November 03, 2024
From The Series: John-
So That You May Believe
Part # 08 “Your
Response to the Call”
The Gospel of John 1:43-51
Mountain View
Evangelical Missionary Church
Over the last seven weeks, we
have examined these things together: In the beginning, the Word existed with
God and was God, through whom all things were created. This Word brought life
and light to humanity, shining in the darkness.
John the Baptist was sent to
testify about this light, although he was not the light himself. The true
light, which enlightens everyone, came into the world but was not recognized by
the world. Despite this, those who received him were given the right to become
children of God, born of God. The Word became flesh and lived among people,
revealing God's glory and grace.
John the Baptist clarified his
role when questioned by Jewish leaders, denying he was the Messiah, Elijah, or
the Prophet. He identified himself as the “voice calling in the wilderness,
preparing the way for the Lord”. John was baptizing with water but pointed to
one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist recognized Jesus
as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John's disciples began
to follow Jesus after he identified him as the Messiah. Andrew, one of the
disciples, (who we deduced was the Apostle John from the eyewitness
point-of-view that the account was written from). Andrew brought his brother
Simon to Jesus, who renamed him Cephas (Peter).
It is so interesting to see how
the author of this Gospel starts with the divine existence of Jesus Christ, “In
the beginning,” and then skips over all of Jesus Christ's human beginnings, His
birth, His early childhood, and His temptations in the wilderness. Instead,
John, the author, jumps to the intersecting of God’s proclaimer in the Baptist,
at the baptizing of Jesus of Nazareth, and the start of His earthly ministry.
Did you notice in verses 32 to 34
of this first chapter, that Jesus did not proclaim to any, who He was?
Rather, Jesus relied on the testimonies of others to proclaim that He was
“God’s Chosen One”. God the Father gave a proclamation to John the
Baptist because He was the One who sent John.
This morning, we will see how
after Jesus called Andrew and the Apostle John, Jesus then called Philip to
follow him. Philip found Nathanael, and Philip proclaimed Jesus as the one
foretold by Moses and the prophets. Nathanael, initially skeptical, recognized
Jesus as the Son of God after Jesus revealed knowledge of him. Finally, Jesus
promises Nathanael even greater revelations to come.
Let’s open our Bibles together
and examine this final passage in the first chapter of the Gospel of John.
Please open your Bible to John chapter one, beginning at verse 43 and ending at
the end of the chapter.
If you did not bring your Bible
this morning, you should find one underneath one of the chairs in the row in
front of you. John Chapter One starting at verse 43 will be found on page 861
of the pew bible. If you do not have a bible at home, please take that bible
with you as a gift from Mountain View Church. We feel that it is vitally
important that you have easy access to God’s Word. And God’s Word says…
READ John 1:43-51
And God’s Word says… “43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said
to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and
Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found
Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law,
and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything
good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael
approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no
deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?”
Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you
were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe
because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things
than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will
see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of
Man.”
I want to paint a bit of a mental
picture for you this morning. I think that it is important to have an
understanding of the culture of that time but also to understand the geography
of that area where Jesus walked. We won’t all have the ability or desire to
travel to Israel in person, so to help you understand what we are reading,
let’s take a brief moment to look at some factors.
Returning to verse 43, “43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.” We can see here from the chapter
that so far, Jesus had been spending around three days in the region of Bethany
across from the Jordan.
In ancient
times, there were at least two towns in Israel named Bethany. Bethany
translates as “house of dates,” so there may have been a Bethany wherever there
was an orchard with date trees. One town named Bethany was where Lazarus and
his two sisters lived. A small town or village located just outside the city of
Jerusalem. This was the town where Jesus and the twelve disciples slept during
the last week of Jesus’ ministry before He was crucified.
But, that is not the Bethany we are discussing here in the Gospel of John.
We are discussing a town known as Bethany
beyond the Jordan. This Bethany is in the northern region of Israel and you can
see that it was south of the Sea of Galilee. This Bethany is in the region known
as Galilee.
Looking at the two slides side-by-side you will notice a couple of things. The maps are arranged from North to South. The Jordan River flows from its source in the north. North of even the top of the map on your left. Do you have any idea what the source of the Jordan River is? One of the sources can be traced to Mount Hermon, the highest peak in Israel at over 9,000 feet and the mountain sits at the northernmost tip of Israel. Mount Hermon probably was the site of our Lord’s transfiguration as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 17:1–9; Mark 9:2–9; Luke 9:28–37). They record that Jesus travelled with His disciples from Bethsaida, on the Sea of Galilee, to the area of Caesarea Philippi to the north and from there to a “high mountain.” There, in the presence of His disciples, Jesus was transfigured.[i] Mount Hermon also marks the most northern point of the territory that was given to the tribe of Manasseh.
Notice on the maps that the Jordan River runs
down the Jordan Valley from the north into the Sea of Galilee and then
continues south until it reaches the Dead Sea. The Jordan River is the major
water source for the entire valley.
Back to the region of Galilee. At the time of
Jesus, this region was an area of mixed people groups. Under Roman rule, Israel
was divided into three primary provinces: Galilee in the north, Samaria in the
center, and Judea in the south, where Jerusalem was located.
The following is from Nelson’s New Illustrated
Bible Dictionary, “Galilee was inhabited by a “mixed race” of Jews and heathen.
The Canaanites continued to dominate Galilee for many years after Joshua’s
invasion (Judg. 1:30–33; 4:2). It was historically known among the Jews as
“Galilee of the Gentiles” (Is. 9:1; Matt. 4:15).
Galilee had such a mixed population that
Solomon could unashamedly award Hiram, king of Tyre, 20 of its cities in
payment for timber from Lebanon (1 Kin. 9:11) during the building of the
Temple. After conquest by Tiglath–Pileser, king of Assyria (about 732 b.c.),
Galilee was repopulated by a colony of heathen immigrants (2 Kin. 15:29;
17:24). Thus the Galilean accent and dialect were very distinct (Matt. 26:69,
73). For this and other reasons, the pure-blooded Jews of Judea, who were more
orthodox in tradition, despised the Galileans (John 7:52). This explains Nathanael’s
rather contemptuous question, “Can
anything good come out of Nazareth?”[1]
This reviling by the Judeans may help explain
why the religious leaders rejected Jesus. The region's mixed ethnicity
contributed to the heavy Galilean accent, which so easily identified Peter on
the night that Jesus was under trial.
Scripture tells us that Peter, Andrew, and
Philip were all from the town of Bethsaida. You can see Bethsaida on the
Northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. We will see in a couple of weeks that
although Andrew and Peter were from Bethsaida, they shared a house with Peter’s
Mother-In-Law in the town of Capernaum. Jesus used the city of Capernaum as the
base of His ministry while He was in the region of Galilee. More on that in a
couple of weeks.
From today’s passage, we learn that Jesus spent
about three days in Bethany beyond the Jordan and then headed to the Town of
Cana to attend a wedding. Looking at the map, we can see that it was quite a
journey on foot. Walking from Bethany to Cana was a trip of about 55 kms. That
is the equivalent of me walking from the Town of Didsbury, east on the 582
until I reach the #2 Highway, then proceeding north in the ditch until I reach
the town of Innisfail. We will see next week that the trip will take about three
days time.
So, that was a bit of a mental picture that I
wanted to paint for you to help you understand the context of what we have been
studying for the past several weeks. We see in verse 43 that after finding
Philip, Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” After being found by Jesus, Philip
pulls an “Andrew” and goes out to find someone to share this new-found
knowledge with, and Philip goes to Nathanael.
What is Philip’s technique? He uses Scripture
to justify his actions. Philip tells Nathanael that he has “found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom
the prophets also wrote—“. Notice the technique that Philip uses. Philip
is not telling Nathanael about his feelings or personal experience. Philip
tells Nathanael that he has found the man that fulfills the prophecies. What
does this mean for you?
You may be thinking, “What the heck Pastor?
Last week you told me I didn't need to be a biblical scholar before I share the
Gospel with someone.” That is true, I did say that. What else did I say last
week? I said, “If we are followers of Christ, we should be disciples of Christ.
If we are disciples, we should be students of Christ. So, if we are
students, we should have some level of biblical knowledge. We should
also have confidence in what the Bible has to say. I am always amazed when I
talk with Christians, how many people fail to believe in the inspired,
inerrancy of the Bible. Or, people who pick and choose what books of the Bible
are true and which books are myths. It is no coincidence that the parts that
are myths to these people are the parts that place the most conviction on them
or the parts that require the greatest change in their lives.
This is exactly what Philip exhibited. He was
knowledgeable enough about the scriptures to know what Moses and the prophets
had to say about the coming Messiah. Philip was knowledgeable enough to
recognize those traits in Jesus, even though Jesus came from the backwater
region of Galilee. Nathanael's response shows that he did not think the same
way Philip did.
Can you hear the disbelieve in Nathanael’s
question that was practically spit out of his mouth? “Nazareth! Can anything
good come out of Nazareth?” What was the difference between the two men’s
reactions? Nathanael hadn’t yet had a personal encounter with Jesus!
That’s why Philip responds with “Come and see”.
The same is true for us friends and our family
and friends. Until they have a personal encounter with Jesus, it is all
theoretical knowledge, it's all head knowledge, and there’s no heart
knowledge yet. I tried reading the Bible for years, I watched the guys on TV
who begged me to accept Jesus, who told me to pray a prayer and I would be
saved. I can’t tell you how many Sunday mornings I prayed that prayer all to no
effect.
You see, I wanted it in my mind, but my heart
was not yet moved, because I had not had that personal encounter with Jesus
yet. For me, it became personal, when I was sitting in a small church with
about 25 other people and for the first time I heard, I mean I really
heard about what Jesus had done for me. I think all the previous times I
had heard, I always thought the Jesus was paying someone else’s sins, not mine.
I don’t think I realized how bad a person I truly was until that Good Friday
Service.
I mean, compared to other people I knew, family
members even, I wasn’t that bad a person. It wasn’t until I realized
that, compared to God’s standards, I was a wicked sinner in need of a Saviour.
That was the turning point for me. That’s when I realized that Jesus knew who I
truly was, and He still died for me. Jesus knew how far short I had fallen, how
much I had stumbled, and He still loved me enough to choose me.
I had never experienced that level of
unconditional love before. Then I learned about His love and mercy for me
and other sinners. Jesus did not require that I change my life before He
reconciled me to the Father. The changes came after I was in this
restored relationship. He replaced my heart of stone with a heart of
flesh. He covered me with His righteousness. All that Jesus required
from me was obedience to His teachings and to share His story and love with
others.
I think sometimes, we get the wrong ideas about
the Bible. Too often we see this book simply as a book of rules, a book of do’s
and don’ts that must be followed to earn the love of God. That’s not the case
at all. The Bible is God’s way of revealing Himself to us. It is His way of
introducing us to this all-knowing, all-powerful Creator who desires a personal
relationship with each of us. This is something that He desires, but He is not
willing to compromise His character to attain the relationship.
Instead, God the Father devised a plan with His
Son, who is also God, together they devised a plan to reconcile us fallen
creatures back into a right relationship with our Creator. A plan so simple,
yet so all-encompassing that only a supernatural being could conceive of such a
plan. God is loving, but God is also Holy and Just. He cannot compromise His
character for the sake of mankind.
We disobeyed this Mighty God, and an
appeasement must be made. A sacrifice must be offered to this God to show that
His created beings understand the seriousness of our transgressions. God
established the pattern of sacrifice right at the very beginning as recorded in
the first revealed Book of the Bible.
In Genesis chapter 3, after God forced the
first man and first woman to admit that they had disobeyed Him and man tried
pathetically to hide their sin with fig leaves, what did God do? Genesis 3:21
says, “21 The Lord God made garments of
skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Think about this for a
minute, the only way to get skins is to kill an animal, skin it, and dress the
hide to make clothes from it.
Was this fact or fiction? Which would have the
greater impact on mankind? That this event actually happened and we were forced
to acknowledge that an innocent animal actually had to be killed in
order to pay for our ancestor’s sin. Or, that this is simply a myth or legend
written down so that we could understand the seriousness our actions have on
the collective tribe?
The concept of reality, or myth? Which has the
greater impact on your soul? Let me ask you this, are you living your life as
if you believe the Bible is true and trustworthy? Or, do you believe that the
Bible is a book of myths and legends and since the stories are mere
representations of man’s activities over the centuries, I am free to pick and
choose what myths I live my life by? Are you an all-in type of disciple of
Jesus, or do you dip your toes in the pool of Christianity from time to time
without being fully immersed because it might wreck your lifestyle? Being
all-in for Jesus can be messy and you might lose some friends. Some people
might get upset with you. But really, why would you expect anything different,
they killed our Master, why should you be spared? The world hates
Jesus!
So, Jesus knows who you truly are when He saves
you, but that doesn’t mean He expects you to remain as you were when He found
you. Jesus says in John’s Gospel, “If you love me, you
will obey my commands”. As we progress through the Gospel of John we
will encounter two pericopes where Jesus tells a person to “stop sinning” or “Go now and
leave your life of sin”. The first was after Jesus healed the man, and
the second account was when Jesus rescued a woman from a crowd who were
prepared to stone her to death. Many false teachers out there claim that no
change in you is required because God is love and He accepts you as you are.
This is true pre-salvation, but the Bible is clear that we are to see evidence
of a change in your life post-salvation. One of the passages refers to seeing the fruit
of change in your life.
The change in you happens when you trust Jesus.
So, let me ask you, “Do you trust Jesus?” Real change cannot happen in your
life unless you truly trust Jesus! I think that is what we saw in Nathanael
when he had his personal encounter with Jesus. After Jesus proclaimed that he recognized
that there was no deceit in Nathanael and that Jesus saw where Nathanael was
before Philip called him, that was enough information for Nathanael to place
his trust in Jesus. We see a major shift in Nathanael’s attitude from when he
first asked Philip, “Can anything good come out of
Nazareth?”
We should answer Nathanael's question: "Yes,
something good has come out of Nazareth!”. A Wonderful Counselor came out of Nazareth. A
Friend to all Humanity came out of Nazareth. The King of Kings came out of
Nazareth. Finally, the Savior of the World came out of Nazareth. Are not all
those things good? What a contribution to the world the little town of
Nazareth has made. You can visit Nazareth today in Israel. It is still in the
same spot, about 25 km southeast of the Sea of Galilee.
Look at verse 49. Nathanael's realization of
who Jesus is results in an amazing confession: “You are
the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” These are both Messianic
titles being applied to Jesus by Nathanael. This is a major confession of faith
by Him towards a man that he just met. Do you think this realization was from
God, a supernatural event in Nathanael’s life? Or, do you think that he reached
this conclusion on his own after having met Jesus just a few minutes earlier?
I think this is evidence of God’s work in
Nathanael’s life. Apart from God’s work in his heart, wouldn’t this be seen as
a rash and impulsive remark from Nathanael? I would question his ability to
judge someone just from the few short interactions recorded in Scripture. Even
Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you
under the fig tree.” But what a sign of Nathanael's faith. He had the
faith to believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecies based on just
a few words from Jesus.
If you do not have the faith of Nathanael, what
is holding you back? What hurdle must you get over before you are willing to
place your faith in Jesus? Are you waiting for a sign? Are you waiting for an
answered prayer first? Are you wanting something specific from God before you
place your faith in Jesus? Are you waiting for Him to remove some temptation or
recurring sin in your life before you surrender to Him? If you are waiting for
any of these things, I have some news for you, you are not surrendering to
Jesus, you are negotiating with Him.
If you are waiting for God to
fulfill something in your life before you place your faith in Him, you are not
surrendering, you are negotiating. Let me repeat that: If you are waiting
for God to fulfill something in your life before you place your faith in Him,
you are not surrendering, you are negotiating. Romans 9:20 says, “20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?” who are we to place demands on a
Holy and Just God who is extending His Mercy towards us and we have the gall to
place conditions on this unmerited favour from God? But who are you? I think
one of the most damaging sins is the sin of pride. When we question God, we are
repeating the original sin from the Garden. We are listening once again to the
serpent when he whispers in our ears, “Did God really say…?” This one question
from the serpent brought about the destruction of the perfect Created order.
But this order collapsed for a reason. It was before even this collapse
happened that the Trinity had formed a perfect plan in eternity past, so that
the sacrifice required would bring Glory to the Son and to the Father, through
the work of the Holy Spirit.
I want to follow up on this concept of Jesus
knowing us, and us knowing Jesus. The Greek word for knowing in this passage is
ginosko. The following is from Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary.
Quote, “*ginosko* can also refer to a kind of mental assent- to know God and
His will is to acknowledge the claim that He has on One's own life (and to
agree with that claim). End Quote. First, we must acknowledge that God has a
claim on our lives. As adopted children of God, we are now His and He is the
Father and we owe Him our obedience.
Continuing
with Mounce, quote, “It is to take God's law and apply it to one's own life in
experience/obedience (Rom 1:32). Paul utilizes a play on words in Rom 1 when he
says that some "know" God's just judgment (1:32) but they do not wish
to "know" God (1:28). That is to say that the heathen have a
knowledge of God that makes no difference in their activity; they have an
intellectual awareness of his existence and perhaps even a belief that he
exists, but they do not have a personal or intimate knowledge of him and do not
have faith in him (Rom 1:21-28).” End Quote. Do you see that difference, that
personal level of knowledge that is required from us? When we ask people about
Jesus, sometimes we will hear about their upbringing in a denomination, or they
will brag about their church attendance or their charitable giving. These are
all well and fine, but they are evidence of religion in someone’s life, it is
not evidence of a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus wants a relationship,
not religion. Religion is why he condemned the Pharisees. Jesus wants a personal
relationship with you. He requires a personal declaration of faith from you. He
desires that you should be baptized for Him, you are making a public declaration
of your relationship through baptism.
Finishing up the Mounce quote “John especially
has a rich view of what it means to "know". When Jesus says he knows
His sheep and He knows the Father, He is speaking of an intimate relationship
that involves deep feelings of love (Jn 10:14-15). Such a relationship leads to
obedience on our part (10:27). "Those who say, 'I know Him', but do not do
what He commands are liars" (1Jn 2:4; cf. 3:6). Jesus defines eternal life
as "knowing God and Jesus Christ", which involves both faith in Him
and love for Him (Jn 17:3). By contrast, John makes it plain that the world
"does not know" God (Jn 17:25; 1 Jn 3:1).” End quote.
We must never forget that the world “does not
know” Jesus. That doesn’t mean we abandon them to the end. Rather it should
spur us on all the more to share the love and Gospel message of Jesus Christ
with them.
CONCLUSION
When Nathanael declared his faith
in Jesus Christ, Jesus responded with this promise: “50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I
saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” Jesus made
that promise to Nathanael, and through him, he made that promise to all of His
followers. That is why we are to be life-long students of Jesus of Nazareth. “Can
anything good come out of Nazareth?” Only the Saviour of the World.
In conclusion, I wish for you to
think about this application this week regarding the point that Jesus knows you
for who you truly are. Not just you, but Jesus knows everyone’s heart. If you
find yourself in a challenging work environment where you feel overlooked,
remind yourself that Jesus understands your struggles. The same is true if you
are having a challenge at home. This week, set aside time to pray specifically
for your colleagues or family members, especially those who may not appreciate
your contributions. Take action by complimenting others genuinely. This can
create a culture of acknowledgment, and as Jesus knows your worth, trust that
He will eventually bring your efforts to light in ways that matter.
Let me close with this doxology:
24 “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be
gracious to you;
26 may the Lord turn his face toward you and
give you peace."
Go in peace, you are dismissed.
Please join us downstairs for coffee
and treats.
[1]
Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson,
Inc., 1995).
[i]
[i]
Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F.
Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New
Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).
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