All right, that's verse 43 to
the end. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and find Philip and said unto him, follow
me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew, and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
said unto 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? And Philip said
unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
him, and said unto him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile. Nathanael said unto him, Whence
knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the
fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and said unto
him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of
Israel. And 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. Watch 51. And he said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter you shall see heaven
open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
Man. Now that's a good passage, a
lot of instruction and spiritual things in it for us. Before we
take up that passage and look at it individually and specifically
that we have read, I want to call to your attention a couple
of things about the earlier part of the Gospel of John, and particularly
here in Chapter 1. There are two things here that
we'll notice, then we'll move on our way. The first thing that
I want to call your attention unto is the various ways are
names by which John refers to our Lord Jesus Christ. Last Sunday, we studied our Lord's
most used designation of Himself. The Lord spoke of Himself as
the Son of Man more often than in any other way or any of these
names that we will mention here this morning. Son of Man, and
he uses it again in our text here today in verse 51, and the
very last four words, the Son of Man. But we notice that John,
the author of this great gospel, that sets forth the divinity
of our Lord, upon whose bosom John would lean in the last supper
with the Lord. John, the author, uses several
designations of the Holy One that has been sent from God out
of heaven. And let's look and mention some
of them and find them. Number one, John calls Jesus
The Word. The Word. Chapter 1, verse 1. Chapter 1 and verse 14. He does so again in the first
epistle. And he does so in the book of
Revelation 19 and 13. And his name was called the Word
of God. Maybe John's the only one that
uses that title and designation of our Lord. But secondly, John
also refers unto Jesus as the light in chapter 1 and verse
7. The light of the world, and our
Lord referred to himself in that way. Number three, In verse 18,
chapter 1, he calls him the only begotten son which is in the
bosom of the Father. Not was or shall be, but is in
the bosom of the Father. And then comes the record of
another John, John the Baptist, and we pick up the titles that
he uses of our Lord. concerning this word. The fourth
one is John 1 and verse 20, the Christ, as he refers to the Lord
as the Christ. I'm not the Christ, but there
cometh one after me. And then in verse 23, in the
fifth name, we find that he refers to Him as the Lord. And then, sixly, that most famous
designation of all from John the Baptist regarding our Lord,
and that is, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. And you have that in John 1,
29, and you have it again in verse 36. And then there's a
seventh way, out of the mouth of John the Baptist, the forerunner
of our Lord, and that is, in verse 34, the Son of God. So in all of these seven ways,
and we add another, eighthly, in verse 41, the Messiah, which
is the Christ, literally, the Anointed One. And then in verse
51, the son of man. So if I've counted right, there
are at least nine ways and names by which our Lord is referred
to here in the first chapter of the gospel of John. And our Lord is all of these,
and they all refer to one and the same person. Now the second
thing that we notice about John's gospel, a little peculiarity
I guess, is a little bit shorter. And that's how John, in his writing,
marks out the days upon which a certain thing did occur. Chapter
1, verse 29. The next day, that is, he saw
Jesus coming the next day after that delegation from Jerusalem
had come to ask John, who are you? But then again, chapter
1, verse 35, again the next day. Chapter 1, verse 43, the day
following. And even over into chapter 2
and verse 1, the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. So those two things we have noted. Now as we settle in to our passage
of study for this time, a point or two about the overall context
of John chapter 1. I think first of all that we
could, perhaps we should, include also verse 35 through verse 42,
even though the events described happened on different days. Then secondly,
John's mission, that is John the Baptist, his mission is bearing
fruit as God has designed. He prepares the way for our Lord
Jesus Christ to come and go among the people. And he did that by
preaching the kingdom of heaven is at hand and calling upon those
that heard him to repent. He said this, Behold, the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. There cometh one after me mightier
than I, who is preferred before me, who shoelaces I am not worthy
to loose. In Luke 1, Verse 16 and 17, it was foretold
of John the Baptist before he was ever born of his mother,
quote, and many of the children of Israel shall return to the
Lord their God, and he, that is John, shall go before him,
that is Christ, in the spirit and the power of Elias. to turn the hearts of many in
Israel, and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Now this was his calling and
this was his commission. And he was so convincing about
it that when Jesus came on the scene, John's disciples left
him and became disciples and followers of our Lord. Now, thirdly, what we have here
is a sort of first fruits of the public ministry of our Lord. He is here beginning to call
and to gather unto himself a band of disciples. He will soon gather
together those that will be his first disciple and also the apostles
of the Lamb. And here they are, Andrew and
probably John, the writer of the gospel himself, in verse
40. No, John hardly ever mentions
himself by name. He identifies himself as that
disciple whom Jesus loved, and so forth. Then there's Simon,
comes into the band, chapter 41, I mean, verse 41, and 42,
then Philip is called in verse 43, and Nathaniel is called in
the verses that we read today, 45 through verse 51. And later, as the number of our
Lord's followers and disciples grew, we read in Luke 6 and verse
13, that after our Lord had spent the entire night in a mountain
alone, apart praying then we read this when it was day he
called his disciple and of them he chose 12 whom he named apostles
so there's the circle of the Apostle chosen out of those first
or early disciples. And then Luke names them, all
twelve, including Judas, who would be the one that would betray
our Lord. Now those named are In John chapter
1, I view these as a band of men whose heart the Lord God
had touched, much as He did in 1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse
26. And these people, the first ones
called, are such as lived in hope and expectation of Messiah. They were faithful ones. Their
hearts were toward God. They believed the scripture.
And so they looked for the expectation of Messiah. And when he came,
and they saw him and they heard him, then they recognized him
as being the one put forth in the Old Testament scripture. And their hearts were opened
that this indeed is the Christ. Look at verse 41 again. We have found the Messiah, which
is by interpretation the Christ. Look at verse 45 again. We have found him. of whom Moses
and the prophets did write. Now, suffice it to say, in that
day, in that time, in spite of the sad condition of Israel overall
in their apostasy, their rebellion, their hypocrisy, and their self-righteousness. Yet there were a few Jews. There was a small remnant, spiritual
children of Abraham, who believed in the promise of God that he
would send the Messiah into the world. A deliverer would come
to deliver them, men such as Zacharias and his wife, who in
Luke chapter 1 And verse 6, quote, we're both righteous before God,
walking in all the ordinances and the commandments of the Lord,
blameless, unquote. Again, in Luke chapter 2 and
25, Simeon was, quote, just and devout, waiting for the consolation
of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, unquote. Mark 15, 43. There was Joseph
of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom
of God. And I mentioned Simeon. Notice
this about him in Luke chapter 2 and verse 26. an unusual thing. It had been revealed unto him
by the Spirit of God that he should not see death, that is,
that he should not die, not pass away, before he had seen the
Lord's Christ. Simply put, he would live to
see Christ come in the flesh and behold Him with his own eye. And not only see Him, but also
hold the newborn one in his very own arms and bless God for it
and make a great prophecy concerning him. Luke chapter 2, 32 through
35. Even pray as he did in Luke chapter
2, 29 and 30. Having that promise, you will
live to see Messiah, and then let now thy servant depart in
peace in accordance with thy word. Listen to this, for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation." Christ, he saw, he held, he blessed. mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
Speaking of the Lord. The infant in arms at that time
on the eighth day having those things performed according to
the law. Then in Luke chapter 2, 36-38,
we read of another faithful saint, this time a woman by the name
of Anna. And Anna was an aged Israelite
who had lived as a widow for quite some time. And Anna stayed
close to the temple. You could find Anna at the temple
almost any time that you went there. And as Simon was prophesying
over and about the little Lord Jesus Christ, We read in verse
38 of Anna, she gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spoke of him
to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Now this is indeed
the one of whom the angel said in Luke chapter 2 and verse 11,
Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which
is Christ the Lord. And thus, my point is, in spite
of the fact that Israel as a whole lay in unbelief, practicing sickening
formalism and hypocrisy and living in self-righteousness, setting
aside the Word of God for the traditions and the commandment
of men, and following blind leaders who led them about. There were
some, there were a few, there was a remnant whose heart the
Lord had touched, whose hearts had received a work of divine
grace within them. They had the word in their heart,
mind, and the promise of God, and they looked for a Redeemer
to come and deliver Israel. I may have labored a point, but
consider if Christ came and none received Him. Consider if He
came into the world and not any, not one, not some received Him. What if none had believed when
our Lord came. Well, it cannot be that the Lord
lose any that were given unto Him by the Father. And He has
always reserved unto Himself some that have not bowed the
knee unto Baal. People like Simeon, Zechariah,
Elizabeth, Anna, and Joseph. who by God's work and by God's
grace quickly received and believed the Messiah when he appeared
in their midst. And remember, he is but a babe
in arms when some of these confessions are made. And so people like
Philip and Andrew and Nathaniel who believed without great miracles
being seen from the hand of the Lord, believing in a man who
was not yet greatly famous in the country or among Israel for
all of his great works, early in the ministry of our Lord. Now, in verse 43 of John 1, the
Lord is making His way into Galilee. And as He went, He called Philip. I don't think accidentally, but
he called him to leave his trade, whatever that might be, to leave
his family, his kins and residents and so forth, and quote, follow
me, unquote, from which it appears that the Lord called Philip directly
without the agency of a friend or a brother or a kinsman. as he did with Simon and Nathanael. Follow me. Now this was not only
a call to faith and salvation, but it was also a call to discipleship. And it was not a secular call
or secular business that was at hand, but it was a spiritual
call whereby Philip would be a follower and disciple of the
Lord. And that's amazing because he
immediately followed one who had no place to lay his head,
who had no resident of his own, no permanent place to live, and
to abide. Now his call to Philip was no
doubt no accident. The Lord did not pitch upon Philip
out of a sudden whim, but we know that he knew him from the
foundation of the world. He knew who he was and he knew
where he was and he went there and he called him. In verse 45,
Philip then is active and he calls upon Nathanael. an Aquinas perhaps, Ken I can't
say, but he calls upon him and he has a great message for him. He says, look, we have found
the one that is written up as the Messiah in the prophets and
in Moses. In other words, we have personally
in the flesh in our midst found, we have met, we have heard, him
that Moses and the prophets wrote about. And he describes him as
being Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And in verse 46, if we look,
hearing of Nazareth, the use of Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus the Nazarene who resided for some time in Nazareth. And Nathanael's mind then takes
up that name, and he puts the question to Philip. Is there
any good thing that can come out of Nazareth? Can it be that
any good thing like this should come forth out of Nazareth? Shall we expect that great one
to come forth out of Nazareth? Now we wonder, what put Nathaniel
in that frame of mind? Why call into question whether
such a great one could proceed out of Nazareth? Why does he
dismiss Nazareth as being the origin of good things? Well,
I think there are two things that might have been working
in the mind of Nazareth. Number one, It had a bad reputation. From what I've read, from Gill
and others say, quote, the whole country of Galilee was held in
contempt by the Jew, unquote. Not held in any great high esteem. It was an obscure city in some
way over in the corner of Galilee and not with a good reputation
from without. But secondly, Nathanael, a true
Israelite, son of Abraham, may have remembered scripture and
what it said about Messiah. Scripture said nothing in the
way of prophecy about connecting Messiah with Nazareth and the
Messiah. They told that Bethlehem would
be the place of his birth. Micah chapter 5 and verse 2. Malachi 3 and verse 1. He shall
suddenly come to his temple. That would be in Jerusalem. And
again in Jeremiah 3 and 17. Jerusalem shall be the throne
of the Lord while being silent on such things about Nazareth. Now consider, John 7, 40, 41. 42 and verse 52 when others debated
this question John 7 and 40 of a truth some said this is the
prophet they saw and heard the Lord they saw his miracle and
Some of them as was usually the case said believed and some did
not so some said of a truth This is the prophet Verse 41, shall
Christ come out of Galilee? That other crowd said another
time, another opinion about Galilee. Verse 42, has not the scripture
said that Christ cometh of the seed of David out of the town
of Bethlehem? And then verse 52, search and
look, they said, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. They were
not exactly right. Some of the Old Testament saints
did. Nathanael is not of the same
spirit, however, with those in John chapter 7. So in chapter
1, Philip bids him come and see. And Philip does. He does not
rebuke or reject, does not argue, does not insult, but bids Nathanael
come and see, that is, for yourself. Come see and come hear, and that
for yourself. Seeing is believing firsthand,
and hearing is believing. Nathanael, being of a gentle
spirit, if I may refer to him as that, agrees to accept the
invitation of his friend, even as Naaman, over in Kings, accepted
the advice of his servant and dipped in the water of Jordan
when he had determined to go home and dip in his own native
land. But, in verse 47, as the two,
Philip and Nathaniel, made their approach to where Jesus was. Perhaps preaching, I do not know. Perhaps studying or praying.
But as they drew near where the Lord was, there was no need for
Philip to introduce his friend unto the Lord. He need not say,
Master, this is Nathaniel. He need not do that at all. For as they arrived, as they
drew near, perhaps within a voice range, our Lord said this, Behold
an Israelite in whom is no guile. What a saying is that? In verse 48, this surprised Nathanael. It took him aback. He'd never
seen the Lord, never been there, and yet here's one who identifies
him and knows about, even calling him by his name. Not calling
him by his name, but referring to him by his spiritual condition. and Israelite by birth and nationality
without any guile. How, he says, do you know me? How is it that you know me? And the Lord tells him, look
at the answer, before Philip ever caught you, before Philip
ever called you or came to you or invited you, and then he adds
something else, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Gil wrote in this that the Lord
gives two instances here of His omniscience, that He is all-knowing,
that He knows all things. Number one, His That is, Nathanael's
conversation with Philip. He knew about that before Philip
sought Nathanael, before he encouraged him to come and to see if not
this is the Christ, before they spoke about it. And then secondly,
he saw him on a special occasion when Nathanael was under somewhere
a fig tree. whether to rest in its shade
or whether to seek figs from it that he might eat, whether
to meditate or to pray or to rest, we're not told. The point
is, Nathaniel would know what the Lord was referring to a proof of his omniscience that
he knew him and that he saw him. He had been under a fig tree
and he remembered that vividly as the Lord spoke. It was true,
but it does not mean that he was there when Philip found him,
but he had been under a fig tree. Now, if I might, pardon a digression
just for a moment, but let's notice a similarity in the Lord's
dealing with Simon and Nathanael back in verse 42 of the chapter. And they brought him to Jesus.
When Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation a stone. So again, without any introduction
or prior meeting, the Lord calls Simon by name and he names his
father, you are Simon, your father is Jonah. Now this was to Simon
a proof of his omniscience, which means Christ is all-knowing,
and he knows all and everything. He knows all there is to know
about everyone. He knows what's in man, John
chapter 2, 23 through 25. You remember, if you would, how
amazed the Samaritan woman was that she had met a man who, quote,
told me all things that ever I did." You'll find that over
in John chapter 4 and verse 29. And she concluded from that,
this must be the Messiah. A man told me all things that
ever I did, this must be Messiah. A man she'd never met before,
but she recognized him as being a Jew by nationality, John 4
and verse 9, but a complete stranger, a passer-through, an itinerant
stranger, and yet, He details everything about her past life. He told her everything that she
had ever done. He exposed her for her sinful
way of life. She had had five husbands and
now had one common law. Not her husband. With a man she
was not married to at the time. Now to apply this, his unexplained
insight into this, her past, put the strong thought in their
mind. Is this the Christ? When He has
come, He will tell us all things. John chapter 4 and 25. How could
this be? This must be the Messiah. Now,
let me say something else. It is a most sobering thought,
perhaps the most sobering thought that we might ever have to know
that God knows everything about all of the people in the world. He knows every act. He knows
every word. He even knows every thought. He knows every motive. He knows
every sin. I think of that great passage
in Psalm 139 and verse 2, when the psalmist said, Lord, you
know my down sitting and you know my up rising. You understand
my thoughts from afar off. And in verse four of that same
chapter, There's not a word in my tongue, O Lord, but that you
know it altogether. And then in verse 6 of that same
chapter, the thought of this overwhelmed the psalmist, and
he said, it's too much for me. I cannot take it in. But back
to John chapter 1, the Lord and Nathanael, and now the confession
that comes out of him. The Lord called him an Israelite
in whom or without guile. Now that doesn't mean he was
sinless. That doesn't mean he was a perfect
man and without sin, but he was sincere and he was a man of belief
and he held to the scripture and he looked for Messiah. J.C. Ryle called him this, quote,
an honest Old Testament believer, unquote. That is, he fully believed
the Old Testament by divine revelation and faith. He understood the
promises of Messiah. In other words, he was no hypocrite.
He was not self-righteous like most of the Jew at that time. And David Brown described him,
quote, ready to follow wherever the truth might lead him, unquote. Wherever the truth took him,
this man was of a mind to lead. So his confession then, in verse
49, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Ah, dual title, Son of God, King
of Israel. Nathanael makes essentially the
confession of Simon Peter that he would make in Matthew chapter
16 and verse 16. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And John the Baptist, John 134,
of those saved from the storm in Matthew 1433, you're the Son
of God. The centurion who presided over
The crucifixion of our Lord, said in Matthew 27, 54, of a
truth, this was the Son of God. Martha, a great friend of Christ,
John chapter 11 and 27, thou art the Son of God. Now on the
other hand, the Lord Jesus, called for him to be crucified for calling
the Son of God, himself the Son of God, in John 19 and 7. When
the Jews heard that, they said, that's blasphemy. He don't deserve
to live. Put him unto death. Now, the
last two verses of John 1 are interesting. Let's look at them. Jesus answered and said unto
him, that is Nathanael, remember Nathanael said, Son of God, King
of Israel. I believe in other words. Now
watch this. The Lord asked him a question.
Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, you believe. In other words, you believe on
the credit of the fact that I saw you under a fig tree, and it
was true, and you were there. Believe us now. Then he says
this, you are going to see greater works or things than these. In other words, you believe for
hearing me say you were under a fig tree, which was true. Now,
you believe a credit on that, but you are going to see greater
things. Now, as our Lord answers Nathaniel,
I don't think it's a rejection of Nathaniel's confession, and
I don't think that It is a rebuke for believing so easily and so
quickly, if I may use those words, upon first contact. He believes
and believes immediately and believes rightly, Son of God,
King of Israel. Now, there are many in Israel
required a sign of our Lord. They said, if we see a sign from
heaven, we're not going to believe. But Nathanael believed at hearing
the Lord's knowing about him, while Thomas would only believe
that the Lord was resurrected if he could put his hand in the
wounds that our Lord suffered at the cross, John 20, 25. Whereas,
unless I see for myself, Thomas said, I'm not going to believe
that. And while the Lord commends Nathanael for believing so easily
and so quickly and upon such easy term, the Lord promises
him greater evidence that he is the one Moses and the prophets
spoke about, wrote about. Verse 50, let's read it. Heaven opened and angels come
in. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, the angels of God ascending,
and descending upon him. Now that title, the Son of Man,
this carries us back to Jacob's vision in a way. In Genesis chapter
28, we mentioned it last Sunday, Jacob had a vision when he was
on his way to Pot Dandaram and the ladder, you remember, from
heaven to earth, and angels were coming and going on that ladder
in his vision. And this was mystifying to Jacob
and a great experience in his life. Angels coming and going
upon the Son of Man as he takes the place of Jacob. Now, the question comes, is this
Literal? Will it be literal? Or can it
also be mystical? Is there a New Testament record
of this actually occurring in the life of our Lord? In what
period of time is meant? His time on earth? His glorious
coming in the clouds of glory? Matthew 24, 30. Expositors, I
found, are all over the place on this passage or verse the
scripture so how am I going to settle it and one thing we might
agree on that the Son of God is the only one that can span
the distance between God and man between heaven and earth
between a holy God and sinful man now in that he descended
into the lower parts of the earth and then ascended again to the
right hand of God. You have that in Ephesians 4,
verse 8 and 10, but it is taken out of the Old Testament. He's
come from God. He went to God. John 13 and verse
3. He came down from glory in heaven. even though in his humanity he
lived an itinerant life in the world, no place to lay his head,
no home did he own. And yet, after his death and
his resurrection, he did ascend into heaven, and may I say, he
is the only way into heaven. No other way is there into heaven
other than Christ. Now as for Christ and the angels
ascending and descending upon him at his birth In Luke chapter
one, the angels there were rejoicing and singing. When our Lord was
baptized, the glory of God came down upon him and a voice from
heaven. And when he was transfigured
again, there was the glory of God and the brightness of him
that appeared. When he suffered in agony in
the garden, angels came and ministered unto him and sustained him as
in the wilderness. So angels coming and going upon
the Son of Man. Angels are mysterious to us today. They do not appear in visible
form as they did on occasion in the Old Testament. But how
do we know that the angels, because they're said to be spirits that
shall minister to the heirs of salvation in the first part of
Hebrew. So those angels go and they come
by, through and upon Christ in some way. that I am limited to
explain unto you. But he said, you shall see heaven
open, angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
Man. Thank God for that and the work
of Christ as he begins together that band of men that shall be
his disciples early and his apostles during his ministry and after
he is ascended.