Nathanael Series

Twelve Ordinary Men

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Today we are going to continue the sermon series on the Twelve Apostles by examining the life of Nathanael. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that the book “Twelve Ordinary Men” by John MacArthur was used as the foundation for this sermon series. Imagine spending your whole life combing through the Mosaic Law and the Prophets to learn as much as you can about the coming of the Messiah and then one day your friend boldly declares He has arrived! How would you react? You would think that Nathanael would have been overwhelmed with joy, drop everything and run to the feet of his Master! And yet we find in John 1:43-51 that his initial reaction was one of skepticism. As soon as Phillip said Jesus was from Nazareth Nathanael’s prejudice kicked in and he found himself dismissing any chance that the Messiah had come because His home town had a reputation of being unrefined, uneducated, evil, corrupt, and full of sinful people! And yet after just hearing a few words from Jesus his prejudices melted away and he cried out “Rabbi you are the Son of God” (verse 49). In examining the life of Nathanael, we are going to learn how those who genuinely seek God will see their prejudice and skepticism give way to truth and faith in their Master.

Background on Nathanael

What little that can be known about Nathanael comes mostly from the Gospel of John. Nathanael is a Greek name that means “God has given” and his Jewish surname Bartholomeaw means “son of Tomai.” While Nathanael’s genealogy is not given anywhere in the Bible or historically, some scholars suggest that Maach, wife of King David, was daughter of King Talmai of Geshur (2 Samuel 3:3) which would mean that Nathanel was of Davidic descent. Nathanael’s home town was Cana of Galilee (John 21:2). According to John MacArthur, Nathanael was most likely a professional fisherman along with Phillip, Thomas, and the other four apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John (John 21, Mark 1:21, 29; Luke 5:10) who were fishing partners. Even though the name “Nathanael” has been identified as “Bartholomew” since the 9th century, some scholars have suggested he could have been either James the Son of Alphaeus, Matthew, Simon the Cananaean or not even a disciple! Nathanael’s name is listed in sixth place in each of the lists of Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-18; Luke 6:12-15) as his surname Bartholomew. His itinerant ministry ranged from Anatolia to Parthia, Egypt and India; each with its own tradition on how he was martyred.

Love of Scripture

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.”

By mentioning that Jesus was the one whom Moses and prophets wrote about Phillip knew this would peak Nathanael’s interest whom was an ardent student of the Old Testament. To hear that the heart of the Old Testament had been finally fulfilled in Jesus would have been profound for any Jewish person to hear, especially for one whom meditated on Scripture all those days sitting under the fig tree outside his home! From Nathanael we learn that while truth is not easily found those who genuinely seek will find God who is always near (James 4:8). Had Nathanael not read about the prophesied virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) or the Messiah coming from a lowly place like Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) or having no beauty of majesty (Isaiah 53:2); he most likely would not have gone to meet one whom did not fulfill Jewish expectations that the Messiah would be a Jewish King whom would conquer Rome. Even though the religious establishment of Nathanael’s day was “dominated by hypocrisy and false piety” this did not deter him from recognizing and accepting the truth concerning Jesus! As one without guile or deceit, Nathanael truly was a “symbol of the pious Israelite whom Christ came”!

Prejudice and Skepticism

46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

The moment Phillip said Jesus was from Nazareth Nathanael became skeptical that He was the Messiah! Since “Nazareth was not mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, Midrash or contemporary pagan writings,” why would the Messiah be born in such an insignificant place? Not even the people in the synagogues of Capernaum (John 6:42) or Nazareth itself (Mark 6:1-6) believed that was possible! Nathanael probably wondered why would God’s own Son and Savior of humanity choose to take up residence at an “uncultured place, full of evil, corrupt, and sinful people”? His disdain for Nazareth was either due to civil rivalry with his home town Cana or was due to his misconception that anything familiar or close to home could not house such a great honor! To have him cured of his “human blindness,” Philip chose not to try and win over his friend by argument but instead took Him to see Jesus.