The Continual Call of Discipleship John 1:43-51
Jesus continues to call His disciples together in John 1:43-51: The next day (day four of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of John) Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 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.” (He is referring to MESSIAH or CHRIST, which we looked at in v.41: Jesus is the one prophesied in the OT.) 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
More on Discipleship
Jesus teaches more principles of the nature of true discipleship in these verses. Notice that it is JESUS who seeks, He finds, and calls Philip “on purpose” for “His purpose”. Jesus purposefully goes to Galilee, He finds Philip and gives a simple, familiar, yet powerful command by Jesus recorded 20 other times in the Gospels: FOLLOW ME! The tense of the verb tells us that Jesus says: Follow me today, and KEEP FOLLOWING ME! Remember from last week that “FOLLOWING” is taking that first step of faith concerning what you have HEARD and what has been revealed concerning Jesus. When THE Truth with a capital “T” is revealed to you, and you see Jesus for who He is according to God’s Word, you purposefully follow Him, and as a true disciple, you will continue to follow.
That’s the nature of a true disciple: When God calls you for His purpose, you will keep following. If you study the few things mentioned about Philip, you would find that he is a VERY, VERY ordinary disciple, but he immediately does what disciples do, He follows and Jesus uses the testimony of disciples to call others: “Philip found Nathanael.” The call TO discipleship inevitably results in sharing the best news in the world with others, and so He shares his findings concerning Jesus with Nathanael and Philip says to Him: “Come and see.”
Inviting others to meet Jesus does NOT mean that you KNOW EVERTHING. In the beginning of following Jesus, you know very little except that you know who Jesus is and you obey His call! It is quite normal at first to have an honest skepticism only because you have just begun to follow Jesus. You have to learn of Him and you have to be taught by Him. You have to fellowship with Him and with others who have been students a lot longer. And it does not mean that you are going to be “LIKE” those other students in giftedness, but you are going to KNOW JESUS.
“Come and see” is FAR, FAR, more than “seeing with the eyes”; it is understanding and knowing with your mind and heart. Jesus will later say in John 3:3: “Truly, truly, I say to you, UNLESS one is born again (born from above, unless you are born of God) he cannot SEE the kingdom of God.” If you have skepticism or doubt, come to Jesus. Come to hear His Word. Come closer and examine Jesus and allow His Spirit and Word to work on your heart and mind. Jesus is the one to illuminate your mind and heart.
Names and Titles of Jesus
Let’s look at the rest of the event: verse 47 “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, (a True Israelite) in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you (plural), you (plural) will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
John had given us a number of references already in this first chapter which exhibit Jesus’ spiritual and eternal qualities: The Word (God speaks to us through Jesus.) The Light, (Jesus is the illuminating revelation from God Himself which reveals the darkness and sin of the human heart.) He is The Life and The True Light, (Men are in darkness but as the Light is revealed to them they move out of the darkness ONLY through Jesus.)The Only Begotten (monogenes) and The Son of God (Jesus is God’s Son eternally in a way that makes Him entirely unique and divine with all Godly authority.)
Some of His titles explain His Mission: He’s The Lamb of God,(Jesus is our substitution for sin.) The Son of God, (As Son, Christ exercises the authority and reigns in the lives of those He saves, who have come to Him and have been born from above.) He’s King of Israel (the heavenly king who would reign eternally over God’s people). He’s Messiah/Christ,(Anointed prophet, priest and King) Rabbi, (My great one, the ordained teacher from God)
Jesus and Nathanael
Take a few minutes to look at the conversation between Jesus and Nathanael. Jesus says that Nathanael is an Israelite without deceit. He is saying that he is honest and unassuming in coming to Jesus, even though he makes the crack, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He didn’t stay in doubt or skepticism but instead was willing to come to Jesus and see. The fact is: Jesus knew Nathanael before he knew Him. Jesus says: I saw and knew you BEFORE Philip invited you. Jesus demonstrated that His knowledge was far more than that of an ordinary prophet, giving Philip a lesson of Jesus’ Divinity and Authority.
A man without a deceitful heart was a rarity in Israel and Jesus demonstrated that HE KNOWS THE HEARTS of Men. Jesus knew the heart of the first Israelite, whose name had been Jacob, (supplanter or deceiver, Gen 27:35) because his life had been filled with trickery and deceit until he wrestled with God and God changed his name to Israel (May God prevail. He struggles with God. God perseveres; God contends.) Jesus is saying to Nathanael: You have an honest and sincere heart: I know your heart and you are a symbol of TRUE Isarael who is coming to God without self-deceit; It is as if Jesus were saying “Look, Israel without a trace of Jacob left in him.” (“John”, A. Kostenberger, p. 82)
Jacob of old was a man of vision in the Old Testament, but Nathanael would exceed Jacob in seeing greater things as a follower of the Lord of Heaven. Nathanael makes an enormous statement using three of Jesus’ titles: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” In doing so, he identifies Jesus as the Messiah predicted throughout the Old Testament. Son of God was also a current messianic title used during Jesus’ day. Although the disciples have “seen” Jesus, Jesus replies in such a way as to say that they still have far more to learn of Him: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Jesus’ use of “the Son of Man” is a self-ascribed title used 80 times in the Gospel: That title refers often to Jesus’ crucifixion and His suffering, which we remember today at the Lord’s Supper, but it also appeared in Daniel 7:13-14 to describe the future apocalyptic “Son of Man.” There it says, "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
Do you understand the immensity of the conversation between Nathanael and Jesus? Jesus is saying, “I AM THE SON OF MAN prophesied in Daniel 7; I am the one who will be given dominion and glory and a kingdom, THE KINGDOM, that all peoples nation and languages shall serve me. My kingdom is an everlasting kingdom which will never EVER pass away…and it is initiating before your very eyes. Do you see it?
When Jesus uses the words TRULY, TRULY, he is voicing the solemnity, the dominion and authority of God the Son in the flesh, in His humanity WHILE HE IS the Son of Man. And to be certain that those hearing also understand, He makes an added declaration: You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you (plural), you (plural) will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
“ASCENDING and DESCENDING” is reminiscent of Gen. 28:10-12: “Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 17: (He said:) "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
“What Jesus tells Nathanael, then, is that he himself will be the place of much greater divine revelation than that given at previous occasions. He will mediate greater revelation than Abram, Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah. Jesus is the “new Bethel”, the place where God is revealed , where heaven and earth, God and humankind, meet. Importantly though, Jesus is the very culmination of all of God’s revelatory expressions, providing a fullness of divine self-disclosure about which even Jacob (Israel could only dream; and these disciples, who as of yet know little of what awaits them, will soon be witnesses of revelation far exceeding that received by any Israelite in previous history.” (“John”, A. Kostenberger, p. 86)
Jesus is describing His uninterrupted communion with His Father. The Father proclaimed the uniqueness of the Son at His Baptism, the Spirit had descended and remained on the Son. The Lord Jesus would take three disciples with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration where God would again declare the uniqueness of the Son and they would see Jesus’ glory revealed.
Jesus Christ, the Son who descended from the Father’s side in Heaven, would also ascend to the Cross, only to descend to the grave, and to once again ascend to life and back to His Heaven, where He reigns in glory: His Spirit would descend and remain on all who believe and trust in His Name… But…This Jesus, who descended and ascended will also return as the end-time judge of Daniel. He commands us to take and read His Word, to listen to the leading of His Spirit, to learn more of Him, to continue to follow Him closely, to come and see more of Him, to persevere together in the faith once delivered to the saints. Tell others about Him and together and communally observe and obey Him. May we honor and obey Him BECAUSE He is our Savior. Amen.
OUTLINE:
I. Jesus demonstrates the nature of True Discipleship.
A. Jesus seeks, finds, and calls “on purpose” for “His purpose”: “YOU KEEP FOLLOWING.”
B. Jesus uses the testimony of disciples to call others: “Philip found Nathanael.”
C. An honest Skepticism is part of following at first: “Come and see.”
D. “Unless one is born again he cannot SEE the kingdom of God.”
II. John names Jesus’ titles.
A. Jesus’ titles, which exhibit His spiritual and eternal qualities:
The Word, The Light, The Life, The True Light, The Only Begotten (mongenes), The Son of God.
B. Titles of Mission: The Lamb of God, The Son of God, King of Israel (Messianic titles) and Son of Man, Messiah/Christ, Rabbi, (My great one, ordained teacher from God)
III. Jesus and Nathanael: A lesson of Jesus’ Divinity/The Divine Connection Gen. 28:10-12, Dan. 7:13-14
A. Jesus knew Nathanael before he knew Him.
B. Jesus knows the heart.
C. “Truly, Truly” demonstrates the solemnity and authority of God the Son.
D. Jesus announces the presence of the Kingdom of God.
