savior
Verse 43 - The next day He purposed to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.”
Christ knew exactly why He needed to go to Galilee, to find Philip. He wasn’t on some random romp through the country side looking for people to ask to follow Him, He was on a specific task to locate His disciples and to tell them to follow Him.
This is a theme that runs from the old testament into the new.
Isaiah 65:1 - I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said ’ Here I am, here I am’ to a nation which did not call on My name.
In this verse we see that God is not only allowing us to find Him, He is seeking us in the first place. He is calling out “ Here I am, here I am “. But we also see that He is being very selective as to the group He is showing Himself to, Israel, and then later when Christ was revealed to both the Jew and the Greek. God seeks after those that He wishes and no one seeks after God (Romans 3:11). For us to seek after God we have to know He is, and once He has called to us “ Here I am, here I am” then we are able to seek after Him and His ways.
Confessing Christ
Verse 45 - Philip found Nathanael and said to him “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Philip was quick to realize who had called Him and went out to find Nathanael to inform Him of this. He doesn’t appear to hesitate or wait to see if this is really the Christ but goes straight out and tells others. He confesses Him with his mouth, this point is paramount.
Romans 10:9 - and if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him form the dead, you shall be saved.
Matthew 10:32 - “ Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess Him before My Father who is in heaven.”
We too must confess that Jesus is Lord with our mouths, not just our actions. Our actions are meaningless if no one knows who it is that we are acting on behalf of.
Show me works without confession and I’ll show you works that are meaningless.
So if we are not confessing Christ with our mouths we are guilty of denying Him.
Matthew 10:33 - “But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
Saints Known
Verses 47 and 48 - Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
God knows who the saints are, He knew them before the foundation of the Earth.
Ephesians 1:3,4 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love.
He knows the saints by name.
John 10:3 - “ To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.”
God knows all, every little detail of every little day. Here He is telling Nathanael that He saw him under a tree. Now if that isn’t a sure sign that God see’s all, and cares to see all, then I don’t know what is.
Divinity Acknowledged
Verse 49 - Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”
Nathanael was declaring Christ’s divinity. He had never before seen Him and had only just heard of Him before he met Jesus. He had to have experienced something incredible at that very moment, a special revelation from God as to who Jesus really was.
John 1:10 - He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
2 Corinthians 4:6 - For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of the darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Ephesians 1:9 - He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intentions which He purposed in Him.
Without God revealing to Nathanael who Jesus was he would have never understood that he was looking and talking with the Son of God. It is God who reveals Himself to man, not man seeing God for who He is.
Christ affirms His divinity
Verses 50 and 51 we see Christ affirm the revelation that Nathanael had received. He doesn’t just affirm it He expounds upon it, almost like saying, “You think that’s good, just wait and see what’s coming next”. Once Christ is revealed to us we are able then to see the things of God, His hand in our lives, and the lives of others.
No comments:
Post a Comment