John 1:35-51
The first followers of Jesus.
Introduction: John has made
it clear that this book is about Jesus.
The people we meet in the course of reading this book are only mentioned
in context with who Jesus is. Jesus is
the Christ the Son of God and those who believed this had life through His
name. That is to say they were saved
because they believed Jesus was the Christ the Son of God. They believed the message of this book. Many of those who accepted Jesus as their
savior followed Jesus and became His disciples.
We shall take a look at the first five followers of Jesus and harvest
and glean from them the fruit which will show to us that Jesus is indeed the
Christ the Son of God.
I. John
Up until this point the
Pharisees had disciples and the Sadducees had disciples and few others. John has gotten, by his preaching, disciples
as well. Two of them are mentioned here
in this verse as standing with John.
These would spend as many hours as they could with John. They would listen intently at his
messages. As was the case with Andrew,
who was one of these two, he had to be about the business of fishing. He would catch fish and salt preserve them
and bring them to
II. John
1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
John identifies
again Jesus to those who were standing in the crowd. He has again pointed out to these people that
Jesus has come to be the sacrifice for their sins. Jesus would fulfill the picture contained in
the sacrifices of the law of Moses. He would be the true satisfaction for our sin
debt. His blood would cleanse men of
their sin for the blood of bulls and goats could never do so.
III. John
1:37 And the two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus.
The two disciples
of this verse did not hesitate to follow Jesus.
They did not worry about offending John.
They knew that John would be pleased for them to follow Jesus. John intended for all men to follow
Jesus. These men saw the need to follow
Jesus and not a man. They believed Jesus
to be the Christ, the Son of God. It is
He and He alone who should be followed.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they should follow him as he followed
Christ. Do not put your trust in
men. Preachers may disappoint but Jesus
never will.
IV. John 1:38
Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them,
What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted,
Master,) where dwellest thou?
The two disciples
began to follow Jesus as He walked. They
had to run to catch up with Him and as they approached they slowed their pace
to match His. They did not call out to
Him but simply began to follow Him. They
did not ask permission to accompany Him.
They did not draw attention to themselves as they followed Jesus. They were men of few words. Jesus knew all along that these men would
follow Him. He knew this before they
were born. Jesus turns and puts them to
the test. Jesus asks “What seek ye?”. This is like
saying “why are you following me? For
what are you looking? What can I do for
you?” They respond in a most interesting
way. They call him Master. Jesus would later commend His disciples for
calling Him master. He will say that
they do well to call Him master. Jesus
is the master. Martha will tell Mary
over in Chapter 11 “the Master is come and calleth for thee”. The first two followers of Jesus recognized
him as Master. They knew who He was so
they did not answer by saying we want to know who you are. They simply wanted to know were He was
staying. This brings to my mind the
words of Jesus in chapter 14 of this book “I go to prepare a place for you and
if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto
myself that were I am there ye may be also”.
The early followers of Jesus wanted to dwell were Jesus dwelled. Followers today are no different. Remember the words of that old song “I’ve a
home prepared were the saints abide just over in the Glory land for I long to
be by my savior’s side just over in the Glory land.” Dwelling with Jesus has been the theme of
many songs which the followers of Jesus sing.
“I’ve a home beyond the river, I’ve a mansion bright and fair, I’ve a
home beyond the river and I will dwell with Jesus there”. Followers of Jesus long to live with Him and
be, always, in His presence.
V. John
Jesus makes them a
grand invitation here. He accepts their
acknowledgement as Master and invites them to come and see were He dwells. These men are easy to please, are they not? They simply
went with Jesus and saw were He dwelt and they stayed with Him the rest of that
day. The tenth hour is about
When I first met my
wife and we began to date I always worried about what we would have to talk
about. I tried not to let the
conversation lag for I wanted her to know that I liked her. I wanted her to want to be around me. I tried to be witty and conversational. Now after almost 30 years of marriage we
often sit by each other for long periods of time without saying a word. We are not mad at each other we are just
content to be with each other. I once
carried an elderly man to the hospital to see his wife of 60 years. She was hard of hearing and he was a man of
few words. I was impressed that it was
enough for him to simply hold her hand.
These first two
disciples were satisfied with just being in the presence of Jesus. Just being around Him was enough for them.
VI. John
John 1:41
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We
have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
John
Let me first of all
deal with the disciple that is unnamed in this text. I do not know why God chose not to reveal his
name to us. I have found it best for all
concerned to adhere to the policy of “Where the Bible is silent then we should
be silent as well.” I will not speculate
on this unnamed disciple. We should
never be followers of Jesus just to be seen of men. Whether we have earthly fame or not we should
be followers of Jesus.
Andrew is the other
of the first two followers of Jesus. He
is Peter’s brother. Peter is the best
known of the Apostles. He walked on
water, cut off a man’s ear, and put his foot in his mouth on a few
occasions. Much is know about Peter but
it was his silent brother, Andrew who was the first to follow Jesus. Andrew did not keep Jesus to himself. He went immediately and found his
brother.
I love my
brothers. I have two brothers in the
flesh, Steve and Ralph. I was the first
of us three to be saved. My older
brother was saved the week after I was saved and my youngest brother was saved
some three years later. When I find a
good thing I like to call my brother’s and share it with them. When I found Jesus and became a follower I
wanted my brothers to become followers as well.
Andrew shared Jesus
with Peter and would share Him with many, many others in the years to
follow. Followers of Jesus are not
ashamed of Jesus. The love Jesus has for
lost souls rubs off on His followers and they want to see lost souls saved as
does their Master.
The message that
Andrew brought to his brother was that he had found the promised Messiah, that
is to say, the Christ. The Jewish people
had been looking for the coming Messiah for hundreds of years. Andrew and Peter were blessed to live at the exact
time and place when and were the Messiah was to come. The verse says that he brought Peter to
Jesus. He had to bring him because Peter
did not know were to find Him. Andrew had
seen the house were Jesus was staying and had the face of Jesus firmly planted
in his mind. Peter meeting Jesus was to important to be left to chance or misunderstood
instructions. It is fine to leave a
Gospel tract for a lost soul to read but it is far better to tell them about
Jesus in person. Bring them to Jesus, show them the way in so doing precious lost souls
will be saved.
Jesus recognizes
Peter and calls him by name. Jesus did
not need Andrew to tell Him who Peter was.
Jesus knew Peter before he was born.
Jesus renames Peter. His new name
means “a stone”. Jesus will later use a
play on words with Peter. When Peter
says a great truth concerning Jesus that being “Thou are the Christ the Son of
the living God.” Jesus will respond “thou art Peter,” this means a small stone.
“and upon this rock” which is the truth which Peter
had just spoken. “I will build my church”.
The Church is not built upon Peter but upon the truth which is the very
purpose of the writing of this book that we might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God and that believing we might have life through His name.
These two brothers
will later be called out by Jesus to become fishers of men. For now they are content to be followers of
Jesus.
VII. John 1:43
The day following Jesus would go forth into
Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
John 1:44
Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of
Andrew and Peter.
John 1:45
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him,
of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph.
Jesus has decided to go
to
Philip needs a lot
of work. Those who are new to following
Jesus usually do need work. Philip will
have many doubts along the way as he follows Jesus. We discover here in this verse that Philip
was not a stranger to Jesus. He had
found Jesus and become convinced that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus sought Philip out and told him “follow
Me.” Philip did
not understand the scriptures well.
Jesus was written about in the Law of Moses and in the prophets and yes
He was of
VIII. John 1:46
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of
Nathanael is a
cautious man. He wants the truth. He does not fall for every wind of teaching
that comes along. He is very cautious
about what he believes. His concern
seems valid for
I certainly do not
fault someone for being cautious about what they believe. It is good to be careful about what you
believe. Be careful what you put your
trust in. There is one and only one who
is supremely trustworthy and His name is Jesus.
IX. John
1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him,
and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Jesus has with him
others who here him speak this testimony of Nathanael. He says to them that truly this is an
Israelite in whom there is no guile.
Guile is a word which is not commonly used in modern English. It means deceit, deception, and lying. It indicates an absence of truth. What Jesus is saying of Nathanael is that he
is a man who holds truth to be of utmost importance. He does not lie nor deceive others. He wants only truth. Being a person of this character he is going
to love being around Jesus. Jesus is the
way, the Truth and the life. Here I am reminded of Jesus’ conversation with
Pilate in John
X. John
John 1:49
Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of
God; thou art the King of
The translation of
this verse into English looses just a little bit. Here is the since of this verse. Nathanael was under a fig tree when Philip
came to tell him about Jesus. Jesus was
not bodily present there when Philip called Nathanael. It was Just Nathanael and Philip. How did Jesus know that Nathanael was under a
fig tree when Philip called to him? A
Prophet could have known this. Samuel
knew about the lost asses of
Based upon the
reaction of Nathanael to Jesus seeing him under the fig tree I believe
Nathanael may have put out a fleece.
This would explain his proclaiming Jesus as God rather than a more
conservative reaction which would be to call Him a prophet. The Woman at the well reacted by saying “sir
I perceive that thou art a prophet”.
Nathanael reacted with total conviction that Jesus was nothing less that
the Son of God and the King of
XI. John
1:50 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.
John 1:51 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.
I
believe Jesus praises Nathanael here. He
did not need some huge sign from God to believe that Jesus was the Christ the
Son of God. He was ready to accept by
faith that Jesus was the Christ. God
never expects His followers to have blind faith. He gives to His followers
ample evidence of the truth. It is up to
them to exercise their faith and accept the truth. I once was asked by a man if I could prove to
him that there was a God. I gave him a
shocking answer. I told him that I could
not prove to him that there is a God. I
could only show him the overwhelming evidence of the existence of God but he
would have to have faith in order to come to a knowledge
of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us
by the inspiration of God Hebrews 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and [that]
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Verse fifty one presents a
puzzle. Jesus uses the term “Verily,
verily” to describe what He is about to say.
This term means “of a truth”. It
indicates that the thing which he says will certainly come to pass. He tells Nathanael that he will certainly see
heaven open. Sense Heaven is a spiritual
place this would seem to indicate a vision.
Stephen saw the heavens open in a vision. Jacob saw the heavens open in a dream. John saw the heavens open and recorded the
sights there in the book of Revelation.
We do not have recorded for us the vision which Nathanael saw. The puzzle for me is this, why tell of the
vision and then not relate its fulfillment?
The angels of God,
ascending and descending to and from heaven, were seen by Jacob. I am fascinated by the contrast in Nathanael
and Jacob. Remember Jesus has called
Nathanael an Israelite in whom there is no guile. Jacob, on the other hand, is a
trickster. Jacob is notorious for
deceiving his father and his father in law.
Yet God blessed Jacob anyway.
Nathanael treasured truth and never practiced deception. He was still a sinner and God blessed him
anyway. When God blesses in spite of our
sinfulness it is called grace. It is by
grace we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves for it is the gift
of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
Conclusion: The first
followers of Jesus set for us an example.
These men were men of faith. They
trusted in Jesus Christ as their savior.
They longed to be in his presence.
They were eager to share Jesus with their family and friends. They were greatly blessed when they forsook
all to follow Jesus. They love the
truth. If you are not now a follower of
Jesus you need to repent of your sins and confess them to Jesus Christ. You need to ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus
to have mercy on your soul and to save you from the penalty of your sin. The Lord makes to you this great promise and
assurance of your salvation is had when you believe this promise. Romans 10:13, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.