Philip and Nathanael

Intro;

There is a lot of ignorance of the wonderful truths of the Bible, not only among lay Christians, but also among lay preachers who are lying around and not studying the Word.

I like the story about a pastor who asked a class of Sunday School children, “Who broke down the walls of Jericho?” A boy answered, “Not me, sir!” The pastor was noticeably upset and turned to the Sunday School teacher, “Is this typical?” She replied, “Pastor, the boy is a trusted and honest child, and I really don’t think he did it.” Such a response sent the Pastor straight to the Sunday School superintendent. After hearing the Pastor’s grievance, the superintendent consoled him by saying, “I’ve known the boy and his Sunday School teacher for a number of years and just can’t picture either one of them doing such a terrible thing.” In disbelief, the pastor sought out one of the deacons. The wise deacon tried to smooth the waters with some of his conventional wisdom, “Pastor, let’s not make a big issue of this. Let’s just pay for the damages and charge it to the maintenance account.” Beloved, get into the Word of God and learn it!

That’s a funny story but too often a true one. A disciple of Christ is a follower of Christ, one who imitates Christ in word and deed. Tonight as we look at the next two disciples Jesus calls, we’re gonna see two who are truly versed in the word of God.

Text; John 1:43-51

John 1:43–51 NKJV

43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and 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.” 46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered and said to 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, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

1. Jesus finds Philip; 43-44

Jesus leaves the area of the south in Judea and heads north to Galilee. Andrew, John and Peter are already following Him and now He calls Philip.

Philip was from the same city as Andrew and Peter. Bethsaida is a fishing village located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Andrew and Peter probably knew Philip as a friend of co-worker in the fishing business.

Philip very well could have been talked about by Andrew and Peter to Jesus and they stopped by and picked him up. The church would not have the apostle Paul without the witness of Stephen, and Philip may have never been an apostle without friends like Andrew and Peter.

Philip is a Greek name but we will see in a moment that he is a pure Jew. He is probably the first cowboy apostle in the scriptures for his name means “lover of horses”.

After Philip followed Jesus he went out and found Nathanael. Philip and Andrew have a lot in common, after having a personal encounter with Jesus, they immediately go and tell others about Him. That is the true definition of a disciple.

Matthew 28:19 NKJV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

2. Philip finds Nathanael; 45-46

[45] Philip went out as Andrew did with Peter and found his friend Nathanael and brought him to Jesus.

What are some significant things that Philip says in his conversation to Nathanael in this verse?

Referred to Jesus as One spoken of in the Old Testament law and prophets. That means that Philip and Nathanael were students of the word and probably a follower of John the Baptist.

Philip referred to Jesus as, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph; this means that both Philip and Nathanael are Jews who know the scriptures.

In the gospel of Matthew there are two scriptures that allude to what Philip has said about Jesus from the Old Testament.

Matthew 1:16–17 NKJV

16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

Matthew 2:23 NKJV

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Nathanael was skeptical of Jesus being from Nazareth. There are a couple of reasons why.

First of all, Nathanael knew the scriptures and he knew that the prophets said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth. The Pharisees had a problem with this also. But Philip never said Jesus was born there, just that he came from Nazareth.

Second, Nazareth had a Roman garrison in it and since the Jews were under Roman occupation, there was nothing good about Nazareth to a Jew.

Instead of Philip arguing with him, he simply said “come and see”.

There is a great lesson for all christians to learn here. “Don’t argue about your faith, learn defend it”. Not very many people have ever been argued into Christianity. Often our arguments do more harm than good.

“Come and See” is equivalent to just sharing Jesus and letting God do the changing.

3. Nathanael meets Jesus; 47-49

Jesus pegged Nathanael as a honest Israelite with “no guile”.

Guile- deceit, trickery, lies, “Pharisaic”

When Jesus said this to Nathanael, this surprised him that Jesus knew about him as they had never met before. “Jesus knows everything!”

[48] Nathanael wanted to know how Jesus knew him. Jesus is omnipotent “all knowing”, but He very well could have seen Nathanael actually sitting under a “fig tree”. Regardless the mention of a fig tree is very important.

To the Jews the fig-tree always stood for peace. Their idea of peace was when a man could be undisturbed under his own vine and his own fig-tree

1 Kings 4:25 NKJV

25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

Micah 4:4 NKJV

4 But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

Further, the fig-tree was leafy and shady and it was the custom to sit and meditate under the roof of its branches. No doubt that was what Nathanael had been doing; and no doubt as he sat under the fig-tree he had prayed for the day when God’s Chosen One should come. No doubt he had been meditating on the promises of God. And now he felt that Jesus had seen into the very depths of his heart.

Barclay, W., ed. (1975). The Gospel of John (Vol. 1, p. 93). The Westminster John Knox Press.

True faith in Jesus brings about real change. Nathanael responds by calling Jesus, “Rabbi [teacher, master], Son of God [deity], King of Israel [Deliverer to sit on David’s throne forever]”.

He had moments earlier thought of Jesus as “nothing good out of Nazareth”, now He recognizes Jesus as His Messiah and Savior!

4. Jacobs Ladder; 50-51

Jesus always confirms who He is and why He came with scripture so we can be confident in Him in our faith. Jesus reaches back into the Old Testament to give these disciples the assurance of who He is and the great things that are to come as they follow HIm.

Genesis 28:10–17 NKJV

10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

If God will save a deceitful man like Jacob and use him for his glory there is hope for us all, Amen!

Jesus is that ladder that is the gate of heaven!

Close;

As a disciple of Christ, we need to know Him more intimately everyday that we can be an honest and true reflection of truth. We can’t pretend to be something we’re not, like the story I read as we began tonight. God knows who we really are and wants us to follow Him.