John 1:35-51 Behold, an Israelite in Whom There is No Deceit

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan.

John the Baptist’s Testimony and the Call to Behold the Lamb

This morning we're going to look in John chapter 1 verses 35 through 51. This will finish out chapter 1 for us. Now as my calculations, if I'm privileged enough to continue to share from time to time with Recast, I figure Don calls me about 3 or 4 times a year to fill in and so I'm going through the book of John and I figure that gives us about, we'll finish the book in about 80 years.

But today our goal is just to finish chapter 1. So I'd like to just ask you to turn to John chapter 1 with me, that's page number 517 if you're going to be using the Bible that is in front of you. So last week we talked about John the Baptist.

We examined his testimony before the Sanhedrin sent delegation and also his proclamation to the general population. And this week, as I said, we're going to finish our study of John chapter 1 and we're going to examine as Jesus begins to call people to follow him.

He begins to assemble this small band of disciples through whom he will change the world. But in order to lead us into worship this morning, I would just like us to think about really the first three verses of our text.

And so I'm just going to read John chapter 1 verses 35 through 37. The next day, 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.

And I would just like to ask you to consider this thought this morning. Consider the simplicity of John's testimony about Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God. In every age, it is through this simple proclamation that God saves people from sin.

Consider the message that all people stand guilty before a holy God. But God has given us a Lamb, a Lamb of atonement and a Lamb of cleansing. Behold the Lamb, crucified and risen, behold, believe and be saved.

Can I ask you a question this morning? A simple question. Do you believe that this message is enough? What are you calling people to behold? Who are you calling people to behold? Who are you beholding?

And so, I'd just like, with your permission, just to speak in a very kind of straightforward manner, just for a minute, if you'll allow me, indulge me in this. To you, the Recast community, you have a lovely facility.

I'm excited about the grand opening kind of party next Saturday. My family and I plan to be here and celebrate with you. And as I see this community, I see a community that has hope. It seems like your membership is growing.

In the midst of these auspicious times, can I challenge you, do not forget the message of John the Baptist, and I trust that you won't, but don't forget the message of John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God, pray fast, seek the face of the Lamb, and then call others to behold him.

It's not through facilities that God builds his kingdom, it's not through programs that God builds his kingdom, it's not through personalities that God builds his kingdom. If we wish to grow the kingdom of God, there is only one man who can do it, and there is only one message through which he will do it.

There is no other message that saves, and there is no other Lamb that is given to us. And that's why Paul, when he visited Corinth 15 years after this time, writes this in 1 Corinthians, for I resolve to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The gospel message is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. Friends, let us this morning, as we come together in worship, let's behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let us behold the Lamb of God, crucified and risen, behold our Lord Jesus who reigns forevermore.

If you'll pray with me, please, and then we'll enter into our time of worship. Father in heaven, we want this morning to behold your son, Jesus. And so I ask that you would quiet our thoughts, I ask that you would help us to just collect our thoughts this morning, and would you direct all attention and all glory and all reverence to Jesus, our Lord.

And my prayer this morning, that which I really just pray two things this morning, God. I pray that people would be encouraged and built up, but most of all, Lord, what I pray is that the name of Jesus would be highly honored and glorified.

Come, Lord, fill us with your spirit and enable us this morning, even with your supernatural power, to behold the Lamb of God and to bring a worship to him that is worthy. Lord Jesus, we come to you, we seek you.

Give us eyes to see and to behold your glory, amen. Thank you, guys. I love that song, Behold Our God. Come see and consider our God. Alright, we're in John 1, 35 through 51, page 517. So I'd just like to go ahead and start today by reading verses 35 through 42, and then we'll stop, we'll discuss that passage for a little while, and then we'll move on.

So I'm going to go ahead and read John 1, 35 through 42. 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? And he said to them, Come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed 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, You are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which means Peter. As we discussed last week, I just am again impressed with the humility and character of John the Baptist.

He testifies again to Jesus being the Lamb of God, but he does so here as a deliberate encouragement to two of his own disciples to stop following him and to start following Jesus. John is not interested in winning people to himself at any cost.

He's interested in directing people to follow Jesus. Even at the cost of his own ministry, his message is forever, Behold the Lamb of God. Not behold me, behold the Lamb of God. This made me think of something that happened last semester on campus.

We had a special event where we invited a group of special missionary speaker to come, and we did a joint event together with Crew. So I work, I partner with a group called His House on campus, and we did a special event together with Crew.

For the record, Crew is a fantastic organization. I was involved with them for four years in college, and I love, you know, I have nothing bad to say about Crew. They're just a fantastic group doing a great work on campus.

And so we got all of our students and all their students together for an event to listen to this special speaker. And I remember we, so there's like 70, 80 Christian kids in this auditorium on campus, and it was an interesting mix between, you know, the Crew kids and the His House kids.

And so I remember one of the girls from our campus ministry came in and saw some of her friends from Crew. And so she sat down next to them. And one of our staff members was sitting behind these girls, and some of the Crew girls said to the girl from His House, oh, you're here, so you're going to His House these days.

What are you doing going there? Come to Crew instead. Now, the next day at our little weekly kind of prayer and planning meeting, our staff member kind of related this story, and we sort of laughed about it.

But it was one of those, like, uncomfortable laughs, you know those, don't you? Where it's funny, but it's kind of not because we don't want to lose people, even if it's losing people to a worthy ministry.

And I think that story, you know, makes me think of this passage, and the example of John here is instructive to us, isn't it? Our attitude should be, may Jesus receive the praises of many people. May Jesus remain the center of all of our affections and all of our attentions.

Not me. If my personal ministry, my influence, my reputation must decrease so that Jesus can increase, may He receive the praises due Him, regardless of the cost to me. I think that should be the attitude that we should have, just as John before us did.

So let's carry on. Verse 38, we'll go back to the text here and continue. So Jesus, so these two disciples heard John's testimony and they began following Jesus. Verse 38, Jesus turned and saw them following and said, what are you seeking?

Now the NIV unceremoniously kind of translates this, what do you want? I think the question hints at something more than a simple, hey, how can I help you guys? I think Jesus is asking these two men something just a little bit deeper, maybe He's hinting at something a little bit deeper, He's asking them, what do you really hope to find?

What is it that you are truly seeking? What are you seeking in life? What is the genuine desire of your hearts? And I think that's a fair question, isn't it? Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 13 says, you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your hearts.

You know what happens when somebody searches for something or someone with all of their hearts? They find what they're seeking. Are we seeking Jesus? What are these men seeking, I think Jesus is asking them?

Well these two men, one of whom is Andrew, spend the evening with Jesus. Note the detail included in this passage, it says it's about the 10th hour. If you start counting from sunup, that would make it about 4pm.

And so, just small details like that are confirmation to me that the book of John was written as eyewitness history. This is not myth, this is not legend. This was written by a man who was there. In any case, Andrew and his colleague spend the evening with Jesus.

Can you imagine the questions they asked? Can you imagine what it would be like to have a private audience with Jesus for an entire evening? I'm jealous. I confess to you jealousy. I can think of a dozen topics, theological, pastoral, personal, that I would like to ask Jesus and talk about with him.

But to be honest with you, if I was given a private audience with Jesus, I'm sure that he would control a conversation and direct the topic of conversation to things that he wants to talk about that are much more important than my petty concerns.

But even so, I can't think of anything that I would want more than a private audience with Jesus for an evening. Andrew and this other unnamed disciple got that. And the evening must have had a powerful impact on them.

Because it says, next in verse 41, the first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and invite him to Jesus. He didn't eat breakfast, he didn't check the sports page. He found Simon, his brother, and invited him to see Jesus for himself.

Friends, do you want to do a great service for the kingdom of God? Then invite people to investigate the person of Jesus for themselves. Consider who God has placed in your life, whether it be friends, colleagues at work, family members, and simply invite them to investigate Jesus and tell them what you know from experience of your Lord Jesus.

I sometimes think that evangelism becomes so difficult, we think we have to have the answer to every question, when really it's just invite people to investigate the person of Jesus. Jesus is a man that has changed my life.

When I see the historical Jesus, he is a man that I can follow, come, and see for yourself. The first thing Andrew does is find his brother Simon and take him to meet Jesus. First thing Jesus does is assign Simon a new name.

He says that you will no longer be called Simon, you will be called Cephas, which means Peter. Peter means stone. And so this is, what is the significance of this renaming? Well in this case, Jesus renaming Peter was a prophetic declaration.

Simon would be called Cephas, Cephas means stone. Simon per his character at this time, as we know him from scripture, was a young man. He was a bit brash, maybe overconfident, quick to speak, perhaps quick to anger, a little bit impulsive, and Jesus looks past Simon's kind of youthful instability and he declares that you, Peter, will become a foundational stone, a foundational stone in the church.

Jesus looked past what Peter was at the present and saw what Peter would become with time and with grace. You know, we often see in the scriptures God renaming people, don't we? We don't necessarily put a lot of emphasis on that in our culture.

My name is Dale, and to be honest with you, I'm not even sure what my name means. I'm sure one of you will have it by the end of the service from your phone, but it's not important. But names carry significance, and God is often renaming people in the scripture.

We see Abram, which means father, become Abraham, which means father of nations. We see Jacob, which means deceiver, become Israel, which means the one who prevails. We see Solomon, the prophet sent word to rename Solomon as Jedidiah, which means beloved of God.

Joseph was renamed Barnabas by the apostles, which means son of encouragement. The renaming of a person here in Peter's life signifies a prophetic declaration of what he will become. The renaming of a person often signifies either a prophetic declaration or something about this individual's character.

You know, I think that's a beautiful thought, that God renames people. Jesus saw Peter and declared what he would become in this very next passage. Jesus sees Nathaniel and has declared something beautiful about his character.

Jesus also sees our hearts. He sees our lives. He sees us for who we are. And then he even sees what we will become with time and with his grace. Even if what we are right now is not lovely, with time and grace and his working in us, he sees who we will become.

To put this in more contemporary terms, we can talk about it in terms of identity, can't we? Now that's a big word in our culture today. Think about how people define themselves. If you ask somebody, who are you?

Well, people often define themselves in accordance with their vocation or in accordance with their participation in some group. People today identify themselves according to their sexual preference. You know what, it strikes me that we are a people in America who really are trying to understand who we are, but we don't know.

But we as the people of God, created in his image, dearly loved by God, should reflect deeply on the word of God, allowing it to instruct our self-understanding. Whoever you were in the past, that is crucified with Christ.

We are the covenant community of Jesus Christ, and he renames us in accordance with what is true of us now and in accordance with what we are becoming. That should give us hope. Jesus is the renamer. Well, let's continue on, verse 43.

I'm going to read the next passage as we observe Jesus' interaction with Philip and Nathaniel. So let's look at verse 43 to 51. 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 in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Nathaniel said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit.

Nathaniel said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered, 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.

So Jesus has been down by the Jordan River in Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. And now he decides to go back to Galilee. It's time to head back up north. Now, he found Philip and said to him, Follow me.

Philip found Nathaniel, and just as Andrew had done, Philip testifies to the person of Jesus and brings Nathaniel to see Jesus. Now, Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, or at least where Jesus had been residing for the past several years, had a bad reputation, at least in the eyes of cynical Nathaniel.

Cana, Nathaniel's home village, was just a few miles away. So maybe there's kind of a rivalry between these two villages. But Nazareth is nothing more than a humble village. It's not mentioned in the Old Testament.

It's not the reference for any Messianic prophecy, at least that Nathaniel can remember. It was a place of poor, kind of working-class people with a rough Galilean dialect. And, you know, it's hard for Nathaniel to see how this town could play any role in God's redemptive plan.

And, you know, in this era, there are a lot of examples historically of kind of Messianic posers who claimed to be somebody great, gathered a following around them, and then were crushed by the Romans.

And so, maybe a bit of skepticism on Nathaniel's part is understandable here. But despite that skepticism, let's give Nathaniel credit, he came at Philip's request to investigate the person of Jesus. And Jesus completely explodes any skepticism or doubt that Nathaniel had.

Doesn't he? He said, he reveals the heart of the man. Behold an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. The New Living Translation says, Now here is a genuine son of Israel, a man of complete integrity.

Jesus saw something in the heart of Nathaniel. Now, as I prepared this message and kind of let it ferment in my mind for a week or two, a couple weeks before sharing it, I was really, I found my mind going back to a question again and again.

Nathaniel was convinced of the authority and the lordship of Jesus fairly quickly, wasn't he? Now, why did people like Nathaniel believe in Jesus so quickly? And on the other hand, the Pharisees did not believe in Jesus.

What is the fundamental difference between a person who rejects Jesus and a person who embraces Jesus? Because in a lot of cases, they have access to the same information, don't they? Nathaniel saw Jesus' miracles, or was going to see Jesus' miracles.

Well, so did the Pharisees. Nathaniel had access to the Old Testament prophecies about Christ. Well, so did the Pharisees. Nathaniel had heard Jesus' teaching, or he soon would. So did the Pharisees. So what was the essential difference between Nathaniel and, for example, the Pharisees, who were skeptical and hostile towards Jesus?

And I believe that this passage gives us the answer to that question. Nathaniel was a man in whom there was no deceit. He didn't have false motives. He was not protecting his ego. He wasn't harboring an idolatrous love or a secret sin that he feared to lose.

Nathaniel was a man of pure heart, a genuine seeker after truth, a man who was genuinely seeking the face of God, a man in whom there was no deceit. A genuine seeker. This is a truth. A genuine seeker of truth, sooner or later, will find themselves at the feet of Jesus.

The Pharisees could not see Jesus and could not submit to Jesus because they were blinded by their pride and their political aspirations and they did not want to lose something. The person who is afraid to lose something is holding on to some sin or some position or some pride and who is afraid to lose something is a person in whom there is not a pure motive and they will not follow Jesus.

The Pharisees could not see because they did not want to see Jesus. Have you ever dealt with a person like that? Perhaps a person from a different religion who seems eager to talk with you about faith matters but really just wants to give you a lecture about their own religion?

A person who has a lifestyle of perhaps sexual immorality and desperately wants to hold on to it? A person with an oversized ego who can't admit they're wrong? It would be harder to conquer a fortified city than to bring this person to Christ.

People do not see because they do not wish to see. Nathaniel was no such man. That's why Jesus said in John 7 verse 17, listen to this verse, If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

If your heart is set to know God's will, you will know whether Jesus is speaking the truth or not. And before Pontius Pilate in John chapter 18 verse 37, Jesus says again, Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.

Nathaniel was a man seeking truth. Sometimes when I'm talking with students on campus, I'll meet a student who is an atheist or an agnostic, and instead of arguing about the existence of God, sometimes I do, it's kind of fun, but sometimes I'll just tell them a story.

I'll say, friend, can I ask you a question? What are you really looking for in life? I remember years ago, many years ago, this is one of those stories that Abby is going to correct me on the details after the fact.

But I remember we, our refrigerator started making funny sounds and it was not doing its job correctly. And I don't know what other problems were, but it began to dawn on me that, you know what, we're going to need to buy a new refrigerator.

And then a miracle occurred. You want to know what the miracle was? Everywhere I turned, I started to see advertisements for refrigerators. Like when you walk into Lowe's, when you're driving down the road, there's a billboard, and it's like everybody's advertising appliances.

Now, let me ask you a question. Was there honestly a sudden surge in the advertising for, you know, appliances? No. What had changed was that my heart was seeking a refrigerator. And so I started to see advertisements everywhere for refrigerators.

And I think the same is true. You will find what you are inclined towards. You will find what you are seeking. And Nathaniel was a man in whom there was no deceit. He was a man seeking the face of God, and he inevitably found himself at the feet of Jesus.

What are you seeking? Well, Jesus discerns the character of Nathaniel, and then he confirms, in verse 48, his prophetic authority by saying, Well, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Do you know what Nathaniel was doing under the fig tree? I don't know either. We don't know, but he was alone. Perhaps he was praying for the day when the Chosen One would appear. That makes sense in light of the fact that he had probably listened to John the Baptist preach.

Perhaps he was reflecting on the biblical story of Jacob in the Old Testament. That's going to become important in just a moment. But whatever he was thinking about, this supernatural display convinced Nathaniel, who exclaims, You are the Son of God.

You are the King of Israel. Those are parallel statements in this passage. And Jesus says to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.

And in fact, Nathaniel would see greater things than these, because the very next passage talks about the first public miracle that Jesus did when he turns water into wine in Cana. And guess who was from Cana?

Nathaniel. But there's something more. There's another layer of meaning that I'd like to explore kind of in our last few minutes here. When Jesus said, Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit, he was doing more than offering just a prophetic description of Nathaniel's character, wasn't he?

He was making a comparison between Nathaniel and Jacob, the patriarch, the grandson of Abraham. Now remember, I told you before, who was paying attention, what does Jacob's name mean in the Bible? Deceiver, right?

Jesus was saying of Nathaniel, Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no Jacob, literally. That reference is important because it establishes what Jesus is going to say next in verse 51.

It establishes the context for what Jesus is going to explain. Verse 51, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Now what in the world was Jesus talking about?

Before I answer that question, I just want to make one simple textual observation. In verse 51, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened. The pronouns here, the you, is a plural pronoun.

So Jesus is not talking only to Nathaniel. I think he turns his attention now to say something to this growing band of disciples who happen to be within the sound of his hearing. So he's speaking to everybody who's listening, all of his disciples.

He said, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Now to understand the meaning of this verse, I would like you to keep your finger in John chapter 1.

But at the same time, we're going to turn back to Genesis chapter 28. Genesis chapter 28. Genesis is the first book in your Bible. I did not look up the page number. I apologize for that. You're on your own.

Genesis 28, and we're going to read verses 10 through 17. This gives us the background to understand Jesus' statement here in John chapter 1. Now as you're still flipping there, Jacob in this story had just deceived his father Isaac.

And in doing so, he had stolen the family blessing from his older brother Esau. Esau was the firstborn and Jacob had stolen his blessing. He had previously stolen his birthright. So it's a way of kind of like saying he had stolen inheritance from his brother.

Jacob is forced to leave home and flee for his life because Esau is going to kill him. And so Jacob is fleeing to Haran, which is far to the north. And that's where we pick the story up. Genesis 28 verses 10 through 17.

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

Now pause. I understand that people in this era did not have creature comforts like we have today. But sleeping on a stone, that was rough. Okay, Jacob is, he's in a rough situation. He, Jacob, 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. I want you to notice three parallels between this passage in Genesis and the passage here in John.

Or maybe we can say three parallels between the situation of Nathanael and the situation in Jacob. Parallel number one, Jesus sees. Jacob was alone, fleeing from his brother Esau, far from home, far from the gods of his family, or so he thought.

He was not alone, however. God was with him. As Jacob himself testifies in this passage in Genesis, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. Now Nathanael also was alone under the fig tree.

Jesus saw him there. Jesus heard whatever prayers he was praying in silence. Jesus saw his thoughts and his heartaches and his dreams, perhaps for his people. And Nathanael, like Jacob before him, could say, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.

Jesus sees. Parallel number two, Jesus is the mediator between heaven and earth. Jesus turns to his growing band of disciples after this prophetic announcement about Nathanael. Jesus turns to his growing band of disciples, who at this point have their mouth on the floor and are amazed.

And he says, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder. Jesus doesn't mention a ladder.

He says, You will see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jesus is himself, in his person, the ladder of connection between heaven and earth. Jesus is the new and supreme point of communication between God and men.

He is the point of intersection between heaven and earth. Later, in this same book, Jesus says essentially the same thing. John 14, verse 6. You know the verse. I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. And again, Paul writes about Jesus years later in 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. There is one God and there is one mediator between God and men. The man, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our mediator. The very ladder of Jacob. And the third parallel I see between the Genesis passage and the John 1 passage is simply this. Man, in response, stands in awe. Nathaniel blurts out, You are the Christ.

You are the chosen one. You are the king of Israel. And when we return to Genesis, we see Jacob's reaction to this dream. He says, 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. And we also look upon the person of Jesus. The man to whom Jacob's vision pointed. And let us say, the God of Jacob is here and I wasn't aware of it. Surely the Lord is in this place and I wasn't aware of it.

How awesome is this man, Jesus! He is none other than the house of God. The word made flesh. God himself tabernacling among his people. Jesus is the gate to heaven. Friends, in conclusion this morning, I am asking you, I bid you to behold, to look, to consider.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the ladder of Jacob, the very gate of heaven. Behold Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, one thing is clear to me in my conscience and in my heart as I preach these words.

And it's simply this. You are greater than anyone or anything that I have ever imagined. As I look through the book of John, I just see your majesty revealed in new and fresh ways. Jesus, open all of our eyes because not one person among us, not one of us, has a great enough view of who you are.

Jesus, may you become greater and may we become less. Jesus, may you just grow in your respect and worship in our own eyes. In other words, teach us, Lord Jesus, to respect and honor and worship you more.

Jesus, become greater. Thank you. Amen.