John: The Ladder
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Exegetical Point: JB’s witness gives way to the witness of the first disciples. They profess Jesus as Christ and Jesus himself reveals himself as Christ.
Homiletic Point: Come and See Jesus, profess him as Lord and follow Him. He brings heaven to earth.
Intro
Intro
Hey Kids!
How do I get onto the stage?
I could jump!
What other option? Yes, these stairs make it easier.
How would I get onto the roof?
Could i jump onto the roof? I used to do high-jump at school, but I can’t jump that high!
The best way would be a ladder I think.
How would I get to the top of a power-pole?
Walk up a ramp? No, they don’t have ramps!
Some pole have ladders built in the sides so that workers can get up there and fix the poles.
What if I wanted to go higher than a power pole?
How could I get into heaven?
Well heaven isn’t physically above us, but the Bible does talk about heaven like a place that is really really high up out of reach where God lives.
It’s sooooooooooo high that there’s no way reach up that high! It’s just too far!
Some people in the Old Testament tried to build a tower up to heaven, but they couldn’t get close - God came waaaaaay down from heaven and scattered the sinful people building the tower.
But you know what? There is a way to go up into heaven. There is a way to get up high enough to meet God and that is through Jesus!
He is like a ladder that starts on the ground and reached waaaaaaaay up into heaven. Everybody who climbs that ladder can live with God.
Even the most sinful, bad person can come to Jesus and be joined with God.
Jesus is the bridge between earth and heaven!
We’re going to spend some time looking at some of the Bible that talks about this. So kids feel free to listen up. You can draw pictures or colour in as I talk to everybody about what the bible says.
You might like to write down the 4 points that i’m going to cover.
<Pray>
Recap
Recap
Do you remember where we’ve come from in John so far?
Context is so important every time we delve into the details of God’s word, so that’s why we spend time each week situating ourselves in the context.
We’re just staring to get into the meat of the Gospel of John, this book that was written to help people see that Jesus was the Messiah; the anointed one from God come to rescue the lost!
The Prologue in v1-18 set the stage for the multi-layered unfolding of the book. It will be like a flower whose petals interleave with one another to create a beautiful whole.
The after the prologue, we zoomed in on John the Baptising, JB for short, who came as a forerunner and witness to the coming Messiah.
He was the warm up gig for the main event. He wasn’t here to big note himself, but to prepare people for God.
JB was a prophet from God, and he was starting to amass a following. The religious leaders sent a delegation to find out who John was.
They asked him - Are you the promised Messiah?
He said: No
They asked him - Are you the promised Elijah?
He said: I’m not Elijah in the flesh.
They asked him - Are you the promised Great Prophet?
He said: No
Who are you then?
He said: I’m the prophesied Voice to calls people to get ready for God’s arrival.
Then, John announced to the world, that Jesus was the one he was waiting for. Jesus was the anointed one sent from God. He saw God’s spirit descend and anoint Jesus.
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
John makes it clear to the world - Jesus is the Anointed one, the messiah. SO believe in Him!
But now our text moves to the next stage to show that JB wasn’t alone. There were other people who saw and believed that Jesus was the Christ from God. We’re going to work our way through the text and see that Jesus’ Disciples understood Jesus was the promised one.
Because Jesus is the promised one, there are 4 responses for us to mimic. These four responses will be our 4 points.
1. Come and See Jesus (v35-39)
1. Come and See Jesus (v35-39)
This first response is kind of natural. When you hear or see strange happenings, you go and check it out. But we’re not just talking about having a sticky beak here, we’re talking about taking that next step in discipleship.
You see there were two disciples of John the Baptising, that means they were kind of students or apprentices. They came to John to learn about God and how to live for God.
But as we’ve already discussed, John was pointing to someone better and so when he appeared on the scene they went to do a thorough investigation. Lets look:
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
So JB again reiterates that Jesus is the Lamb of God, he is the one who takes away the sin of the world!
So these two disciples go to investigate. They go to see the one John calls messiah. Could he really be Him? Could this really be the one we’ve been waiting for?
Jesus sees them following and asks them what they’re up to. Their intention is to be able to speak to Jesus, to get to know him a little better, so they ask where he’s staying. It’s a bit of a round-a-bout way of asking if they could come over and have a chat.
If this was you or me, we might say “lets set up and appointment, arranging a suitable time for you to come and visit.” But Jesus skips the formalities, saying come right on! Come right now!
Jesus invited them straight into his life so that they could get to know Him.
They already understood that Jesus was a “Rabbi”, a teacher, but they were going to get confirmation that it wasn’t just a Teacher, Jesus was much more.
We echo this invitation ourselves to anyone who is interested to hear, come and see our Lord.
Come and see!
Come and meet Jesus!
Come spend your days with Him!
Come learn from Him!
Come and become a disciple of Jesus!
There are many who have curiosity about religion. There are many who are keen to debate matters of faith. But here’s the thing, you need to come to meet Jesus on his terms. Don’t come with all your preconceived notions and ideas - come and hang out with Jesus and let Him show you who He is.
Sure, he’s not bodily here with us, but he is spiritually here.
He comes among His people. He is with us always, till the end of the age.
He is here where we have gathered in His name.
Yet I know, many of you are far from Him in your hearts. Yes, you.
I know the feeling. You are wandering. You are uncertain. You doubt Him.
Come and See.
Come and spend time with our Lord!
Come speak to Him in Prayer!
Come hear him speak to you out of the pages of Scripture!
Come let His Spirit instruct you!
Put away your facades and your pretenses. Put away your sins and failures. Put away your bitterness and contempt.
Come and see what God has done, his awesome deeds for mankind!
Come and See Jesus.
2. Tell Your Friends about Jesus (v40-42)
2. Tell Your Friends about Jesus (v40-42)
The next response in the text is to share the good news about Jesus. It’s not for keeping to yourself!
It turns out that one of the men who came to see Jesus was Andrew. He had heard the testimony from JB, and he’s started to follow Jesus.
But even though he’s only just met Jesus, even though he doesn’t know the half of what Jesus is about, he needed to share to get others on board. Lets look:
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
So Andrew is straight onto it - I’ve got to tell my brother about tis! He’s got to meet Jesus! I’ve got to go find him! First thing!
Andrew professes straight up: We’ve found the messiah! We’ve found the anointed one we’ve been waiting for!
So JB professed openly that he was not the Messiah, but here Andrew professes that Jesus is the messiah.
Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus, to meet the Lord’s anointed.
Jesus sizes Simon up, and gives him a new name: Rock.
Now, funnily enough there is an actor called “The Rock” - Dwayne Johnson. We you look at him you can see why! But with Dwayne his nickname is Rock. It is not his real name.
For Simon, this new name that Jesus gave him, it may have seemed like a fun nick-name at first but it would turn out to be his true new name. It was a prophetic name Given to Him by the Messiah. But more on that some other time.
For now, it’s just fun to see the excitement and energy that Andrew has to help other people meet Jesus.
All to often when people meet Jesus and become Christians they have an initial burst of fervor, passionate to see people everywhere know that Jesus saves! They have had their eyes opened - they can see clearly and now that want other to know too!
But that sadly gives way to trudgery. When no-body want to listen, and the Gospel story becomes familiar, we loose our passion to show Jesus to other people.
Oh that we could recapture the spirit of Andrew in these verse and rush out headlong into the world, sharing with friends and family and co-workers and fellow students how wonderful, how amazing it is that we have found the messiah!
We have found the promised one, the one who will sit on the throne of David and reign forever!
We have found him of who the prophets spoke!
We have found Him who is God come into the world to restore humanity to it’s fullness in God!
We have found Him who came into the world to die in your place...
We have found Him who will join earth and heaven!
We have found the messiah!
Surely we must ask God to recapture our hearts and to stir us up, so that we can take this message out! After-all, we are part of this endless chain of people telling other people about the Good News of Jesus - we wouldn’t be Christians otherwise!
The fields are ripe for harvest across this place! There are people lost in the darkness and there are those fumbling about for the light - won’t you show them the light?
Won’t you share with the the good news?
There are so many, burdened by the weight of their existence. The meaning they thought they had in life has been stripped away by the disruptions of these last few years. So many people have seen the futility of their life and the depths of despair are ready to overtake them.
Won’t you show them the Love of God?
Won’t you share with them the Hope you have of a Heavenly Kingdom Come to Earth?
3. Follow Jesus (v43-46)
3. Follow Jesus (v43-46)
The third response we see here is following Jesus. We already have seen this a bit but here it is highlighted: Follow Jesus.
Let’s look:
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.
Let’s get ourselves situated here with some of the Geography on a Map.
- JB at bethany
- Preparing to travel north
- Andrew & Peter from Bethesda - could have been about and about for work, could have lived in another town from where they grew up.
Philip is issued that amazing call by Jesus: “Follow me”
He must have heeded that call because the next moment he’s out rounding up Nathaniel:
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
Philip came to follow Jesus and he found the Prophet.
JB had assured people he wasn’t the great Prophet, but here Philip is openly saying that Jesus was the long awaited prophet. Moses prophesied this man world come and speak to the from God!
Amazing! They were seeing millennia of prophecy fulfilled before their eyes!
Yet there was a little skepticism. Like anywhere, we look down on other towns that seem inferior to ours. Hopefully in just a playful banter way - in Qld Brisbane looks down on Ipswich - Toowoomba - Dalby. It’s just playful cheek mostly, but you can’t help but think that some people take it seriously.
It seems Nathaniel through so little of Nazareth as a place, that he was surprised that the messiah could come from there! Yet Nathaniel objections will be addressed soon.
Are you keeping up with all the names of these new disciples kids? There’s Andrew & Simon Peter & Philip & Nathaniel - and one more who didn’t get a name.
And here, we are also seeing one of the themes of of the Prologue unfold before our eyes - while many people would reject Jesus, there would be some who followed Him.
John 1:11–12 (NIV)
[Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Those who did follow had great rewards stored up for them, the same goes today. Those who follow Jesus become Children of God.
Yet one thing that has not been made clear in John’s Gospel yet, is that being a follower of Jesus will have challenges. It won’t always be easy! But there is only on Messiah and there is no other option! He has eternal life! It is found nowhere else!
So that is my call to you too!
Follow Jesus.
Never let go!
He has everything you really need! He does not promise a smooth ride, but he does promise to join us to God!
Follow Jesus!
4. Profess Jesus is King (v47-51)
4. Profess Jesus is King (v47-51)
The fourth response we see in this passage is to profess that Jesus is King, Son of God.
It must be said!
John is really clear in his letters - the sign that you belong to God is that you confess Jesus is the son of God come in the flesh!
No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Nathaniel is skeptical that Jesus is the messiah. He came to see what was up. Let’s look:
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Jesus says Nathaniel is a true Israelite with no deceit. This casts our minds back to the namesake of Israel - the one called Jacob that was renamed Israel. Jacob was a deceiver yet God overcame that deceit to work through him - he was reborn as Israel so to speak.
Jesus sees Nathaniel as one unlike Jacob, he is complementing Nathaniel calling him a guileless Israelite.
But Nathaniel is caught of Guard, “how would you know about me?”
Jesus provides an answer that shows Nathaniel he’s the real deal - I saw you under the fig tree.
What was he doing under the fig tree? we don’t know, but best guess is that he was praying. By Jesus saysing “I saw you” he’s letting on that he has some divine power that enable him to see more than just the physical wold around him.
Whatever the details, it is enough for Nathaniel to recognize Jesus is the One.
He makes his profession:
Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
Other Gospel writers save up their professions of Jesus power and divinity till a climactic moment, John just gets straight into it - he doesn’t want to miss a chance to show Jesus is the Christ!
Jesus responds to Nathaniel. Nathaniel was right, and he was quick to beleive when Jesus reveal himslef, but Jesus assures Nathaniel that he will see more amazing things to come!
Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Wow!
Jesus promise that Nathaniel is going to see some amazing stuff, just as good as the patriarch Jacob!
We’ve already had our ears tingling with a reference to Jacob just before, now Jesus makes another, saying that Nathaniel will experience the epic vision of Jacob Ladder.
We read about this earlier - Jacob saw a vision:
He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
So, if we’re putting the pieces together - we see that Jesus is claiming to be Bethel.
Jesus is the house of God, Jesus is the gate to heaven. Jesus is the ladder between earth and heaven!
We will see more and more of this throughout John, but it amazing that he has managed to pack so much into just the start of this book.
Jesus reveals to Nathaniel that Jesus is the link between Earth and heaven, and that Nathaniel will get to see proof of that in days to come.
Vocab: Son of Man (reference to Dan, but also low key)
Profess Jesus is King - the heavenly king who connects earth and heaven!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Multiple people testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Prophet, the Son of God, the King.
Come and See
Tell your friends
follow Jesus
profess Jesus is King
References:
Carson’s Pillar Commentary on John.
Hutcheson’s commentary on John
Hendrickson’s commentary on John
Barry, John D., David Bomar, Derek R. Brown, Rachel Klippenstein, Douglas Mangum, Carrie Sinclair Wolcott, Lazarus Wentz, Elliot Ritzema, and Wendy Widder, eds. The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.