John 1:18-51, References

John the Baptist’s Testimony and the Identity of the Messiah

John, chapter one, starting in verse nineteen, hear the word of the Lord. And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priest and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they ask him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered no. So he said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?

He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They ask him, then why are you baptizing?

If you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? John answered them. I baptize with water. But among you stands one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me.

I myself did not know him. But for this purpose, I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove. And it remained on him.

I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain. This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the son of God.

Andrew and Philip Recommend Jesus

The next day, again, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold, the lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, what are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, come and you will see. And so they came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day for it was about the 10th hour.

One of the two who heard John speak and follow Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means Christ. He brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, so you are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter. The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, follow me.

Now, Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Nathaniel said to him, can any good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said to him, behold, an Israelite, indeed, and whom there is no deceit.

Nathaniel said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered him before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree. I saw you. Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel.

Jesus answered him because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree. Do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

The Word Became Flesh and the Call to Believe the Recommendations

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. Well, have you ever been asked to write a letter of recommendation? Have you ever applied for a job, you've probably been asked to provide one or maybe more to have a couple of people write a brief letter or fill out some kind of form, hopefully providing a glowing recommendation.

Employers want someone who knows you to evaluate you for them. And usually they want someone in authority like a former teacher or a boss who can tell them how you work, you know, how's your attitude, that kind of thing.

That's why, young folks, it's a good idea to have a few teachers who you've impressed, who will be willing to say good things about you. Find a few, get on their good side. Work hard, impress them. Some colleges may ask for letters of recommendation.

I've occasionally been asked to write a few. And every time, except for one, only one time, every time, though, it was a joy to do. I was glad to do it because I really wanted to recommend the people who asked me for a letter for whatever they wanted to get, what they were seeking.

And so I tried to think carefully as I'm writing this letter, what the recipients of this letter, the people I'm writing to, what they want out of an employee, if it's a job application out of a summer camp counselor or a teacher of the year or a green card applicant, and write a letter that would sell the recipient, the boss, the whatever, the camp, the school board, the federal government, sell them on accepting this person.

The one time it wasn't a joy was when someone who's not from here had to give a mixed reference. But for most people, I've been honestly able to give a glowing recommendation because I really think it was deserved here in John one after that lofty prologue we looked at last week for the first 18 verses, declaring that that Jesus is God, both in the beginning verse and in the ending verse of it, verses one and 18, that he became flesh, that he is light, that he is life, that he came to give believers the right to become children of God.

John then introduces Jesus with four references for them. John the Baptist, Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel. This is sort of like Jesus's resume. This chapter one, all of it together, his curriculum vitae, they call it in some places sound fancy.

It's giving his credentials. He was with God in the beginning. He is the one of a kind God in human flesh. He's come to gather his family on earth. And in case you don't believe me, John says, here's four other people who will tell you.

Here's some personal recommendations. First, from John the Baptist, having John the Baptist write a letter of recommendation for you now should be an attention grabber. I well-known, important person, you know, when applying for positions, I used to like to have a copy of my letter of recommendation from Professor Robert Fogle was good and to include in there what he won a Nobel Prize.

And he was both my professor and my boss. And in a case, the person I was applying to didn't know that he had won a Nobel Prize. I would leave no doubt about that. You know, I would basically boast about Professor Fogle in the hopes that his glory might shine a little bit on me.

And I might have other people to other letters of reference from maybe from a notable professor or president of a seminary. But and, you know, so that's, you know, today you want a letter from if you can get one from somebody that's really well known.

That's good. It's notable. For many first century Jewish people, getting a recommendation from John the Baptist was probably the best you could hope for. The people held him to be a prophet. We know that he created a following that lasted for decades after his death.

And many people were apparently more impressed, at least some people with with John and his with his boldness, you know, his Elijah like zeal, even kind of dressed like Elijah, his passion is no compromise, his self-sacrifice.

I mean, there's no doubt about he's in it because he believes he's not out there in the wilderness eating wild honey and locusts because he's, you know, kind of in the religion business for the money.

He's fiercely telling people to repent. And no matter how powerful they are, even telling the king that he was immoral, many were impressed more by him. Apparently, at least some kinds of people were more impressed by him than they were of Jesus.

But if John the Baptist recommended Jesus, well, that could change that. And so we're told here, well, here's John's reference for Jesus starting in verse 19. This is John's testimony. It calls him. This is basically what his ministry is about.

This is the main thing that he came for in the first century. Many, probably many Jewish people thought that John the Baptist came to to bring them back to the glory days of Israel, to renew them, to get them back on track to being godly.

And once that happened, they would be revived and they would be led in triumph over the Romans. They would be back on top. But here we're shown that what he was really about, what John was really about, John the Baptist was Jesus.

That was his main mission. He was a reference for Jesus. So a contingent of priests and Levites come from the Pharisees to ask him a question. Who are you? Basically, John's getting all this attention.

This is before Jesus had arisen to anyone's attention. John's getting it all. And they wanted to know, what are you claiming about yourself? What job are you applying for? In other words, verse 20 emphasizes he confessed and did not deny, but confessed.

You know, that's how almost redundant that is. But it's what John was. Absolutely. Nail that down. Let's be absolutely clear. John the Baptist, the star, the hero clearly said, I am not the Christ. He's not the anointed one that they've been waiting for.

Now, some even long after he was dead were making much of John. What a great prophet he was and basically ignoring Jesus. But John denied that he was the Christ. And then they ask him if he's Elijah. You know, Elijah never died.

Right. Went up to heaven in the whirlwind. Maybe John the Baptist is Elijah. Come back. Kind of looks like him. It's what we think it would look like. But he denied that, too. And they ask him, are you the prophet, the prophet that Moses talked about?

One day there will be a prophet again, like like Moses, not just another run of the mill prophet, but the great prophet. And John said, no. You know, he's not puffing his resume here. I mean, think of the things being suggested about who he may be.

And every time he says no. In verse 22, who are you? What do you say about yourself? Oh, those are the things they came suggesting. Are you these things? And he says, no, no, no. Well, then they're kind of shrugged the shoulders.

And who are you?

He says he's a voice crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. He's like a crier that a king might have going in advance of the king as the king is traveling down a highway. And the crier would call out, make way.

People with their carts and horses on this highway or their donkeys or whatever within to move to the side, make way, the king is coming. Prepare for him to pass. And in here, John the Baptist does that by telling the people to repent, to change your life and and by baptizing them.

Prepare, he's saying, for the Lord to come by moving everything from your life. It's an obstruction, an obstacle to the Lord. Get all the obstacles in your life out of the way because the Lord is coming.

And that begins with you being truly converted. John the Baptist says now baptism began as a Jewish ritual given to Gentiles who converted to Judaism. Otherwise, they were Greek or Phoenician or Egyptian or whatever.

And they wanted to become part of Israel and part of what they would do to become now part of Israel would be to be baptized. And so it marked not only a change of the life toward God, but a change in their identity of who they saw themselves as of their citizenship.

They were now a holy nation. They were now God's people, no longer Egyptians, Phoenicians or any of that. They were God's people. So they were washed of their old identity and now became part of Israel.

Through being baptized. And now what John did that was shocking to them, to these Pharisees and others, was that he took that right of initiation into Israel. That's what it's for. It's for the Gentiles.

And he told you Israelites, you need to do it, too. You need to be converted and join the true Israel. And he told them they, you know, don't put your trust in the fact that you're born as a descendant of Abraham.

It's kind of racist idea. There were God's people simply because of our nationality, that God he told them that God can make descendants of Abraham out of the rocks if that's all it was about. What mattered was whether you truly believed.

And that showed it showed whether you truly believed by how you lived. Flee from the wrath to come. John the Baptist said, talking to these people. Because just being born into the right family won't won't help you.

Your life has to be renewed. The very same thing we say today, your family, your nationality. None of that can save you. Your your life must be changed. And one way we show that is with baptism. But these Pharisees, you know, they don't understand that all they see is about John the Baptist is he's not any of the things they thought he was, or at least they thought, I should say, any of the things that they thought that he thought he was.

So then they ask him, if you're not the Christ, you're not the Messiah, you're not the prophet or Elijah, then what gives you the right to baptize? Unless they just kind of ignore that. Prepare the way of the Lord stuff.

You know, but they're asking him, why are you doing this? The first twenty five. And notice that John the Baptist doesn't really answer their question when he answers them. They ask, why are you doing it?

He doesn't really answer that. And that's because he already has. He's already answered their question. He's preparing the way for the Lord by making a true, believing Israel out of that fake, unbelieving one, a spiritual Israel that really loves God out of a natural Israel.

It really doesn't.

Baptizing people is how you usher them in from the world into the people of God. It's basically baptism is the front door to the church. It's the entryway. That's why we don't disconnect baptism from church membership.

Baptism is not something they kind of dispense to people. Some churches do this, and I think it's wrong. They dispense to people, basically to anyone who asks for it, whether or not they ever become a member of their church or in any way associated with the church.

You know, they'll have an invitation and persons say they're saved and they'll baptize them and never see them again. That's just not what baptism was intended to be completely. Baptism, in part, is you're saying I want in to God's people.

I want to be part of the true Israel, part of the church. The Israelites thought that they were born into it. John, by baptism, baptizing them, says, No, you're not. You believe you repent. You choose to enter God's family.

And so you are baptized. Now, John didn't answer their question because he already had. But he did say something in response to them. Why are you baptizing? He didn't answer. He didn't say why. He already answered that.

He just says what he's doing, described what he's doing. I baptize with water. I do it because I'm the preparer. I'm the predecessor to the king, part of his entourage going ahead of him. But among you.

Present tense among right now in the middle of you, people, you Pharisees in this nation, you don't know it, he's right with you now, stands one who you do not know. You don't know who he is. You don't recognize him.

You're one of his own people ethnically, but you receive him not. Even he who comes after me. John probably didn't realize how quickly after he's coming just within within days, the next day, in fact, it says he's coming.

The strap of his sandal. I am not worthy to untie the John saying you're impressed by by me. But I'm nothing compared to the one who's coming. And John, the apostle who's writing this book many decades later, saying is saying to people who some people who are still impressed by the great John the Baptist, you're following this voice.

But he said, I'm not worth doing the most degrading, lowest slaves chore for the one who is coming. He's that much greater than I am. Well, that's quite a reference. You don't get a better reference than that.

But of course, is Jesus the one who is coming? That's the answer. That's the question answered the next day in verse twenty nine. John gives another recommendation and this time specifically. Right. The first time is to kind of generally the one who's coming.

And now in verse starting in verse twenty nine, specifically for Jesus. Keep in mind that this probably isn't the first time John the Baptist has seen Jesus, their cousins after all. And he had probably seen him many times before.

We all know that for sure. It's possible they couldn't have seen before, but most likely they had seen each other family get togethers. But now is the time for Jesus is unveiling for him to reveal himself to Israel.

So now John sees something in Jesus he had never seen before. And declares, you know, behold. See, look, open your eyes. He's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So John sees him, his own cousin.

He sees him now, not as a conquering king, but as many people expected the Messiah to be to lead them to independence and to victory, but he sees a lamb to take away the sins of all of God's people from all over the world.

John sees this because the lamb is like the lamb that Abraham had promised Isaac on the way up the mountain. Remember that story? God told Abraham to sacrifice his son. And on the way up, you know, they brought the wood.

They have the knife. They have all the equipment they need. But Isaac notices that they don't have a lamb. Where's the lamb? And Abraham said, God himself will provide a lamb. And he did. The one Abraham got at the last second before he would have plunged his knife into Isaac was only a token of that true lamb.

Who came here? Here he is, that true lamb. Jesus is the lamb. Like the lambs of the Passover in Exodus, you know, for the wrath of God to pass over God's people, they had to have a lamb. They had to sacrifice it.

The blood had to mark mark them as the people who believed. Here is the true Passover lamb. Jesus is the lamb. Well, like the lamb of Isaiah 53, who went silently to the slaughter, who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, who brought us peace with the torture that he felt, the one on whom the Lord laid the iniquity of us all.

Jesus is that lamb. Recently, a major denomination rejected the song in Christ alone from its new official hymnal that it's putting out. And they rejected it because of the line till on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.

The denomination, which had become increasing, has is becoming has become increasingly liberal, didn't like this idea of the wrath of God and didn't believe really just basically the people doing the hymnal just don't believe in the doctrine that is being sung there.

The wrath of God was satisfied in Jesus on the cross. What officially in theology is called the penal substitution theory of the atonement. OK, put like that penal substitution theory of the atonement.

Many Christian people's eyes kind of glaze over what in the world. But that is the gospel. It's the heart of what Jesus came to do. As John the Baptist saw clearly here. What's the first thing he says about Jesus?

He's the lamb.

Penal means having to do with punishment, and that is our sins, our sins, earn punishment, our sins, earned God's anger. And he is justly angry at them. That that holy wrath requires punishment. But Jesus was our substitute penal substitutionary.

He he's the one who took our punishment that we had earned. Jesus is the lamb, the sacrificial lamb portrayed in the Old Testament showing in the Old Testament, showing in the sacrifice that sin deserves death, that God is holy and rightly demands payment for sin, but that he is also gracious and he himself provides that payment.

But the wrath of God, with the wrath of God being satisfied, we are then at peace with God is no more anger at us. He doesn't hold anything more against us. And so we are at one with him. That's atonement at one minute, making us one.

And so we have the penal substitutionary atonement. More simply put, fancy word. But the way John put it, simple words.

Look at him.

He's the lamb of God. He's the one who will take the punishment that we deserve. Well, that's a lofty recommendation. And John makes clear in verse 30, he is the one of whom I said, remember that verse was that last week, verse 15, after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me existed before I did.

When your notable reference says, you know, there's great reference, you want to show off to employers or whoever. When he says, ha, this person is more notable than me. That's a glowing recommendation.

And that's what John does. In verse 31, John admits, I myself did not know before this. He probably almost certainly knew of Jesus, probably knew him personally, but he didn't know he was the lamb of God.

But he says the reason he was baptizing, preparing the way for the Lord by creating a new people of God was so that now finally he might be revealed, Jesus might be revealed. People could finally see who he was.

And so John recommended him. And in verse 32, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove. And it remained on him. The other gospels tell us of this happening when when Jesus was baptized. And here John tells it from from from his point of view.

Somehow John saw something that he knew to be the Holy Spirit. And he came down on Jesus and stay with him. The spirit remained, emphasizes that twice remained with Jesus was in a fleeting experience that he felt trembling for a few minutes and then it went away.

It remained with him. John admits again in verse thirty three. He did. I didn't know him naturally who Jesus was, but that God had told him what sign to look to look out for. With his call to baptize people, God had told him that the one you see, this Holy Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with are really in.

He's the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. In other words, Jesus is the one who doesn't just kind of do a ritual with our body that may end up being may end up being meaningless. Some people go through baptism and it's meaningless for them because there's no faith and there's no experience really involved in it.

But Jesus is the one who does the greater reality. He baptizes or imburses people in the Holy Spirit so that they are born again, so that they become children of God. They become part of the true people of God, experiencing not just a religious tradition of getting wet, but the living experience with the spirit.

John now knows that Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. And finally, John knows that he is the son of God. Notice he ends with that in verse thirty four. I have seen and bore witness that this is talking about Jesus, the son of God.

He's the son. Verse 14 was about remember the word who became flesh, who lived among us. John saw his glory and saw he was indeed the one and only the one of a kind son from the father, full of grace and truth.

That's John. His testimony, his reference, Jesus is the greater one, the lamb, the son of God. Well, Andrew, too, recommends him starting in verse thirty five. Notice it says the next day, one day after another begins with in the beginning in verse one.

This kind of sounds like Genesis one, doesn't it? It's meant to remind us of that. But it's not an old creation. This is the new creation. And on this next day, two of John's disciples here, John, again, declare, behold, the lamb of God.

And so they said to follow John's recommendation and follow Jesus. Jesus sees them following him. And then comes his first words of this gospel. A lot of words from Jesus in the Gospel of John. This is his first one.

It's what are you seeking? And what are you seeking? Are you seeking someone to deal with whatever it is that, you know, deep down that you need, you know, is something is wrong with you, with your heart, with the world.

That's Jesus's first word to people in this gospel. What are you looking for? Whatever it was, you know, they hadn't found it in John the Baptist. As great as he was, whatever it is, you were looking for.

You won't find it in whatever else you are tempted to look for it. John the Baptist was a great blessing from God in his time. But following him when Jesus was finally revealed. Well, that would have been a mistake.

Choosing the lesser instead of the greater. Today, you know, money or relationships or friends can be great blessings, but seeking those things, so your ultimate answer to life when Jesus is available would be choosing the lesser.

Jesus's first question to people is, is what are you seeking? And they call him rabbi, which means teacher or master, a term of respect, of reverence, and they followed him. And one of those two was was Andrew.

The first thing that he did was to go to his brother Simon and recommend Jesus to him. You know, as he says, goes to Simon and says, we have found the Messiah, the anointed one. It's what that word means.

Messiah, the one that God has blessed to lead his people to victory. The best example of that is like David in the Old Testament, who proved that he was the anointed one by defeating Goliath and killing his tens of thousands, protecting God's people.

Then Andrew, it says in verse forty two, brought Simon to Jesus, recommending Jesus so enthusiastically that you can almost hear how enthusiastic Andrew is speaking to Simon. Come on and meet him.

No, he's amazing.

You just got to see him and listen to him. It's obvious he's the right one. It's maybe like the way maybe some of you have ever been enthusiastic about a movie you've seen.

Oh, you got to see it. That's great.

Or maybe a restaurant, a new restaurant, open. It's delicious, terrific food, great price, great everything. Talk it up. You're trying to compel the other person to go try what you try. You've got to see it.

You've got to try it. You'll love it. And Andrew brought, says Andrew, brought Simon not physically. I don't think he picked him up, his brother, but with the force of his recommendation, brought him, brought Simon to Jesus.

Simon, you've got to see that Jesus is the Messiah. And when Jesus sees Simon. He changes Simon's name to one we're more familiar with, says you're Cephas, which translated means Peter, Rocky, you're going to be the rock that got his attention, I'm sure to Andrew, Jesus was the Messiah and his brother will see that, too, and recommend him to the world.

Jesus as the Prophet Like Moses, the True Israelite, and the Son of Man

In verse forty three, the next day, another day, another recommendation. Jesus goes to Galilee and finds Philip. His word to him is simple. Would you like to have this persuasive power? Follow me. It's all it takes.

No long arguments. Just follow me. Like God's words in Genesis one. God said, let there be light. And there was light. They create the reality that they speak here. Follow me. And Philip followed him.

He then recommends Jesus to Nathaniel.

Philip does.

This is personal evangelism. That is, one person who has met Jesus going to another, you know, telling them, go meet Jesus here and always the most effective way to bring people to Jesus, recommend him.

Philip tells Nathaniel in verse forty five that we have found him of whom Moses is in the law and also the prophets that he's talking about here. The prophet at the Pharisees had asked John about Moses had said that in the future God would send them a prophet like him, like Moses.

Moses, you know, was very special among the prophets in the Old Testament. The Lord says about him in Numbers chapter twelve, when there is a prophet among you that's talking to Israel. I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions and I speak to them in dreams.

But this is not true of my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house with him. I speak face to face clearly and not in riddles. At the end of Deuteronomy, it says since then, since the death of Moses, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face here.

Philip is telling Nathaniel that Jesus is that prophet that Moses told him about was coming. The prophet that we've been waiting for since Moses, unlike prophets, you know, I mean, like great prophets like Isaiah and Daniel, unlike them, Jesus did get his revelations from from dreams and visions.

No, not like that. Unlike prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jesus didn't introduce his words with, you know, thus says the Lord. Jesus instead says truly, truly, I say to you, he taught with authority because he had authority.

Philip saw that and and so recommended him to Nathaniel. That is that Jesus is not just another prophet, but he is the prophet. And that's Philip's recommendation. But Nathaniel is skeptical. I mean, this guy is not going to be easily persuaded.

You know, Nazareth, oh, come on, you got to be kidding. He says, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Just, you know, prophets don't come from there. Nathaniel was not predisposed to believe in Jesus.

Look at that. You know, these disciples like Nathaniel are not a group of gullible hicks kind of just falling for the first person who speaks smoothly, just looking for the first person to hitch their wagon to.

But Philip insists, you know, those first forty six. Philip insists, come and see. You know, I've just take my word for it. Come and see for yourself. Before they even meet. You know, you can however this wherever Jesus was, you could see the scene Nathaniel is approaching Jesus and Jesus takes one look at Nathaniel and says, behold, look at this guy.

Look at him in Israelite, indeed, he's one of God's people. Yes, indeed. In him there is no deceit. Oh, he's not a fake. He tells it like it is. He's not two faced, just telling you what you want to hear.

If he looks down at everyone from Nazareth, he says so. Nathaniel is perplexed and it asks, you know, how do you know me? You pegged my personality right off the bat. And Jesus answers before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree.

I saw you. He had a supernatural sight of Nathaniel and Nathaniel knows it. You know, this wasn't just something that Jesus happened to see while walking by, but it's that Jesus had a sight beyond physical sight, and so.

Nathaniel is convinced not because of Philip, but because he's encountered Jesus himself, and so he declares, Rabbi Master, you are the son of God, just like John the Baptist had also seen the son talked about in Psalm two, the son whom the Lord has set up on his throne as the king over God's people and warned everyone.

Kiss the son, says in Psalm two, kiss the son, let us love the son, lest he be angry and you perish. The son is the king. We are to love. You are the king of Israel. Nathaniel says you are the rightful ruler of me and all of God's people.

That's Nathaniel's recommendation. Well, there is one recommendation left. I said four, that's all four. But there's one more, the most important one. Jesus recommends himself. Jesus answered Nathaniel, Nathaniel, so amazed that Jesus knew him before he had met him and that he had seen him before seeing him physically.

And so Jesus responds in verse 50, because I said to you, I I saw you under the fig tree. Do you believe it's like, you know, that's kind of small potatoes for me. You will see greater things than these.

Nathaniel, after all, will see Jesus raised from the dead. But here Jesus focuses on what that means. You know, truly, truly speaking out of his own authority as God. But I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man.

Now, I don't think Jesus is predicting some kind of literal vision that Nathaniel would have, although perhaps he had such a vision, you know, we don't know. Scripture doesn't say I just don't think that's the main point of all this.

His main point is that Nathaniel will will see that Jesus is like Bethel. In Genesis, chapter twenty eight, when Jacob had a vision there in Bethel, was it called Bethel yet? He slept there. He had a dream at night of a stairway going up to heaven with the angels going up and down the stairway.

And so Jacob named that place then because of that vision, Bethel, which means house of God. This is where God lives in this place. He kind of wakes up in a terror when he realizes he's had this vision right here.

This is God's place.

He's here.

God had manifested himself there. And Bethel was the portal, then the doorway between heaven and earth. Jesus is telling Nathaniel that that he will see that in himself, in Jesus, God has manifested himself, that now Jesus is the portal between heaven and earth, he is the point at which humanity and God in heaven intersect, that he, Jesus, is the stairway to heaven, that he is the true house of God, where God lives on earth.

But Jesus then calls himself there, you know, it's at the very end, the son of man, and not only that he's a man, that's kind of obvious to everyone in that day, he's a man, he's talking, he's a man, but he referring to the one whom Daniel foresaw and Daniel chapter seven, he had a vision there, Daniel did of the kingdom of God coming on earth.