Jesus Calls His First Disciples (John 1:35-51)

Introduction

We now turn the page so to speak, from focus on one person, to focus on Someone else. We find that it takes place on the following day, after John declares to his followers that Jesus is the Son of God.

As we look at this passage, we can break it down into three points:

Christ alone takes away the sin of the world.

Christ alone can change your identity.

Christ alone is the way to heaven.

Christ alone takes away the sin of the world (vv. 35-41).

As we begin, we see that it is the next day, after John the Baptist defended his testimony about Christ being the Messiah, rather than him.

rather than the delegation from the Pharisees, he is now with his disciples.

In verse 40, we see that one of them was named Andrew, while the other remained unnamed.

We can assumed that the second one is John the Apostle.

He never names himself in the entire Gospel, other than saying he is the “one in whom Jesus loved.”

What we see next is John the Baptist doing his job, pointing others to the Messiah.

John 1:36 “When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!””

cf. John 1:29.

Both here and in verse 29, in the English it looks like he was only saying once, and then he was done. However, in the Greek, there is both intensity and constancy added. He never stopped pointing them to Jesus.

He was continuously saying, “Guys, your Messiah, your Savior, He is right here! He’s the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world!”

We talked about that a little bit last week.

John the Baptist is referencing the Lamb sacrificed on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:15, 21.

Yom Kippur.

Jesus’s death now fulfills that portion of the Sacrificial System.

Hebrews 9-10.

Two of John the Baptist’s followers followed his advice and went after Jesus. (vv. 37-40).

This next interchange between the disciples and Jesus is quite interesting, because it a way, they seems to be talking past each other, but we see it Jesus knowing what was going on in their hearts.

Look at what Jesus says:

“What do you seek?”

Jesus already knew full well that they thought He was the Messiah.

They wanted to do more investigation, so they asked where He was staying.

“Come and you’ll see...” This may be a double entendre.

They see where Jesus was staying, sure.

They will also see Who Jesus truly is.

We get a time stamp of “the tenth hour” or 4 pm.

Christ alone can change your identity.

After the time they spent with Jesus, Andrew, one of the disciples, decisively knew that he had to go and tell his brother about the man they just spent time with.

When we learned of who Jesus is, and what He did for us, it should cause to want to go and share the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done with any and everyone!

Jesus then changes Peter’s name!

This isn’t just a name, but an identity change. You see, in Bible times, and even in some cultures still today, names meant something. The name carried a meaning for the person in their life.

We even speak about Jesus this way. How do we end our prayers? “In Jesus Name, Amen”. We don’t just mean the word “Jesus” when we say that. We mean all that Jesus is, and what He has done.

It carries their entire identity.

Jesus changes Peter’s identity here.

this happens in other places biblically too:

Abraham —> Genesis 17:5.

Sarah —> Genesis 17:15.

Jacob —> Genesis 32:28.

Joshua —> Numbers 13:16.

Jesus did this to indicate the Special Calling that He had for him in the building of the Church.

Matthew 16:16-18.

Ephesians 2:18-22.

Jesus’s changes our identity too.

New Creations—>2 Corinthians 5:17.

Christ in us—> Galatians 2:20.

Dead made alive—>Ephesians 2:1-3, 8-10.

The New Self—>Colossians 3:10.

Slaves made heirs—>Romans 8:12-17.