Lesson 4

Have You Met Jesus?

John 1:35-51

Wanna know who Jesus is? Just ask his disciples. They are the next witnesses to present their testimony about Christ in the gospel of John.

The first witness to take the stand was John the Baptist, the man sent from God to bear witness of Christ, to introduce Jesus to the world. John the Baptist saw and said that Jesus is the Son of God, 1:34. Are there any others to collaborate John's testimony? Yes, indeed there are. We read their stories in 1:35-51.

You cannot help but notice the connection of time and people together. The events in John all took place over a four day period of time -

Day 1 - 1:15-28 (The testimony of John the Baptist).

Day 2 - 1:29-34 ("The next day")

Day 3 - 1:35-42 ("Again, the next day")

Day 4 - 1:43-51 ("The day following").

What we shall study in vs 35-51 happened over a two-day period.

There is also a connection of the people involved. The two disciples were disciples of John the Baptist. One of the them was Andrew who first went and found his brother Simon. Peter and Andrew were from the same tiny village as Philip. Nathaniel was a close friend of Philip.

There are several layers to this passage. Each layer is important and interesting all by itself. Taken all together, the layers add color and depth and dimension to give us a beautiful picture.

· We are introduced to 6 men (4 by name, 1 who remains anonymous, and 1 who is only implied in the passage). These men would become first disciples of Christ but finally apostles of Christ.

· We are given a challenge about soul winning, about witnessing to family and friends for Christ.

· We are permitted to hear what these men have to say about who Jesus is.

· We hear Christ himself speak for the first time in this gospel account. He has some things to say about himself and about those who would be his disciples.

Let us look at these various layers, the men, the conversations, the relationships and learn from them both about Christ and about ourselves.

A Great Deed - Introducing Someone To Jesus

The methods may have varied, but the result was the same. One by one, people were introduced to Jesus.

John the Baptist introduced his students to Jesus, 1:35-37. There was never any competition between John and Jesus, although at one point the Pharisees tried to create rivalry between the two. John knew his job. "He must increase but I must decrease," he said in 3:30. John knew that Jesus was to be preferred. His job was not to build a bunch of followers but to prepare men to meet Jesus. He had some disciples - there are at least five references in the four gospels to the disciples of John. John "looked upon Jesus". The verb there means "a penetrating gaze." John fixed his focus on Jesus and pointed to Him as the Lamb of God. The two students, disciples, learners heard John's words and followed Jesus. John was just doing his job. He fully intended to turn the allegiance of his students to Jesus. All of us have a sphere of influence. All of us has someone who looks to us for guidance and leadership- at work, at school, in the neighborhood, in the family. What a great deed, to be like John and to use our influence to introduce people to Jesus.

Andrew introduced his family to Jesus. Verse 40 tells us that one of the two disciples of John who became a disciple of Jesus was Andrew. Who was the other one? Well, the Bible doesn't say, but I feel certain that the other one was John, the author of this gospel. John is very humble, rarely referring to himself and never mentioning himself by name in the whole book. John and his brother James were business partners with Andrew and his brother Simon - a fishing enterprise on the Sea of Galilee, Luke 5:10. John is probably too modest to talk about his own soul winning of his brother James but he is quick to brag on Andrew's appeal to his brother. The commentators point out that the grammatical structure of v. 41 does not necessarily mean that the first thing that Andrew did was find Simon, but that Andrew found Simon first, before John found his brother James. And so, though James his nowhere mentioned in this text, he may be implied in John's statement about Andrew finding Simon first and bring him to Jesus. Andrew's first convert (Simon) became the first messenger of the church. John's first convert (James) became the first martyr of the church.

Here is a classic case of "household salvation". Remember what Paul said to the Philippian jailor? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and though shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31). If the gospel is real to my heart then I will want it to reach those who are nearest to my heart. We should begin right in our own homes. We must make a maximum effort lie Andrew and, no doubt, like John to bring our family to Jesus. Husband, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter, mom or dad.

Philip told his friend about Jesus. There was probably some degree of acquaintance between Andrew, Peter and Philip. They were all from Bethsaida, v. 44. I have been there and this place is a tiny little village just down the road from Capernaum. Jesus traveled to Galilee and found Philip (v. 43). Philip had a friend named Nathaniel. Philip told his friend about Jesus.

What we have here are three examples of a great deed. Introducing someone to Jesus is about the greatest deed that a Christian can do. Be like Philip - tell a friend about Jesus. Be like Andrew and John - bring your family to Jesus. Be like John the Baptist - use your influence to point others to Christ.

A Great Discovery - Meeting Jesus

Here is the story of some men who found and followed Jesus. What a great discovery to make. I am very impressed with the conversations that are recorded here, especially with what Jesus had to say to these men.

A Question. The very first words of Christ recorded in the Gospel of John is a question, v. 38. It is a good question. It is a probing question. "What seek ye?" "What are you searching for?" We would all do well to consider that question ourselves. Ask yourself today, "What am I searching for?"

An Invitation. "Rabbi (Master=Teacher) where do you live?" Jesus' second statement is an invitation, "Come and see." This is the first of three great invitations in the Gospel of John - Come and see, come and drink (7:37), come and dine (21:12). The invitation of Jesus is always to come. It's as though he was saying to these two disciples, "You want to know about me? My life is open to your observation. Come and check me out. Come and you will see who I am." V. 39 may have John's spiritual birthday. He remembered the exact time - "the tenth hour" - 4:00 p.m.

A Conversion. The next statement of Jesus recorded by John involves Peter. Jesus took one look at this man and said, "You are Simon, the son of Jona (Simon Johnson). You shall be called Cephas, a stone." Cephas is an Aramaic word the equivalent of which in Greek is (Petros) Peter. Jesus seems to be saying, "I'm going to change your life. I'm going to convert you to a rock." Peter was the originally "Rocky!" Who but Jesus could see the potential in this man?

In March of 1501, Michaelangelo left Rome to return to Florence. He went back because he was homesick, because his family need him and because a special project challenged him. You see, an 19 foot long slab of marble had sat in Florence for 35 years. Michaelangelo spent the next two years at work on that piece of marble and from it came his famous statue of David. Someone asked him how he did it. He answered, "I knew the statue was in that slab of marble all of the time." Jesus seemed to know the potential of Simon and He promised to change him.

An Invocation (Summons). To conversation of Jesus with Philip is summarized by John with two words, "Follow me." A genuine encounter with Christ is a life-changing matter. People who find, follow! V. 37 - They followed him. V. 38 - Saw them following. V. 40 - One which followed him.

A Revelation. Surely the longest and perhaps the most interesting words of Christ in this passage are in His conversation with Nathaniel. We don't know a lot about this man. The name Nathaniel is not used in any of the other gospel accounts and only in one other chapter in John (21). He, no doubt, also had another name - Bartholomew.

We learn some things about him from this passage. It would seem that Nathaniel was well versed in the Old Testament scriptures. When Philip found his friend, he spoke of Jesus as the one who Moses and the prophets wrote of, v. 45. Nathaniel was a man with some prejudice. Cana of Galilee where Nathaniel was from was only five miles from Nazareth. Nathaniel didn't like Nazareth. Maybe the Cana cougars had beat the Nazareth Knights in the Regional Track Meet! Actually, Nazareth was generally held in very low esteem. Nathaniel lumped everyone from Nazareth together (that's what prejudice is - generalizing everyone to the same category based on one thing they have in common) and said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" I love Philip's answer, "Come and see." Where have we heard that before? he didn't waste time discussing the reputation of Nazareth. He used an unanswerable argument. That how Nathaniel was introduced to Jesus. But apparently, Nathaniel was also interested in Jesus.

Jesus revealed himself to Nathaniel as one who could see right into his soul (v. 47) and as one who could see him wherever he was (v. 48). Jesus gave evidence of both His omniscience and His omnipresence. You know what I think? I think that under that fig tree Nathaniel sat all alone reading and studying the life of Jacob. When Jesus said that Nathaniel was a man in whom was no guile - that is in direct contrast to Jacob - who went through life deceiving his brother, his father. And what seals it is the reference in v. 51 to the angels ascending and descending to heaven.

Nathaniel made what modern physicists would call a quantum leap. he went from cynicism to confession in a moment's time. How could this happen? It was in the face of discovering that Jesus of Nazareth knows what I was reading when I was alone. He saw me off yonder five miles away under a fig tree. He sees right into my soul. At that moment, Nathaniel knowing that he was standing in the presence of God, became a believer. Jesus said, "You think that is astounding? You ain't seen nothin' yet!" And then He added, "Verily, verily." This phrase is also is somewhat unique to John. Although "Verily" is found in the other gospels, the double use of it is only in John's account some 25 times. What does it mean? Black preacher E.V. Hill says it means, "Sure nuf; sure nuf." It marks a very significant statement.

What does Jesus mean in verse 51? Remember Jacob's dream (Genesis 28:12)? There is some allusion to that in these words. Jacob saw and ladder and the angels were climbing Jacob's ladder. Jesus says that He is the ladder! Jesus is the connection between heaven and hell. He is deity and He is humanity. He is the Son of God (v. 49) and He is the Son of man (v. 51). He is the one mediator between God and man. "And Nathaniel, you're going to see it."

These men all made a great discovery. They discovered Jesus.

A Great Declaration - Who Jesus Is

Remember the purpose of the Gospel of John? It is written to tell us who Jesus is. That seems to be the main point of this and really, every passage in the book.

John has introduced us to some men who met Jesus and this is what they had to say ...

John the Baptist - "Jesus is the Lamb of God", v. 36 (see also v. 29). What a great description of Jesus. The suffering sacrifice for our sins. The substitute who came to die on our behalf! That's who Jesus is.

Charles Spurgeon the great Baptist preacher in England a century ago, was scheduled to preach in a large agricultural hall. A temporary platform was built. Of course, in those days, there were no electronic sound systems, so Spurgeon went to check out the acoustics. The place was virtually empty, except for a single carpenter working up in the balcony alone. Spurgeon cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." That carpenter was startled at first and fell under conviction and was converted to Christ on the spot!

Andrew - "Jesus is the Messiah", v. 41.

Philip - "Jesus is the promised one of the Old Testament", v. 45.

Nathaniel - "Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Israel", v. 49.

Jesus himself - "I, the Son of Man, am the ladder between heaven and earth", v. 51.

My desire and prayer is that, if you are a Christian, you will be challenged to get involved in a great deed - introducing others to Jesus.

And my prayer is that, if you are not a Christian, you will understand who Jesus is and you will discover Him today as your Savior and Lord.