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Throughout the centuries there have been many serious errors regarding the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, serious mistakes made concerning His mission here on earth, and serious blunders concerning just what it was that He has accomplished by coming to the place of men.
Perhaps some of these theories find a place in your own mind, in your own thoughts when you think about Jesus.
Perhaps you think that Jesus was a good example as to how to live in order to please God, an example that you need to follow in order to be saved. Perhaps you think that Jesus came in order to open the way to salvation, and make it possible for people to be saved without actually saving anyone, as though the real work of salvation is left to the individual themselves by way of gaining merit.
In this passage before us we have what may well be an example of a common error at the time of Christ, and it is an error we have already crossed with the Jewish delegation sent from the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, concerning the true role of the Messiah, and the restoration of Israel.
So this morning we want to take a closer look at the true role of the Messiah in coming into the world of men. And we will do this by looking at three heads in this sermon on John 1:43-51.
- The Witness of Philip
- The Confession of Nathanael
- The Declaration of Christ
#1. The Witness of Philip
‘ The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter (Jn 1:43,44).’
This is now the fourth day in this sequence recorded in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. Remember the first was the Jewish delegation sent to interrogate John the Baptist, the second was the Baptist pointing the crowds to the Lamb of God, and last week we saw the Baptist pointing Andrew and John to the Lord, and also the bringing in of Peter also.
As this fourth day begins we see Jesus wanting to go to Galilee. Why Galilee? Well the rest of verse 43 makes it very clear, ‘ and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.'
Now isn’t that interesting - so many people talk about Jesus knocking on the door of the sinners heart, wanting to go in, but needing the sinner to open the door - but here, Philip wasn’t even looking for Jesus. It was Jesus looking for him. He wanted to go to Galilee in order to find Philip, and to bring him to Himself.
There was no pleading to Philip to accept Him, to please let Him into his heart, no! But what was there? There was a command issued, and Philip had to follow. Why? Because the Almighty God who created the universe with the Word of His mouth had spoken, with the same Divine Authority. How could Philip resist the voice of God - He couldn’t.
And for Philip the lights went on, an enthusiasm for Jesus filled His heart and mind, and off he went looking for Nathanael, ‘ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.'
So again we see the same sort of concern exhibited in those who have come to salvation in the lord Jesus Christ - a concern for others, that they too might enjoy a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we have been mentioning throughout this series on John, The Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy and longing, ‘And they are they which testify of me (Jn 5:39).'
But what we see in these verses is some controversy in the evangelism of Philip, for in proclaiming the Gospel to Nathanael He seems to be proclaiming a false Christ. How so? In that He links the Messiah as coming from Nazareth, and His father as Joseph. How could this be so? The Scripture teaches Him as coming from Bethlehem Epthratah, and as Joseph having no part in the conception of Jesus.
Is there inconsistency here? The simple answer is no. As regards Bethlehem, He was indeed born in that place, and had since moved back to Nazareth with His parents, there being no inconsistency with Scripture in that. And Joseph was regarded as His legal father on earth, a point made clear even by Scripture, ‘And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli (Lk 3:23).’
Yet without any clarification made to Nathanael, a man who seemed clearly to know His Bible, this didn’t seem possible - and especially given the reputation that Nazareth must have had. ‘And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.'
So what you see here is some useful thoughts about evangelism in Philip’s witness to Nathanael. As we said last week, you don’t need to know everything about Jesus in order to evangelise. Clearly Philip had learnt a bit, but yet he appears ignorant of some of the OT promises concerning the Messiah, and of the Lord’s birthplace, etc. Perhaps he didn’t fully understand the true nature of Christ - yet he bears witness to what he does know.
And again I point out to you, you don’t need to be a theologian to bear witness for Jesus - simply what you know about Him will do.
And the other thing is, is that you don’t have to try and convince people that what you say about Jesus is true. Present the Gospel to people, invite them to ‘come and see’ for themselves - and leave the convincing to Jesus. That’s what the text is saying to us - do you see it?
Who convinced Nathanael that Jesus is the Christ? Was it Philip? No. It was Jesus Himself who did that. And this is the thing that we need to rest in as the way to see people brought to a saving relationship with Christ. Present the Gospel, invite people to believe, and leave it to the Lord to do the saving, ‘ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Rom 1:16)’, not the power of man.
Remember that, and you will not feel so helpless and unsuccessful when you take the Gospel to men, women and children. Your place is to proclaim, it is God’s alone to save, ‘the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit (Jn 3:8).’ Salvation is of the Lord, and He will save whom He will. That is our confidence when taking the Gospel to people, we know He will use it to accomplish His purpose, and His sheep will hear His voice.
#2. The Confession of Nathanael
‘Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me?'
As Philip and Nathanael draw near to Jesus, Jesus says "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Jesus is seeking to draw attention to Nathanael, and it would be fair to say that He wants to gain the full attention of Nathanael.
Here before Jesus is an Israelite in whom is no guile, that is, any deceitful dealings. And this phrase is a bit of a play on Israel. What do you know about the origin of the name Israel? Was it not a name given to a deceiver? Jacob was to be called Israel, who went from being a deceiver to becoming the Father of Israel (Gen 27:35,36; 28:10ff; 32:24-30).
Do you remember how he deceived his father early on in His life, etc? Jesus is saying that Nathanael is one who is no deceiver, and truly is an Israelite. He is no Jacob, but an Israel, just as Jacob had left behind his deceiving to become the Father of Israel.
Nathanael is a bit taken back by all of this. This Jesus is speaking of me as though He knows me.
'Whence knowest thou me?' I don’t know you, how is it possible that you could know anything about me? It’s the question of one who is caught a little off guard, He wasn’t expecting to run into someone that day whom he didn’t know but yet seemed to know a bit about him. "How do you know me?"
Well if that surprised him, the next answer from Jesus blew him away... ‘Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.'
Well that answer shook Nathanael - how did He know about that??? He saw me under the fig tree? But I was alone there with God; no one else was there...
And you see that’s the point here. Nathanael had run into God that day, and it has now dawned on Him. How did Jesus know him? It’s because He’s God. I’m in the presence of God here.
It has been suggested that Nathanael was actually reading the passage of Scripture that Christ would soon quote, a passage that the Lord had already drawn attention to in His earlier comment to Nathanael when he first arrived before Jesus, the passage concerning Jacob. Why is there such conjecture about this? It is because the fig tree was a favourite place in those parts for the study and meditation upon Scripture, and the place for prayer.
And if this is so, you can really begin to understand why this all hit Nathanael with such impact. ‘When you were sitting there, studying and praying to God, pouring over that section of Scripture, I was right there with you ... I know you Nathanael, very well indeed.’
And even if that conjecture is not correct, there is still enough in the answer to leave Nathanael without any doubts concerning the nature of the one before him - ‘He knows I was sitting under a fig tree - how could He know that, this is no ordinary man!’
‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good (Prov 15:3).’ ‘O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; you understand my thoughts afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways (Ps 139:1-3).’
How these verses that Nathanael was so familiar with, were coming to him with new light, and with powerful impact now. This had indeed rocked Nathanael to the core.
How would you react in these circumstances? How do you think you would respond? Well the reality is that this morning you are exactly in that predicament. He see’s you even now, knowing exactly what you are thinking of His word as its proclaimed, of what you think of His Gospel and His Kingdom, of what you think of Him. And soon He will be bringing these facts right home to you, when He judges the living and the dead.
So how do you react, for He knows all about you this morning too!
What was Nathanael’s reaction? ‘Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.'
Dumbfounded, gobspacked ... Nathanael was forced to acknowledge, you have just said something that only God could know. You have to have come from Him. For Nathanael, this is all he probably meant, using this term in the sense of similarity. ‘I don’t exactly know who you are, but what you have just said makes it very clear to me that you come from God, you are like what I would expect His Son to be like.’
The other thing which Nathanael makes of all this is that this Jesus must be the Messiah, only the Messiah could know this sort of thing. ‘You must be the very king that we have been waiting so long for, you must be the King of Israel - I can’t explain it any other way!’
Is this what Nathanael made of all that has just happened to him? You must remember that Nathanael wasn’t prepared for this, he hadn’t considered what to say when this happened today. He had awoken that day expecting another typical day, but suddenly everything had changed.
Did He know more than this? Probably not. He would probably have been quite confused by all that he had seen suddenly come upon Him ... but He did know, that this is no ordinary man, that this is someone He needed to hear more of.
I think this is the same error that had come upon the Jews in general. They had certain expectations that they had formed as a nation generally, and they were expecting some sort of secular deliverer who would free them of the Romans, and restore the Kingdom to Israel. ‘Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)."’ Even after the resurrection this error persisted, even among the disciples. There was to be no physical worldly Kingdom, ever!!! But they struggled with this, and interestingly enough, where these disciples came to recognize the spiritual nature of the Kingdom, this error still persists today, with those who still wait for some form of future earthly kingdom, and the restoration of the Nation of Israel.
It won’t happen! The Lord’s Kingdom is not of this world, it is spiritual - and in fact is already in existence, in the hearts and lives of His people.
But there is yet another error in Nathanael’s thinking, displayed perhaps in his answer to Jesus. He calls Jesus the King of Israel, which of course is part and parcel of the political Messiah view so widespread within Israel. You see, this answer shows the narrow view that Israel held to. There was no place for the rest of the world, for gentiles - the Kingdom was only for Jews. An error which had never had an iota of truth about it, for example Genesis 12:3, ‘And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’
#3. The Declaration of Jesus
‘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. 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.'
Nathanael had caught a glimpse of something special about Jesus and it had amazed him, but the Lord more or less says, ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet!’ What you have just experienced is very little, just a portion of who I am. Without doubt Nathanael, and you rest of my followers, I absolutely assure you that there is something much greater to be revealed to you yet...
"ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."
So what is being spoken of here - is there to be some sort of amazing vision? Well, it is nowhere recorded as such.
As I said before, there has been conjecture that this passage referred to in Genesis, Genesis 28:12 that we read earlier, may have been what Nathanael was reading under the fig tree. But whether or not it was, what Jesus is saying to these men is of great significance.
He is saying that the promise given by God to Jacob in Genesis 28 was referring to him. The ladder that reached to heaven, or rather from heaven to earth, was a link joining the two, reconciling the two. Jacob had a major role to play, for the link would come from Him - yet he was not that link. Who was the link? The Messiah.
If these men were entertaining views of an earthly Messiah, this quotation was a promise of a greater view, the view of a spiritual Messiah, whom they themselves would know. You men will see a Messiah who will be of great importance to yourselves; you men will participate in the fulfilment of this vision...
What is Jesus talking about - He is saying, I am that ladder to heaven. It is I who brings the heavenly together with the earthly, it is I who reconciles the two to each other. I am the link between Heaven and earth. These angels are descending and ascending upon Me, I’m the link - do you see that?
Your current vision of an earthly Messiah will give way to a vision of salvation that will see you ascend this ladder, that will see you ascend into Heaven itself - you will come to know Me as the ladder which you must climb. You will come to see Me in this greater light.
And not only that, but also that I am the ladder for all mankind. All may be saved by this way; all may enter into the Kingdom if they enter this way. Not just the Jews, but all Mankind.
And this is the same today, nothing has changed. If you are to enter into this Kingdom, into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will come only by this one way, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (Jn 14:6)’ You want in to this Kingdom, then stop trying to construct your own ladders, they won’t do, they can’t even begin to reach Heaven...
But you climb upon the Ladder of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and you will have entry to that Kingdom - if you will but go that way, then what has been said of these men in our passage today will also be true of you, '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.'
Heaven will be open to receive you, and the angels will be there rejoicing over every lost sinner who repents. Will you climb that ladder???
Don’t think this climbing involves your own achievements, because it does not. It is Christ you are climbing, what He has achieved. You enter because of what He has accomplished, so cast off everything else and lay hold of Him - be satisfied with nothing else but Him. It’s by Him, or it’s not at all!
It matters little, in fact it doesn’t matter at all if you haven’t been a Churchgoer, if you enter by this ladder - you will be saved. Even if you are the worst of sinners, there is this ladder to heaven, it is Christ, come to save sinners from their sin. Are you a sinner, then there is your way to Heaven ... it is Christ, the Ladder to Heaven.
Enter by Him, ‘Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12)’
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10/10/2006
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