[00:00:06] You're listening to Theology and Apologetics with Thomas Fretwell, bringing theology to life.
[00:00:13] So Life of Messiah series, we are looking at the call of the first disciples today. We are back in John chapter 1 where we left off last week actually. We're just going to continue with the narrative in John chapter 1.
[00:00:24] And if you remember last week we spent most of our time looking at that wonderful declaration of John the Baptist where he sees Jesus and he says the next day he saw Jesus coming to him and he said,
[00:00:35] Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And we really focused most of our time on the richness of that statement.
[00:00:43] We spoke about how the Lamb points us towards the picture of sacrifice, points us towards the removal of our sins and that the shadow of the cross was thus over the entire ministry of Jesus even from his very first day of public ministry.
[00:00:59] And we took a wonderful journey through the scripture, looking at this idea of the Lamb right back to the Garden of Eden into Mount Moriah with Genesis with Abraham and Isaac.
[00:01:11] And we saw that famous question where Isaac says, Where is the Lamb for a burnt offering?
[00:01:16] And Abraham said, God will provide himself the Lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
[00:01:21] And we jumped there from Exodus chapter 12, looking at the Passover, this idea of being redeemed from slavery and death by slaying a lamb and placing the blood on the doorpost, the Passover lamb.
[00:01:34] We spoke about the verse in Peter where he talks about being redeemed from this by the precious blood of Jesus as of a lamb slain.
[00:01:43] And we spoke a little bit about why we believe the blood of Jesus is so precious to us.
[00:01:49] Summing up, we spoke about things like it redeems us from sin.
[00:01:52] It provides us fellowship with God.
[00:01:54] It cleanses us.
[00:01:54] It overcomes the devil and it ratifies and signs the new covenant.
[00:01:59] We summed up the entire Old Testament with the question, Where is the Lamb?
[00:02:03] That is the question of the Old Testament, if you remember.
[00:02:06] All the time the Lamb was promised.
[00:02:08] It was prophesied.
[00:02:09] Thousands of years.
[00:02:10] Where is the Lamb?
[00:02:11] And the New Testament now, John the Baptist was the one who got to answer that question when he looks and he says, Behold the Lamb.
[00:02:17] Where is the Lamb?
[00:02:18] Behold the Lamb is John the Baptist's answer to that.
[00:02:21] So we're going to pick it up in John chapter 1, verse 35.
[00:02:24] And he says, Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples.
[00:02:29] And he looked at Jesus as he walked and said, Behold the Lamb of God.
[00:02:33] And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.
[00:02:38] So this is the next day.
[00:02:39] Again now, John writing sort of consecutive days.
[00:02:42] He makes this declaration again.
[00:02:44] Behold the Lamb of God.
[00:02:45] And this time it seems like he's saying it again in front of these two specific disciples.
[00:02:50] One of whom is John himself.
[00:02:52] You may notice in John's Gospel he always never uses his own name.
[00:02:56] He writes about himself in the third person for the narrative.
[00:02:59] But one of them is John.
[00:03:00] The other is Andrew, as we'll see.
[00:03:02] Now what I find amazing about these two verses is in this first verse we read about them and they're described as being disciples of John, aren't they?
[00:03:09] And then by the end of the verse they're disciples of Jesus.
[00:03:12] And that's how easy.
[00:03:13] That is the ministry of John the Baptist there.
[00:03:14] That was his whole purpose.
[00:03:15] To take people from himself and to give them to Jesus.
[00:03:18] And we see this beautifully in this verse.
[00:03:20] So he says behold the Lamb of God.
[00:03:22] I won't recap.
[00:03:23] We've done that.
[00:03:24] Everything in that statement and in that identity.
[00:03:26] But he's obviously, he gestures with his hand or looks towards Jesus in the sight of these two apostles.
[00:03:32] Declares him to be the Lamb of God.
[00:03:34] That is his official identification.
[00:03:36] This is the Messiah again.
[00:03:38] And immediately now we see these two disciples start to follow him.
[00:03:42] And it tells us a lot about John the Baptist too, doesn't it?
[00:03:45] Because he knew, remember, his position.
[00:03:47] He knew he was the messenger.
[00:03:48] He knew what his mission and his role was to prepare the way.
[00:03:52] He knew, like he said, that he was unworthy to even untie the sandals of the Messiah.
[00:03:57] He did not want to take any glory for himself.
[00:04:00] So losing disciples for him was actually the fulfillment of his ministry.
[00:04:04] We don't think like that.
[00:04:05] But for John the Baptist, losing his disciples to Jesus was the entire purpose that he was supposed to be.
[00:04:12] That was what was supposed to happen.
[00:04:13] He desired no glory, no followers, no praise of men.
[00:04:16] And he wanted everyone that was following him to start following Jesus.
[00:04:20] And in that, we actually have a good model for us today too.
[00:04:23] It's a good ministry model for us today too.
[00:04:26] Because our mission in many ways is the same, isn't it?
[00:04:28] To point people to Jesus.
[00:04:30] We're not to gather our own followers.
[00:04:33] You look through the history of the church.
[00:04:35] Many a cult has been started by leaders who are unwilling to point people to Jesus.
[00:04:39] And rather collected followers to themselves.
[00:04:42] But we see here these two disciples.
[00:04:44] They heard the revelation of John the Baptist.
[00:04:47] Behold the Lamb of God.
[00:04:48] And then they responded.
[00:04:49] And this is the point.
[00:04:51] Revelation always requires a response.
[00:04:54] And no response is actually the response of rejection, I would say.
[00:04:59] And it will be used at the judgment seat to make sure that everyone is accountable.
[00:05:03] We must remember that.
[00:05:04] It's quite a scary thought in many ways.
[00:05:06] How many have we seen who have heard the gospel and not yet responded in any positive way?
[00:05:13] Thus, in many ways, actually rejecting it.
[00:05:15] Without revelation, how could they respond?
[00:05:17] Again, it just shows us the importance of the ministry of John the Baptist here and also of the church.
[00:05:22] Like Paul said, how shall they hear if there is no preacher or is no one to tell them?
[00:05:26] This is the mission of the church again.
[00:05:28] It's why it's important that we do this.
[00:05:30] Verse 38.
[00:05:32] And Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what do you seek?
[00:05:38] And they said to him, Rabbi, which translated means teacher, where are you staying?
[00:05:42] And he said to them, come and you will see.
[00:05:45] So they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour.
[00:05:51] So presumably this scene, they're standing, they're standing with John, they see Jesus coming.
[00:05:58] He proclaims him as the Lamb of God.
[00:05:59] These disciples turn their allegiance from John now to Jesus and they start walking after Jesus,
[00:06:05] who seems to be on the move at this time.
[00:06:07] Jesus, obviously aware that he's picked up these two followers, turns and speaks to them.
[00:06:12] And he asked them that question, what do you seek?
[00:06:15] And this is actually the first words recorded in the book of John, anyway, for us of Jesus.
[00:06:21] And they are very important words, classic Jewish teaching method.
[00:06:26] Ask a question, what do you seek?
[00:06:28] And I kind of read that and you can go off on a tangent with the deep kind of existential philosophical questions that that involves.
[00:06:35] What are you looking for?
[00:06:37] Makes us consider all of these big questions that many people have been asking for many years.
[00:06:43] What is the meaning of existence?
[00:06:44] What are you wanting from me?
[00:06:46] What do you think you're going to get by following me?
[00:06:49] Is there any reason or meaning to life at all?
[00:06:52] What are your goals?
[00:06:53] What consumes your thoughts and your time?
[00:06:55] What answers to life's big question do you have or do you seek from me?
[00:07:00] All of these things are really summed up in that question when you consider who is asking it.
[00:07:04] The Lord, the King of the universe, basically.
[00:07:07] But he's lowering himself to the level in many ways of these disciples meeting them in their curiosity at this time and simply asking the question and giving them a time to respond.
[00:07:18] But they said to him, Rabbi, which translated means teacher, where are you staying?
[00:07:23] Now, if you follow the dialogue here, it seems weird.
[00:07:26] Like he gave them this wonderful opportunity.
[00:07:27] What do you seek?
[00:07:28] To answer, to ask any sort of question they want.
[00:07:31] And they kind of ignore it and they say, where are you staying?
[00:07:34] And that seems unusual to us.
[00:07:36] But we have to understand the background.
[00:07:38] All of this, the end of this chapter, the background is extremely important.
[00:07:42] I'm hopefully going to flesh it out to you.
[00:07:44] It seems like an unusual answer, answering a question with a question.
[00:07:47] But this is, again, couldn't really be any more Jewish dialogue than answering a question with a question.
[00:07:52] That's how the rabbis taught one another at this time.
[00:07:55] They address him as rabbi.
[00:07:57] Now, at this stage in the first century, there was no such thing as an ordained rabbi like we would have today.
[00:08:03] There was no such ordination process.
[00:08:04] The rabbi was just the name for a teacher of the law.
[00:08:08] And disciples would use that as a term of affection, a term of huge respect for those who were willing to interpret the law for them.
[00:08:17] These are the people that would dedicate their lives to studying the law and interpreting it for the people.
[00:08:22] And the idea was rabbis would take disciples.
[00:08:25] The word disciple simply means the learner.
[00:08:28] If you are a disciple of a rabbi, you are a learner of that rabbi.
[00:08:33] You listen to his interpretation of the law.
[00:08:35] And hopefully you can see the application.
[00:08:37] We are disciples of Jesus, who is the rabbi here.
[00:08:41] Thus, we are to take his interpretation of the scriptures as the ultimate authority.
[00:08:45] We are his disciples.
[00:08:47] We learn from him.
[00:08:48] Now, with the Messiah, with Jesus here, John has just identified him.
[00:08:53] The expectation to the Jewish mind in the first century was that when the Messiah comes, he would be able to perfectly interpret the law for the nations.
[00:09:04] That was one of the expectations that they thought about the Messiah.
[00:09:07] They got this from Genesis 49 verse 10.
[00:09:09] That ancient prophecy where it says the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver between his feet until Shiloh comes and until him shall a gathering of his people be.
[00:09:19] And they said when Shiloh comes, he will be the ultimate lawgiver.
[00:09:23] You see, that was the idea there.
[00:09:24] The one who not only interprets the law but makes new laws according to the prophecies that we see.
[00:09:30] The question of the two disciples, where are you staying then?
[00:09:32] When we understand the process of a rabbi, when a disciple joined themselves to a rabbi, they would literally join themselves to him.
[00:09:41] Thus, they would forsake everything and follow him.
[00:09:45] Thus, they would go to his house.
[00:09:46] They would walk with him.
[00:09:47] They would sleep where he sleeps.
[00:09:49] They would eat where he eats.
[00:09:50] And they would be joined in that way.
[00:09:52] So we see here in this question where they say, where are you staying?
[00:09:55] It seems slightly unusual, but what they are basically saying is that we want to come and be your disciples and learn about your interpretation of the law for us.
[00:10:06] We have questions for you that are more than we could just say in this brief conversation.
[00:10:10] We want to come to your home, fellowship with you, come under your authority.
[00:10:14] We know you are the ultimate and perfect interpreter of the law.
[00:10:18] That's what they're saying with this question.
[00:10:20] And here is the response.
[00:10:22] We could make an application.
[00:10:24] Simply speaking of Christian things is not enough.
[00:10:28] We do that very well.
[00:10:29] We're very good at that, aren't we?
[00:10:31] But it's the stage from speaking to action that is often the hard part.
[00:10:35] There must be a point where faith leads to action.
[00:10:38] And this is what we see here with these two disciples.
[00:10:41] Not only do they ask Jesus a question, but they're showing with that question that they want to follow him.
[00:10:46] They want to actually go with him to his house and continue.
[00:10:50] And ultimately you could say that they know that all the answers to life were to be found with Jesus.
[00:10:56] They had found the Messiah, as we're going to see them proclaim to someone else in a minute.
[00:11:00] And this is again the same for us today.
[00:11:02] I would say Jesus has the answer.
[00:11:05] In verse 39 he says,
[00:11:31] And I like this.
[00:11:34] But there's a huge background here.
[00:11:37] He's asking them that question.
[00:11:39] Where do you stay?
[00:11:40] They're committing themselves to follow him and submit to his authority.
[00:11:44] And he says,
[00:11:45] Come now.
[00:11:45] And basically,
[00:11:47] Come and see.
[00:11:47] It's a lovely illustration that faith is not simply about just assenting to ideas, beliefs, ethical systems.
[00:11:55] Sometimes chiefly it is doing what these disciples did and saying,
[00:11:58] We want to follow you.
[00:12:00] Christianity is ultimately about following a person.
[00:12:03] He invited them in.
[00:12:04] He met them where they were in their curiosity.
[00:12:06] And you think of these two disciples.
[00:12:07] It does say they ended up having a whole evening with the Lord.
[00:12:10] Private dinner time conversation with the Lord.
[00:12:14] They stayed with him.
[00:12:15] That was probably one of their most wonderful things.
[00:12:17] And you pick up on this.
[00:12:19] What does John say?
[00:12:20] He says,
[00:12:20] For it was about the 10th hour.
[00:12:22] That's 4pm roughly in the Jewish time that we have here.
[00:12:25] It was about the 4th hour.
[00:12:27] And it tells you that this was obviously a very important moment to John right there.
[00:12:31] He knew the time, the exact time that it happened.
[00:12:34] You could say that he knew the exact hour that he first met and talked with Jesus.
[00:12:38] Many people, probably many of you in this church can probably remember the day and time that you met Jesus for the first time.
[00:12:44] The day you were saved.
[00:12:46] Similar here for these disciples.
[00:12:48] But Jesus says to them,
[00:12:49] Come and you will see.
[00:12:50] And for me that's a lovely illustration.
[00:12:53] Ultimate invitation of divine grace coming from the lips of Jesus.
[00:12:57] We see him do this a lot throughout the Gospels.
[00:12:59] Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
[00:13:04] I am the bread of life.
[00:13:06] He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst.
[00:13:10] If you do a word search on come, Jesus, he says it a lot.
[00:13:14] It's an invitation.
[00:13:15] Jesus is continually inviting people into his presence, into his life to receive of what he is giving.
[00:13:21] That is his ministry.
[00:13:23] Verse 40.
[00:13:25] One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
[00:13:31] He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ.
[00:13:37] He brought him to Jesus.
[00:13:38] Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon, the son of John.
[00:13:42] You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter.
[00:13:45] Now, Andrew here, obviously so excited after this first encounter, this night he got to spend with Jesus.
[00:13:50] He wants to tell those that he loves about Jesus.
[00:13:53] And this is not this really the most natural method of evangelism that we still see in the church today.
[00:13:59] Sharing the good news.
[00:14:00] Most people who have come to faith, not saying there's other ways that the Lord does it,
[00:14:05] but more often than not, you'll find it is through encounters like this.
[00:14:09] He runs and he finds his brother Simon and he proclaims to him,
[00:14:13] we have found the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, the one whom of all the scriptures speak.
[00:14:19] This is it.
[00:14:20] And the word found, it's the same word that we would, we have the expression eureka.
[00:14:25] We've heard that expression, that's where it's a Greek word, that's where it comes from.
[00:14:28] We have found something after this long search.
[00:14:31] We found it.
[00:14:31] It's a eureka moment that we have there.
[00:14:33] That is what is going on.
[00:14:35] Their eureka moment is that they have found the Messiah.
[00:14:38] You see, for the Jewish mind, they've been waiting for this Messiah for years, thousands of years.
[00:14:43] They've just had sort of scant prophecies going through the Bible,
[00:14:46] but their history is one of their ups and really, really low downs, basically.
[00:14:52] So they've been waiting for this saviour, this Messiah to come.
[00:14:54] And now these two messiahs are elated with the fact, these two disciples rather,
[00:14:58] that they have finally found the Messiah.
[00:15:01] And he's running around telling people this is the case.
[00:15:04] This is their moment.
[00:15:06] This is the one who would save them from their sins.
[00:15:09] This is the king of Israel.
[00:15:10] This is the king of kings, the one who will rule and reign and set all things right.
[00:15:15] And they have found him.
[00:15:17] And it's the same with many testimonies you hear today.
[00:15:20] They've been seeking for this, waiting for it, wondering.
[00:15:24] And like this is why Jesus says to them, what is it you seek?
[00:15:26] They obviously had lots of questions.
[00:15:29] And this is, again, humanity is no different.
[00:15:31] We may live in different times, different culture,
[00:15:33] but the human heart still has questions.
[00:15:35] We still search for the same longings that many people did in these days.
[00:15:39] And ultimately, we still need the same things.
[00:15:41] We need that forgiveness.
[00:15:42] We need that cleansing.
[00:15:43] We need that healing, that restoration.
[00:15:45] And we just can't find it in the world in many ways.
[00:15:48] We see that there is evil still in the world.
[00:15:51] We don't understand why evil seems to triumph in so many ways.
[00:15:54] We still see that justice is often lacking.
[00:15:56] All of these things is what they saw then too.
[00:15:59] And they placed the hope that these things would be changed in this coming Messiah.
[00:16:04] Everything was going to be different when the Messiah came.
[00:16:07] And this is the same really for us today.
[00:16:09] That was the longings of their heart that were left unfulfilled
[00:16:12] were to be fulfilled by the Messiah.
[00:16:15] And ultimately, because they knew, and we know today,
[00:16:18] man is made to be in that relationship with God.
[00:16:21] And that is the very purpose of our existence.
[00:16:23] So this is very much their eureka moment.
[00:16:26] They were seeking him, and they found him, just like Jeremiah promises.
[00:16:29] If you seek me and search for me with all your heart, you will find me.
[00:16:33] He says, you are Simon, the son of John.
[00:16:35] You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter.
[00:16:40] So he changes his name.
[00:16:41] Well, he doesn't change his name.
[00:16:42] He gives him another name in many ways.
[00:16:45] It was quite common to have up to three names in this time.
[00:16:48] Quite often, you'd have a Roman name, a Greek name, and a Hebrew name
[00:16:50] if you were from this culture, or an Aramaic.
[00:16:52] Cephas is, in fact, Aramaic.
[00:16:54] And it simply means the same as Peter.
[00:16:56] It means the rock.
[00:16:57] And I think he's foretelling something of how significant Peter will be
[00:17:01] in the foundation of the church going forward.
[00:17:05] Now, let's read these next section, 43 to 51.
[00:17:09] And I'll be honest with you, I'm going to share with you,
[00:17:11] we're going to go into some Jewish background here.
[00:17:13] It's one of these passages I find fascinating.
[00:17:16] Hopefully, you'll find it fascinating too.
[00:17:18] You might not.
[00:17:18] I might be nerding out on it too hard.
[00:17:20] But it's one of these passages that we miss a huge amount of what is going on.
[00:17:24] Hopefully, I can flesh it out for you.
[00:17:26] Let's just read the whole section in one go.
[00:17:28] 43, it says,
[00:17:29] The next day, he purposed to go into Galilee, and he found Philip.
[00:17:33] And Jesus said to him, follow me.
[00:17:36] Now, Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter.
[00:17:39] Philip found Nathanael and said to him,
[00:17:42] We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote,
[00:17:46] Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
[00:17:48] Nathanael said to him, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
[00:17:52] And Philip said to him, come and see.
[00:17:54] Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said to him,
[00:17:57] Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.
[00:18:02] Nathanael said to him, how do you know me?
[00:18:04] And Jesus answered and said to him, before Philip called you,
[00:18:07] when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
[00:18:10] Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God.
[00:18:13] You are the king of Israel.
[00:18:15] Jesus answered and said to him, because I said to you
[00:18:17] that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?
[00:18:20] You will see greater things than these.
[00:18:22] And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you,
[00:18:25] you will see the heavens open, the angels of God ascending
[00:18:28] and descending on the son of man.
[00:18:30] So a very famous portion of scripture.
[00:18:32] Let's dig into this.
[00:18:34] We see him now recruit the fourth disciple.
[00:18:36] He finds this man called Philip and he simply says to him, follow me.
[00:18:40] And again, if you wanted to simplify the call of us as disciples
[00:18:45] to probably the simplest statement you could,
[00:18:48] it would be those two words, follow me.
[00:18:50] That ultimately is what we're doing.
[00:18:53] We're following Jesus through this life into the next.
[00:18:55] That is the Christian life.
[00:18:57] This is the reason.
[00:18:59] Jesus said, didn't he?
[00:19:00] I am the way, the truth and the life.
[00:19:02] And when you realize this, following anything else in this life
[00:19:05] really pales into insignificance.
[00:19:07] When you have the call of the master, the king, who says, follow me,
[00:19:11] what can you do except follow him?
[00:19:14] He says, we have found him.
[00:19:16] So it says, Jesus said to him, follow me.
[00:19:18] Philip was from Bethsaida in the city of Andrew.
[00:19:20] So Philip then runs off to find Nathaniel.
[00:19:22] So Philip again here does the kind of next evangelism.
[00:19:25] He runs off to find Nathaniel and he says to him, we have found him
[00:19:28] of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth,
[00:19:33] the son of Joseph.
[00:19:34] Now, most likely just because of these two people, Nathaniel and Philip,
[00:19:39] they were, they knew each other because they're always mentioned together.
[00:19:41] And it seems like he has a definite location.
[00:19:44] He runs to his buddy, Nathaniel.
[00:19:46] And he, you can tell he's quite familiar with the law and with the prophecies
[00:19:50] because he says, we found the one, he uses these titles, Jesus of Nazareth,
[00:19:53] the son of Joseph.
[00:19:54] These are all Jewish terms that relate to the Messiah and the prophecies.
[00:19:58] And he says, we found the one of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote.
[00:20:02] He was obviously quite learned in the scriptures, this man.
[00:20:05] And so was Nathaniel.
[00:20:06] So I'd imagine these two were Torah students.
[00:20:08] Just remember that it will become significant as we go forward.
[00:20:11] And he proclaims, we found this long awaited Messiah, the one that Moses in all of those
[00:20:16] prophecies starting right from the beginning of the book of Genesis that work their way
[00:20:19] through all of those ones in Isaiah that we're studying at the moment and these hundreds
[00:20:24] of prophecies that they know about the Messiah.
[00:20:26] And he's saying, we have now found the one that everything is written about.
[00:20:31] And Philip is proclaiming to have identified him to Nathaniel, which is a big,
[00:20:35] which is a big thing, if you could imagine, two people who have dedicated their lives to
[00:20:38] studying the prophecies and the scriptures and waiting.
[00:20:41] And then one person comes along and says, I found him.
[00:20:44] You would be a bit like, have you?
[00:20:46] Like, honestly?
[00:20:47] And you get that from his response.
[00:20:49] He says, it's Jesus of Nazareth.
[00:20:51] Nathaniel said to him, verse 46, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
[00:20:55] And this is again showing the typical view.
[00:20:58] We've dealt with this in some of our introduction sessions held about Nazareth at that time.
[00:21:02] It was a low little village, nothing really to its name.
[00:21:05] It was unimpressive.
[00:21:07] No one important lived there.
[00:21:08] There's no reason a good rabbi would ever go to study there.
[00:21:10] One tiny little synagogue, that sort of a thing there.
[00:21:13] It was even people from Galilee, which was not an area thought of well by the Jewish people.
[00:21:18] Even people from Galilee looked down on people from Nazareth.
[00:21:21] So that was the sort of reputation that they had.
[00:21:23] So he says, you're telling me the king of kings has come from Nazareth?
[00:21:27] Can any good thing come from Nazareth?
[00:21:29] And Philip here, I like what he does.
[00:21:31] He doesn't try to argue his case.
[00:21:33] This could have been a time where he said, let me lay it out for you.
[00:21:36] Let me make an argument.
[00:21:37] He simply just says, come and see.
[00:21:39] Like the evidence will speak for itself.
[00:21:41] When you meet this person, when you meet Jesus, you're going to know this is the Messiah.
[00:21:46] And again, showing you what sort of high regard he had for the Messiah.
[00:21:52] And then 47, he says, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said to him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit.
[00:22:01] You might say guile in your Bibles.
[00:22:03] Deceit is probably slightly more easier translation there.
[00:22:07] So now we see Jesus enter the scene.
[00:22:09] We've got these two Torah students, these two.
[00:22:11] One a disciple, one maybe nearly a disciple.
[00:22:13] But they're obviously, you know, their hearts are already prepared because they're studying the scriptures and waiting for these things.
[00:22:20] Jesus enters the scene and he walks up and he says, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.
[00:22:27] Again, this is, we've seen Jesus have a slightly unusual conversation with the first disciples.
[00:22:30] Here we're going to see another unusual conversation.
[00:22:33] This is an unusual greeting for someone.
[00:22:36] Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.
[00:22:39] To which Nathaniel kind of asks, how do you know me?
[00:22:42] And he says, were you under the fig tree?
[00:22:44] When you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
[00:22:46] Which is, again, is a very odd response.
[00:22:48] If you were listening to this conversation, you'd be like, what?
[00:22:51] What are they even saying there?
[00:22:53] And then to that response, he says, Rabbi, you are the son of God.
[00:22:56] You are the king of Israel.
[00:22:57] So if someone says to you, I saw you sitting under the tree and you say you're the king of Israel,
[00:23:02] that just doesn't seem to fit, does it?
[00:23:04] Like it's a very dramatic response to the claim that he simply saw him sitting under a fig tree.
[00:23:09] So we have to look at what is going on here.
[00:23:11] There's a few things that we need to dig into with this narrative to understand it.
[00:23:15] It is probably the most classic Jewish conversation you could have.
[00:23:19] Now remember, the context of this whole section is we found the Messiah.
[00:23:24] Let me come and see.
[00:23:25] You'll know the evidence.
[00:23:25] The whole context is in about remembering.
[00:23:28] He's trying to prove that Jesus is the Messiah to Nathaniel.
[00:23:31] So we said, well, we must remember that.
[00:23:33] Remember Philip and Nathaniel are most likely students of the law.
[00:23:36] Well, we need to trace this conversation with that mindset.
[00:23:40] Notice Jesus didn't call him Nathaniel.
[00:23:43] You know, it's more polite.
[00:23:44] You would come up to someone and you would address them by their name if you wanted to get their attention.
[00:23:48] He calls him by a title.
[00:23:50] He calls him an Israelite.
[00:23:51] This is, again, specific.
[00:23:53] But not just any Israelite.
[00:23:55] He adds this little phrase, an Israelite in whom there is no deception or no deceit.
[00:24:01] Now we have to make the textual connections.
[00:24:03] Remember, these are Torah students.
[00:24:05] Jesus is the ultimate interpreter of the law.
[00:24:07] That was the expectation of the Messiah.
[00:24:09] There's like a conversation going on under the conversation that we're reading here with all these students.
[00:24:15] Let me ask you this.
[00:24:17] An Israelite who was known as a deceiver.
[00:24:20] Who was that?
[00:24:21] We have to understand what's going on here.
[00:24:23] The name Jacob.
[00:24:25] His name literally means deceiver.
[00:24:27] That's what Jacob means, doesn't it?
[00:24:29] This is the textual connection.
[00:24:30] That's what the name means.
[00:24:31] This is significant also because where did the name Israel come from?
[00:24:35] Who was it who was first given the name Israel?
[00:24:37] It was Jacob, wasn't it?
[00:24:39] Your name shall be called Israel after his encounter with God.
[00:24:42] So in many ways, Jacob was the first Israelite here.
[00:24:46] But Jacob is known, firstly because his name means deceiver.
[00:24:52] But he's known.
[00:24:53] The story of Jacob was very well known, wasn't it?
[00:24:55] What was the dramatic thing that caused him to have to leave his family?
[00:24:59] He deceived his father for the blessing.
[00:25:02] Remember, he dressed up as his brother and tricked his father into giving him the blessing.
[00:25:06] That one act of deceit, which is almost stereotypical of deceit.
[00:25:10] That is what Jacob was known for.
[00:25:12] And this is the idea.
[00:25:13] So Jesus is making this known.
[00:25:15] He's making a contrast between the first Israel with deceit and the second Israelite here,
[00:25:19] speaking to Nathaniel, with no receipt.
[00:25:22] But the key to remember at this point is the connection to the story of Jacob.
[00:25:27] Okay, that's what he's actually highlighting here with this introduction to this title.
[00:25:31] And by doing that, he's making a very important point to Nathaniel that we'll unpack.
[00:25:36] And so that's the first part.
[00:25:37] We have to have that bit in our mind, that connection to the story of Jacob,
[00:25:40] through the name and the title, and Israelite with no deceit.
[00:25:43] The second, the significance of seeing him under the fig tree.
[00:25:47] Because this seems to have a very big response on Nathaniel.
[00:25:50] Simply by Jesus saying, I saw you under the fig tree, and addressing him in that way,
[00:25:56] Nathaniel proclaims him to be the Lord and King of the universe.
[00:25:59] Still doesn't fit, so I understand what's going on here.
[00:26:01] So it's more than just seeing him obviously sitting under a fig tree.
[00:26:04] There's more going on.
[00:26:05] What was he doing under the fig tree that caused Jesus to address him with that specific title?
[00:26:11] This is what I want to hone in on right now.
[00:26:13] Now, we miss this.
[00:26:14] But in the first century, it was not possible for all of these people to have their own Torah scrolls.
[00:26:19] The synagogues would have them.
[00:26:20] But you wouldn't necessarily have personal Bibles in your home.
[00:26:23] However, a big part of Jewish life at that time was memorization of the Bible.
[00:26:27] The Jewish people would memorize huge portions because they didn't have their own scriptures,
[00:26:32] and that's just what they did.
[00:26:33] And then they would meditate on those portions of scripture.
[00:26:36] Memorization and meditation, these were two fundamental ways that the Jewish people learned the scriptures at this time.
[00:26:42] Now, interestingly, one of the ways that the rabbi taught,
[00:26:46] the best place to meditate on the scripture was under a fig tree.
[00:26:51] And you can find many statements in the Midrash and the Talmud to that effect.
[00:26:55] The best place to meditate on the Bible was under a fig tree.
[00:26:59] And this is an interesting point.
[00:27:01] Many of the most famous disciples, like Rabbi Akiva,
[00:27:04] they actually used to hold their discipleship sessions where the rabbi would be sitting under the fig tree
[00:27:09] and the disciples would be underneath that fig tree too.
[00:27:12] And so much so that when a good student would be good at understanding the rabbi's interpretation of the law,
[00:27:19] you would actually use the phrase, in the Talmud we find the phrase,
[00:27:22] he's keeping the fig tree.
[00:27:24] He's keeping the law, he's keeping the fig tree.
[00:27:26] So this intimate association between studying and memorizing the Torah
[00:27:30] was always said to take place under a fig tree.
[00:27:33] And this is basically what Jesus is getting at here.
[00:27:36] So you have to think, these two Torah students, Philip and Nathaniel,
[00:27:39] he's sitting under a fig tree.
[00:27:41] He's not just idly.
[00:27:42] It may look like he's not doing anything because it's all done in the mind.
[00:27:45] It's all memorization and meditation.
[00:27:46] But he is sitting under a fig tree, most likely one that the rabbis would sit under
[00:27:50] and meditate on the scriptures.
[00:27:52] And this is the point that's going on here.
[00:27:54] Nathaniel answered him and said,
[00:27:56] Rabbi, you are the son of God.
[00:27:57] You are the king of Israel.
[00:27:59] So let's talk about this response.
[00:28:01] So why?
[00:28:01] Why did he have this dramatic response to that acknowledgement?
[00:28:05] Not because he was simply sitting there.
[00:28:08] Remember, by addressing him in that way,
[00:28:10] Jesus referenced a specific scripture,
[00:28:14] a specific story in the scripture,
[00:28:16] the story of Jacob and his first deceit.
[00:28:19] And it's most likely, I believe what is going on here,
[00:28:22] is that Nathaniel was sitting under that particular fig tree at that time,
[00:28:27] meditating on that particular story.
[00:28:29] That was what he would have been studying at this time.
[00:28:31] So when Jesus came to him, called him that name,
[00:28:34] made that connection, Nathaniel knows,
[00:28:37] he knows my thoughts.
[00:28:39] It's an expression of his divine omniscience
[00:28:41] that he knew into his mind,
[00:28:42] even with Nathaniel not saying a thing,
[00:28:44] and he knew exactly what he was thinking
[00:28:46] and what he was meditating on,
[00:28:47] the story of Jacob.
[00:28:49] And he brings,
[00:28:50] Jesus in fact brings this out more clearly,
[00:28:51] because notice verse 51,
[00:28:53] he says,
[00:28:54] And he said to him,
[00:28:54] Truly, truly, I say to you,
[00:28:55] you will see the heavens opened
[00:28:57] and the angels of God ascending and descending
[00:28:59] on the Son of Man.
[00:28:59] Very unusual sentence there again.
[00:29:02] But where does that sentence come from?
[00:29:04] It's the story of Jacob.
[00:29:06] Again, making a connection here.
[00:29:08] Genesis 28 verse 12.
[00:29:10] This is the only reference in the Bible
[00:29:11] where you have this picture of angels descending
[00:29:13] in such a way.
[00:29:14] It's a dream that Jacob had.
[00:29:16] Genesis 28 verse 12.
[00:29:18] He had a dream,
[00:29:18] and behold,
[00:29:19] a ladder was set on the earth
[00:29:20] with its top reaching to heaven,
[00:29:22] and behold,
[00:29:23] the angels of God were ascending
[00:29:25] and descending on it.
[00:29:27] And that's your connection there.
[00:29:28] So Jesus is making these connections.
[00:29:30] Now, interestingly,
[00:29:31] when did Jacob have that dream?
[00:29:33] On the very first night after his deceit
[00:29:35] where he had to flee his home.
[00:29:37] You see, so all of it,
[00:29:38] when he says,
[00:29:39] An Israelite in whom there is no deceit,
[00:29:41] and he makes that connection,
[00:29:42] all of these things are connected in the mind.
[00:29:44] This is what Nathaniel is studying
[00:29:46] under that fig tree there,
[00:29:47] and that's why it has such an impact,
[00:29:48] because it shows the Messiah,
[00:29:50] the King of Israel,
[00:29:51] no one needs to tell him anything.
[00:29:53] He knows exactly what he's thinking right now.
[00:29:55] He's meditating on this portion of Scripture,
[00:29:57] and it's an amazing actor
[00:29:58] of Jesus' omniscience there.
[00:30:01] But yes, so remember the story of Jacob.
[00:30:03] It says he has this vision,
[00:30:05] and then in verse 17,
[00:30:07] this was at a place called Bethel,
[00:30:10] the house of God.
[00:30:11] Verse 17, it says,
[00:30:12] He was afraid,
[00:30:13] and he said,
[00:30:13] How awesome is this place!
[00:30:15] This is none other than the house of God,
[00:30:17] and this is the gate of heaven.
[00:30:18] So you have the angels descending
[00:30:21] on a ladder from earth to heaven
[00:30:23] into the house,
[00:30:24] this place called the house of God,
[00:30:26] the gate of heaven.
[00:30:28] This is the study that's going on,
[00:30:29] but notice,
[00:30:30] when Jesus quotes this now to Nathaniel,
[00:30:33] he references,
[00:30:34] I know what you're thinking about,
[00:30:35] but he adds something different,
[00:30:36] doesn't he?
[00:30:37] No longer are the angels
[00:30:39] descending on a ladder
[00:30:40] in the days of Jacob from Bethel.
[00:30:43] He changes just this little section,
[00:30:45] because remember,
[00:30:45] he's the ultimate interpreter,
[00:30:47] he has the right to do this with the word,
[00:30:49] none of us have the right to do this,
[00:30:50] Jesus does,
[00:30:51] and he changes the word ladder
[00:30:52] for the Son of Man.
[00:30:54] So he says,
[00:30:55] now the angels are descending
[00:30:56] on the Son of Man.
[00:30:57] This is the gate of heaven.
[00:30:58] What's his point with that?
[00:31:00] He is now saying,
[00:31:01] the way into heaven,
[00:31:03] the house of God,
[00:31:04] is now through the Son of Man.
[00:31:06] Jesus,
[00:31:06] he is the Messiah.
[00:31:07] He is the one who will bring you
[00:31:08] to the gate of heaven,
[00:31:09] ultimately is what he's saying,
[00:31:11] and he's making that connection.
[00:31:12] So all of this is going on
[00:31:14] in the background
[00:31:14] of this little small,
[00:31:16] again,
[00:31:16] unusual conversation
[00:31:17] that we see
[00:31:18] with Nathaniel.
[00:31:20] It's quite amazing,
[00:31:21] really,
[00:31:21] when you look at it like that.
[00:31:22] We miss so much of it,
[00:31:24] but that,
[00:31:24] I believe,
[00:31:24] is what is going on
[00:31:25] in the background
[00:31:26] of this story
[00:31:27] and why Nathaniel
[00:31:28] simply says to him,
[00:31:30] Nathaniel says,
[00:31:31] Rabbi,
[00:31:31] you're the Son of God,
[00:31:32] you are the King
[00:31:33] of Israel.
[00:31:34] In verse 50,
[00:31:35] Jesus answered and said to him,
[00:31:36] because I said to you
[00:31:37] that I saw you under the fig tree,
[00:31:39] do you believe?
[00:31:40] You will see greater things
[00:31:41] than this.
[00:31:42] So Nathaniel responds,
[00:31:43] Rabbi,
[00:31:44] again,
[00:31:44] teacher,
[00:31:44] this is like,
[00:31:45] you're the interpreter
[00:31:46] of the law.
[00:31:47] He says,
[00:31:47] you are the Son of God,
[00:31:48] you are the King
[00:31:50] of Israel.
[00:31:51] Nathaniel,
[00:31:52] again,
[00:31:52] showing that he is,
[00:31:53] in fact,
[00:31:53] a good student
[00:31:54] of the Word of God here.
[00:31:55] He picks two titles
[00:31:56] to show that he understands
[00:31:58] who Jesus is.
[00:31:59] Both of these titles
[00:32:00] are from Psalm chapter 2,
[00:32:02] which we see a lot quoted.
[00:32:04] I'll read it to you.
[00:32:04] It's a royal messianic psalm
[00:32:06] speaking of the King of Israel.
[00:32:08] Psalm 2 says,
[00:32:09] but as for me,
[00:32:10] I have installed my king
[00:32:11] upon Zion.
[00:32:12] Okay?
[00:32:12] King upon Zion.
[00:32:13] That's the King of Israel.
[00:32:14] That's the first reference
[00:32:15] Nathaniel's making.
[00:32:16] But then in Psalm 2,
[00:32:17] it says,
[00:32:17] I will surely tell
[00:32:18] of the decree of the Lord.
[00:32:20] He said to me,
[00:32:20] you are my son,
[00:32:21] today I have forgotten you.
[00:32:23] So you see that reference
[00:32:24] there too,
[00:32:25] the Son of God,
[00:32:26] you are my son,
[00:32:26] God saying that.
[00:32:27] These two things,
[00:32:28] the Son of God
[00:32:29] and the King of Israel
[00:32:29] come from Psalm chapter 2.
[00:32:32] Nathaniel making
[00:32:32] a very good response,
[00:32:34] understanding exactly
[00:32:35] what Jesus has done
[00:32:36] through this lovely conversation.
[00:32:38] And then Jesus responds again.
[00:32:41] He basically says to him,
[00:32:42] you've made this amazing
[00:32:44] declaration of faith
[00:32:45] that I am the King,
[00:32:46] I'm the Son of God
[00:32:47] and the King of Israel.
[00:32:47] Based just on one simple act
[00:32:50] of divine omniscience.
[00:32:51] You know,
[00:32:51] all I did was just reference
[00:32:52] your internal thoughts.
[00:32:54] Now that is amazing,
[00:32:55] it was enough to do this.
[00:32:56] But for the Messiah,
[00:32:57] it's not that amazing.
[00:32:59] He basically says,
[00:33:00] now that you're going to start
[00:33:01] following me,
[00:33:02] you're going to see
[00:33:03] much greater things than this.
[00:33:04] And when you read
[00:33:05] through the Gospels,
[00:33:06] that's what we see.
[00:33:06] We see him walk on water,
[00:33:08] we see him raise the dead,
[00:33:09] we see him heal the sick,
[00:33:10] we see all of the ministry
[00:33:11] of Jesus.
[00:33:12] They are the greater things
[00:33:13] that he was referring to.
[00:33:15] He says,
[00:33:15] come and follow me
[00:33:16] and you're going to see
[00:33:17] so much more.
[00:33:18] And again,
[00:33:19] what a wonderful invitation
[00:33:20] to Nathaniel,
[00:33:21] this Torah student there
[00:33:23] who was waiting for his Messiah.
[00:33:24] His Messiah,
[00:33:25] in fact,
[00:33:25] came and spoke with him
[00:33:26] under the tree,
[00:33:27] revealed his thoughts to him,
[00:33:29] invited him to follow him.
[00:33:30] And I'll just remind us too
[00:33:31] that this is very much
[00:33:32] in some ways
[00:33:33] similar to us today.
[00:33:34] Because Jesus comes to us,
[00:33:36] he is now the ladder,
[00:33:37] the gate into heaven,
[00:33:38] you could say it like that.
[00:33:39] And he will again,
[00:33:40] take us on a journey
[00:33:41] to the throne room of God.
[00:33:43] That is what it means
[00:33:44] to follow me.
[00:33:45] Amen.
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