Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
In our Bibles to John 1. Maybe next Sunday we'll complete chapter 1. We are continuing to consider what we have called the prelude to the public ministry of Jesus, which is contained in John 1, 19 -51.
This is the 5th Lord's Day. We have addressed this portion of this fourth gospel. And to this point, the emphasis has been on the witness that John the Baptist gave forth to Jesus. But that witness has come to its end, or conclusion, with John declaring two great truths regarding the Lord Jesus.
The first declaration of truth regarding Jesus was that he was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And then the second great truth declared by John that really brought an end to his witness was that Jesus was he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
And as we emphasized last Lord's Day, these two great works of God are involved in bringing us salvation. First, he secures through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of our sins. And then secondly, Jesus the Lord, of course, delivers us from the power of sin and enables us to live lives of obedience because he baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, which occurred at our conversion.
Again, the outline of John 1 we're using, I set before you in our notes, and I emboldened the portion that we'll be addressing today. We come into this section where the first disciples of Jesus are identified and described for us.
Now, Andrew and Peter are the ones named, but there was actually an unnamed disciple who first came to Jesus with Andrew, and we'll be speaking about him as well. And so here's the portion of this prelude, beginning with John chapter 1, verse 35.
Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples, looking at Jesus as he walked. He said, Behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, What do you seek?
And they said to him, Rabbi, which is to say, when translated, Teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he was staying, and remained with him that day. And now it was about the tenth hour.
One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ.
And he brought him to Jesus. Now, when Jesus looked at him, he said, You are Simon, the son of Jonah. You should be called Cephas, which is translated a stone. Of course, all four Gospels present John the Baptist as introducing the ministry of Jesus to Israel.
John's ministry of proclamation, calling people to repent and be baptized with to God's forgiveness of sins, was in view of and preparation for the soon inauguration of the promised kingdom of God. The kingdom was at hand, according to John.
The king would soon appear, and so John was preparing for the one who was to come by preparing the people first. And so he would then declare its commencement of this preparation period when he identified Jesus to Israel and ultimately to the world, which we have in John chapter 1, as the promised king, as one wrote.
All four Gospels begin with the ministry of John the Baptist, who is described as a forerunner who announces the person and ministry of Jesus. But the Baptist is displayed differently in John's Gospel, giving a more emphatic, prophetic, apostolic witness to Jesus.
The Baptist introduces Jesus not merely to Israel, but to the world, even the reader of the Gospel. It is through the self-effacement of the one who offered renewal cleansings, that would be John the Baptist, that our attention is drawn to the one who can truly cleanse and renew, of course being Jesus Christ.
Now this last portion of John chapter 1 contains information regarding the first disciples of Jesus. The focus of this passage is the self-witness of Jesus to these two disciples. There are two sections to this passage.
The first is contained in verses 35 through 42, which we read, which speak of Andrew and Peter becoming disciples. And then the second tells of Nathanael becoming disciples. And we'll only address the first of these this week.
And Lord willing, next week we'll address Philip and Nathanael. And so let's consider Andrew and Peter, but also I probably should have mentioned the unnamed disciple who came with Andrew. We first read that John the Baptist pointed two of his disciples to Jesus, thereby transitioning them from being his disciples to becoming disciples of Jesus.
And so we read in 35, verse 35, again the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus, he walked and he said, behold the Lamb of God. It was the Baptist mission to point men to Jesus.
In the previous section, we've seen him bearing witness, and now we find him sending some of his followers after the Lord. The evangelist provides a time frame in this verse as the next day. You see that in verse 35, again the next day.
Now we have not addressed in great detail the time element of this first chapter of John's gospel. If we did, we would realize that this is the third day of the narrative. The first was when John engaged the embassy of the Jews from Jerusalem, in verse 19 and following.
The second day is when Jesus saw John, or rather when John saw Jesus coming toward him, and he made the announcement, behold the Lamb of God. And here in verse 35, the third day commences in which the two of his disciples become disciples of Jesus.
And so John is careful to follow this chronology one day after the other. We read that John was standing there with two of his disciples. John stood with two of his disciples, is the text. Jesus had disciples.
John the Baptist also had disciples. Later we read that John had sent two of his disciples to inquire of the identity and ministry of Jesus. And so we read in Luke 7, 18, and 19, the disciples of John reported all things to him, that is John the Baptist.
And John calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord saying, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? Even John the Baptist later on had questions when Jesus, whom he identified and baptized, was not exhibiting the kind of ministry that he and all other Jews thought that the Messiah would demonstrate.
And so he sent two of his disciples to inquire of Jesus. It would appear that John's disciples lived according to different religious standards than the disciples of Jesus. John's disciples lived more in accordance of what would be regarded as devout and consecrated living according to the Jews and their understanding of the law and of the oral traditions.
And so we read in Matthew 9, 14, and 15, then the disciples of John came to Jesus saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And so we see a different manner of living in some areas, particularly with regard to issues of fasting or feasting.
And so Jesus's disciples and John's disciples lived differently, religiously. Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
And so the Lord Jesus taught his disciples in manners and ways consistent with the new covenant that he would be instituting rather than according to the old covenant that had been established with Israel by Moses.
And moreover, it must be assumed that the disciples of John the Baptist also ordered their lives according to much of the formal tradition of the rabbis from which the Lord Jesus would direct his disciples not to look, not to look to the traditions, but to the scriptures alone.
We read in verse 36, and looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, behold the Lamb of God. John declared that same message the day before, behold the Lamb of God. He declares it again here. And so after John had initially identified Jesus as the promised one, we see John continually bearing witness to all who would hear him whenever he saw Jesus, behold the Lamb of God.
That was the refrain of John's message after he had identified Jesus as the Messiah when he saw the Holy Spirit descend upon him in the form of a dove. Verse 37 records, the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Most of Jesus' first disciples had probably been former disciples of John. When the eleven apostles felt the need to replace Judas Iscariot later on in Acts chapter 1, they had two criteria. Therefore, these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, to the day when he was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.
And so they selected one, of course, in order to have twelve apostles, and the reason was there were twelve tribes of Israel, and they needed an apostle over each of the twelve tribes of Israel. However, apparently not all the disciples had been disciples of John the Baptist.
Most of them probably were. It would seem quite certain that the Lord Jesus called Levi, who would thereafter be named Matthew, to become one of his disciples, even while he was serving at the tax table as a corrupt Jewish man who had long departed from the ways of Israel.
Apparently, Matthew had not been a disciple of John the Baptist, although probably most of our Lord's disciples had been. The Lord called several of his disciples in Galilee while they were fishermen.
He later made them apostles. It's not stated with respect to every one of them that they were disciples of John the Baptist, or even if they had been baptized by John, although it's likely they probably had been.
But not only did John baptize with view to the coming kingdom, Jesus also had a ministry of baptizing disciples. And so the time arrived when Jesus' disciples were baptizing more new disciples than John's disciples.
And so Jesus' ministry was increasing, and it surpassed John's ministry of baptizing. And we read of this in John chapter 4 verse 1 and following. Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, and then of course the qualification is given, though Jesus himself did not baptize but his disciples, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee.
It's possible that some of his apostles had initially been baptized by Jesus, that is, by disciples who were with him. And so it may not be that every disciple of Jesus had been baptized by John and was a disciple of John before becoming a disciple of Jesus.
Now we read of two disciples of John who became disciples of Jesus. This is quite amazing, and I think it reveals to us the holy character of John the Baptist and the success of his ministry. As one wrote, the text does not tell us that the Baptist expected his followers to become disciples of Jesus.
Certainly some remain attached to John even after John's death, but in the light of John the Baptist's self-perception as the forerunner of the coming one, it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the disciples, those perhaps who understood him best, discerned that their master was constantly pointing beyond himself to another.
Once he had identified the coming one, it was only to be expected that some of them would follow Jesus. And in doing so, the two disciples mentioned here are not scurriously abandoning the Baptist in favor of a more prestigious leader, but are being truest to the teaching of the forerunner, this John the Baptist understood.
This reveals in my mind the humble and noble character of John the Baptist, to see his own numbers dwindling, even as they who left him went to another, even Jesus. But he saw this as the realization of his mission, even the aspirations of his ministry.
And we read of this spirit of John the Baptist later in the gospel. John answered, said, a man can receive nothing unless it's been given to him from heaven. He saw all of his ministry as a work of God, God's grace through him.
You yourselves bear me witness that I said I'm not the Christ, but I've been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
And therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. John was the happiest person on that day when those two disciples of his became disciples of Jesus. He must increase, but I must decrease. May this spirit characterize church leaders and particularly pastors.
One of the most difficult aspects of the ministry within a local church setting is when members choose to leave your church in order to join another church. If there is one great difficulty in the ministry, I would label it that one.
Every time that occurs, there's a measure of soul-searching on the part of the pastor, or at least there should be. Ultimately, however, the way to deal with the disappointment and self-doubting is to reaffirm that we're seeking to advance the kingdom of Christ.
If we had a time in which to help or direct a Christian in seeking that kingdom and his righteousness, then we should be pleased that we had that opportunity and the time to do so. But sadly, all too often a pastor may view himself in competition with other churches, or even worse, measuring himself and his worth as a pastor by comparing his work with other men in their ministries and how they seem to be doing, and that is something I've always sought to avoid doing.
That would be sinful. The bottom line in this matter is to determine if one has been faithful to the Lord and his people, and then realizing, of course, that the true nature of things is going to be revealed when the Lord returns.
If we were thinking rightly, we would rejoice when we learn of the Lord's blessing of another's ministry or another church. We are concerned that the kingdom of our Lord be furthered, which is much broader than what takes place in our own little local church.
Is that not right? Amen. May each of us retain that spirit. When these two disciples began to follow Jesus, we read of our Lord's reaction to them. Verse 38a records, Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, What do you seek?
This is a good question to ask initially of someone who shows some interest in spiritual matters. What do you seek? By this question, that one is led to examine his own understanding of spiritual matters and his own motivation for seeking.
What do you seek? But sometimes a person is unable to answer this very basic question. They really don't know. All he or she knows is that an interest has arisen in his soul. He may know that he has needs, but he's too spiritually ignorant to identify or specify what he wants or needs.
But sometimes an answer to such a question like this reveals the true nature of a person, or at least the extent to which the Lord has awakened or informed him of his spiritual need. It would seem that these two men did not know themselves how to answer the Lord's question to them.
What do you seek? Of course, we know that even when the Lord asked these men, what do you seek? In reality, Jesus was seeking them, wasn't he? For we know that fallen man, if left to himself, would never seek the Lord.
Paul would quote the psalmist, there is none that seeks after God, Romans 3 .10. And of course, these disciples did not know that God had his purposes toward them being realized at this time. They were clueless.
They were as we all were at this stage of initially coming to Jesus. It says the words of the hymn that we occasionally sing, I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me.
It was not I that found, O Savior true, no, I was found of thee. Yes, Jesus asked the penetrating question, what are you seeking? But we know, of course, it was the Lord himself seeking his own, and he had glorious purposes for these men.
They had no concept, no idea what was in store for them, but the Lord did. We read in verse 38b, they said to him, Rabbi, which is to say when translated teacher, where are you staying? They called him Rabbi.
The evangelist, that is the gospel writer, translated this Aramaic word. Look at the verse carefully. They said to him, Rabbi, and then in parentheses, which is to say when translated teacher. This reveals that the evangelist was addressing principally a non-Jewish readership.
John's gospel was not written to Jews principally, but rather to Gentiles who are not familiar with Jewish terms, Jewish ideas, and so he would translate for them or explain Jewish terms for them because they did not understand them.
And so the common opinion of evangelicals is this fourth gospel was written in and around Ephesus, up in what is today western Turkey, toward the end of the first century. The readers would have been largely Gentiles who were largely unfamiliar with terms and titles of Hebrew within the religion of Judaism.
And so they said to him, Rabbi, and then the writer of the gospel, John the Apostle, the evangelist, would clarify. That means teacher. That these two men addressed Jesus as Rabbi shows their high regard for Jesus as well as their desire to learn of him.
We throw that word out, Rabbi, rather easily, frequently, but it really had quite a high value in the first century, particularly the early first century. As one wrote, in fact it was Matthew Henry, in calling him Rabbi, they intimated that their design in coming to him was to be taught by him.
Rabbi signifies a master, a teaching master. The Jews called their doctors or learned men rabbis. The word comes from Rob, Multus, Magnus, a rabbi, a great man, and one that, as we say, has much in him.
Never was there such a rabbi as our Lord Jesus, such a great one, in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These came to Christ to be his scholars and his students, so must all those that apply themselves to him.
John had told them that he was the Lamb of God, and now this Lamb is worthy to take the book and open the seals as a rabbi, and unless we give up ourselves to be ruled and taught by him, he will not take away our sins.
And so there's a lot of meaning in that term, rabbi, that these two disciples of John, they recognized and acknowledged our Lord's great ability to instruct them. They came because they wanted to learn.
They asked Jesus, where are you staying? And Jesus did not tell them, but simply directed them. Verse 39 reads, he said to them, come and see. And they came and saw where he was staying, and remained with him that day.
And now it was about the tenth hour. Jesus said to them, come and see. Perhaps it should be understood as the Lord saying, come and you will see. It was probably a humble place, maybe an inn perhaps, maybe just a cave, maybe just on the side somewhere.
He was just temporarily in that region. And we know later on he would say that, you know, foxes had their dens, birds had their nests. The Son of Man had nowhere permanently to lay his head. It must have been a simple place.
However, no doubt this invitation doubtless delighted the Baptist disciples and constituted the beginning of their intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Can you imagine the privilege and the experience of that day for these two men?
Here in verse 39, we again see betrayed a non-Jewish reader. The evangelist commonly used the standard Roman designations for time, as his Gentile readers would have been accustomed to use. The Romans would begin counting hours of the day beginning at midnight, as we do today.
The synoptic writers, that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke, commonly used Jewish time references, which counted the hours beginning with the dawn of the day. But it's not always an easy matter to sort out the statements of time contained in the Gospels.
Here are William Hendrickson's words, which depict the difficulty of this issue. Time references are hard to sort through in the Gospels, and I read probably eight or ten commentaries, and there are different views as to the time of the day, and Hendrickson pointed out some of the issues.
Commentators will probably never agree on the meaning of the expression the tenth hour. Does this mean the tenth hour after sunrise, hence 4 p .m.? This would be in accordance with the Jewish method of computing time recognized in the synoptics.
But the same method was frequently used among the Romans. See, that's the problem. The latter, however, in counting the hours also started from midnight and from noon, as we do today. They employed the latter method in order to designate the hours of their civil day, in other words, in dating leases and contracts.
However, contemporary records do not make clear just where the one method of figuring the hours ended and the other began. Usage probably differed in different regions. Accordingly, the expression the tenth hour can mean 4 p .m. or 10 p .m.
However, the context makes it quite impossible to think of 10 p .m. As to the choice between 4 p .m. and 10 a .m., we believe, with Alfred Edersheim, A .T. Robertson, Groshida, and many others, that much could be said in favor of the latter, in other words, 10 a .m.
But I found most of the commentators saying, no, no, it was 4 p .m., and I thought it was 10 a .m. until I started reading some of the arguments of the others, and I have to conclude, I don't know what time it was.
But it was a portion of the day that they stayed. Hendrickson went on to write of the issues involved. First, John is writing at the close of the first century. His readers are Christians from among the Gentiles, mostly.
Hence, he does not need to use the Jewish method of counting the hours. He may have used the Roman civil day method. Secondly, in John 20, verse 19, the author must mean the Roman day, and if there, why not here?
Third, the context would seem to favor this interpretation. We read, they remained with him that day. Had it been 4 p .m., we would have expected they remained with him that evening. Also, if the 10th hour means 10 a .m., there is a sufficient time on that same day for the search which resulted in the bringing in of two more disciples, Simon Peter, and in all probability, James.
I didn't put it in my notes. I put it in a footnote. But the one verse that says that Andrew first went and found his brother Simon and brought him to Jesus, some commentators indicated that John the apostle was the unnamed disciple, and he wrote Andrew first went and found his brother, implying that John also went and found his brother, but Andrew found his brother first.
Of course, John's brother would have been James, and so it's possible that both of them went and got both their brothers, but I thought that that was quite a stretch or strain on that adverb, the word first, and so I now threw it out there, but I didn't put it in my notes in a very extensive way.
Fourthly, Hendrickson argued this method of computing the hours also suits the circumstances better in other passages of this gospel. And fifth, the time calculation brings John 19 .14 into harmony with Mark 15 .25, and that has to do with the time when our Lord was crucified.
What hour of the day was it? It depends on which gospel writer you're reading. One is using Jewish time, another is using Roman time, and it's hard to reconcile those, and he's saying that here, if you consider the way he is arguing, that it would bring these two passages into harmony.
And so I suspect that the time Jesus told these men to come to where he was staying was either 10 a .m. or 4 p .m. I don't know which, but they spent the remainder of the day with him. We next read of the identity of one of these two disciples.
We read in verse 40, one of the two who heard John speak, followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Again, John the apostle wrote this gospel 60 years after the event. Simon Peter was by then, of course, a very noted apostle, and Andrew was always known as Peter's brother, and even John is describing Andrew in this way.
And so Andrew later became one of the original 12 apostles, and because the first thing that Andrew did was to find his brother and bring him to Jesus, Andrew was commonly referred to as the first Christian missionary.
He went and found his brother. Andrew was from Bethsaida of Galilee. He met and followed Jesus while in Judea, where he had been a disciple of John the Baptist. It seemed like Andrew was always helping others, and we read the following references of Andrew in John 6.
Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes, seeing a great multitude coming toward him. He said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat? But this he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered, Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little. Well, Andrew steps up, right? One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, there you have it again, Simon Peter's poor brother, said to him, There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?
And then Jesus said, Make the people sit down. And then in John 12, we also read of Andrew, the helper. Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip.
Philip was probably a Hellenized Jew from outside of Palestine, perhaps more approachable, perceived wise by the Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, Saint Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
So what did Philip do? Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip told Jesus that they wanted to see him. According to tradition, soon after our Lord ascended to his throne in heaven, Andrew preached the gospel extensively in Jerusalem.
It is said he then traveled extensively preaching the gospel in many parts of the Roman Empire. However, when he was in the region of Greece, he strongly and persistently rebuked the leader of that country or that region, Aegeus, for his idolatry.
The result was threatened death if Andrew persisted in his faith, or he was offered great riches if he recanted the faith and offered sacrifice to the idols that Aegeus worshipped. Tradition has it that he was crucified.
He basically says, you don't have enough riches to give me, you know, to counter what I already have in Christ. At least that's what tradition says. And so tradition says that Andrew was crucified, be nailed to a cross, which was in the form of an X.
And that became the source of what is commonly now known, always has been known as Saint Andrew's Cross, in the form of an X. We read that immediately after Andrew came to follow Jesus, he left and found his brother Simon.
We read in verse 41 too, he first found his own brother Simon, said to him, we have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. Andrew first found his own brother Simon.
One observed each time Andrew is mentioned in the narrative, he's bringing someone to Jesus. That's the nature of Andrew. Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. And this is essentially what we attempt to do in our witnessing for Jesus Christ.
Yes, there are essential doctrines that must be taught to those who would come to Jesus, doctrines that must be understood and believed if one is to receive salvation. But the aim of all of our effort is to bring them unto the person and into the presence of Jesus, that they might know him, that they might become his disciples.
Andrew serves as an ideal disciple of Jesus, who is concerned to bring another to the Savior. And by the way, notice here again, the evangelist translated the Hebrew word Messiah into the Greek equivalent, Christ.
Here again, we see the evangelist was writing to Gentiles, who are not necessarily familiar with the Hebrew term Messiah. Andrew used the Hebrew word Messiah, which the evangelist translates for his readers as the Christ.
What did Andrew mean by this declaration, however? It would have conformed to the Jewish expectation of the day. F .F. Bruce, I really like this commentator. He was a scholar. He always engaged the liberals and took them to task.
F .F. Bruce, he was in the 20th century. He wrote a wonderful commentary on Hebrews. He set forth this matter well. We have found the Messiah, said Andrew. This Semitic verbal adjective, and that's what Messiah is, it's an adjective, does not appear in the New Testament, except in this gospel, where it is found twice, here and in John 4 .25.
In both places, it's interpreted by the Greek equivalent Christos. That's the Greek word. In the Old Testament, the verbal adjective is used to denote the king of Israel, that is the Lord's anointed, the high priest, the anointed priest, and once in the plural of the patriarchs in their role as prophets, my anointed ones.
While the Messianic expectation at the outset of the Christian era took a predominantly royal form, in other words, Jesus is primarily the Lord or the king, in actual fulfillment, Jesus proved himself to be the Messiah par excellence in all three roles, prophet, priest, and king.
What Andrew would have meant at this time by the title Messiah cannot be stated with certainty. His understanding would no doubt have been colored by contemporary forms in which the hope of Israel was cherished.
But as he and his fellow disciples came to know Jesus better, earlier conceptions of the Messiah and his achievement were displaced in their minds by the actual character and ministry of Jesus. We found the Messiah, and Andrew, he might have had all kinds of wrong conceptions about who the Messiah was.
He wasn't wrong about the identity, though Jesus was indeed the Messiah. We read that our Lord renamed Simon Cephas, verse 43. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said, you are Simon, the son of Jonah, you should be called Cephas.
And here we have it translated once again, it's done over and over again by the evangelist, which is interpreted or translated a stone. When the evangelist wrote that Jesus looked at him, he did so in a manner that suggested a thorough, penetrating look that gave him a settled assessment of the man.
Jesus apparently was looking one way, they came from behind, he turned around, and he looked. And the Greek word that's used by the evangelist describes Jesus, he checked him out, and he saw immediately who this man was and what he was going to be.
He renamed him on the spot. And so we see, you know, the insight of the Lord Jesus here, quite beautifully displayed. And so Jesus regarded Simon closely, studied him in a moment, literally looked upon him and looked him over.
And that's the Greek word, amblepas, which suggests this idea. Jesus sized him up and then made this assertion regarding his future importance and impact upon others as his apostle. Jesus, having looked upon Andrew's brother, manifests his penetrating knowledge and ability to predict the future by saying, you are Simon, the son of John, and that's what Jonah is.
You will be called Cephas, that's in Aramaic, or Peter in Greek, meaning rock. However, this was not merely a prediction, it was also a promise, initiating or indicating what God's grace would accomplish in the heart and life of this disciple.
The Reformed commentator Herman Ritterbos, who wrote a wonderful theological commentary on the Gospel of John, which I obtained recently and I'm enjoying, gave an explanation of Jesus naming Peter on this occasion as it gives weight to the apostolic witness of Jesus.
The giving of the name involves not just as characterization of Simon as Peter, that is as a rock of a man, a trustworthy person, but also his significance as a future disciple and apostle of Jesus, even though no further explication like that in Matthew 16, 18 is given.
In other words, thou art Peter, on this rock I'll build my church, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. For that reason, it's proper to ask whether this first giving of the name is to be understood as a prediction.
However this may be, the main thing that is here at the very beginning of the Gospel, Peter is presented as the rock man, and thus the evangelist unmistakably brings out for the church the reliability of the apostolic witness, a reliability attested by Jesus, the historic foundations of which are laid bare here.
I thought that was a good observation. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church elevated Peter, declaring that the Lord Jesus made him the first pope. Matthew Poole in his commentary wrote on this, thou art Simon, he, Jesus knew him, called him by name, told him his father's name, Jonas, and gives him a new name, Cephas, which is by interpretation does not signify a head.
In other words, you know, when he's declared, you know, a stone, it wasn't that he was a head. And then he says, as the popish disputant at Bern urged to prove him the head of the church, that is Peter the head of the church, or the first pope, as if it had been a Greek word and came from kephali, which is the Greek word for head, or as he pretended ridiculously enough from an old Greek word, kephos, another form of head, but rather a stone, as our text tells us, by which name we find him called.
In other places, Peter, which signifies a stone also, or a rock. Cephas is a Syriac word, and what he meant by that was Aramaic. Peter, a Greek word, Christ gave him the name. Both Cephas and Peter are by interpretation a stone.
There's no suggestion here of Peter being the first pope. Now in the evangelist's account of these first disciples of John, who became disciples of Jesus on this day, only Andrew is named. One of the disciples, one of the two, was Andrew.
And so who was the other disciple with Andrew? And granted, his anonymity resulted in no shortage of proposals, and there are numbers of them found, but by far the proposal most commentators give is this is John the Apostle, this is the writer of the gospel, he just didn't name himself because he never named himself in his entire gospel.
But one rightly pointed out the very details of John chapter one betray an eyewitness. It was John the gospel writer, you know, who was the other disciple, and he didn't name himself. And this is the most plausible proposal.
John never identified himself by name in his entire gospel. When he referred to himself, it was generally by the description, the one whom Jesus loved. And I gave a number of verses where that's found, four different verses, where John described himself, never calling himself John, always described himself in a less than overt way, but one that he was apparently very pleased to describe himself, he was a disciple whom Jesus loved.
It could be reasoned by the detail of the account of John one itself that an eyewitness was present and recorded what had been seen and experienced. I think John was this other apostle or other disciple, although he went unnamed in the account.
The stamp of John the Apostle is throughout our passage of John chapter one. Now let's get some concluding words of exhortation and counsel that I think we can glean from this. There could be many more, I'm sure.
I love JC Riles' comments, expository thoughts on John. I almost felt like just reproducing them all here for our benefit, but they were wonderful. And I do certainly draw from some of the things that he wrote.
First, let's consider the kind manner in which our Lord met and encouraged these two disciples. He spent time with them, even inviting them to wherever it was he was staying. What a magnanimous, you know, action on the part of our Savior toward these two men.
Consider first the small beginnings of the church which our Lord would form upon himself. Here in the first portion of this section, we read of the beginnings of the Christian church. As far reaching as the church has become a kingdom, a worldwide kingdom, there was a time when it was comprised of only three disciples.
Here we read of Andrew, an unnamed disciple, and Peter, Andrew's brother. But the beginning of Jesus' disciples, there were only two, Andrew and an unnamed disciple, who were formerly disciples of John the Baptist.
And yet we see what glorious events can take place by the simple but continual witness of Jesus Christ. And J .C. Ryle pointed this out. We see for one thing in these verses what good is done by continually testifying of Jesus Christ.
And that's what we need to do. The first time that John the Baptist cried, Behold the Lamb of God, no result appears to have followed. We're not told of any who heard, inquired, and believed. But when he repeated the same words the next day, we read that two of his disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus.
They received most graciously by him they followed. Ryle went on to write,. This simple story is a pattern of the way in which good has been done to souls in every age of the Christian church. By such testimony as that before us, and by none else, men and women are converted and saved.
It's by exalting Christ, not the church, Christ not the sacraments, Christ not the ministry, it's by this means that hearts are moved and sinners are turned to God. To the world such testimony may seem weakness and foolishness.
Yet like the ram's horns before those blasts, the walls of Jericho fell down. This testimony is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. The story of the crucified Lamb of God has proved in every age the power of God unto salvation.
Those who have done most for Christ's cause in every part of the world have been like John the Baptist. They've not cried behold me, or behold the church, or behold the ordinances, but behold the Lamb.
If souls are to be saved, men must be pointed directly to Christ. And that's important. Yes, there's doctrine that needs to be taught and understood and believed and embraced and promoted, but all must be in service to directing people to Jesus Christ.
Secondly, let's take to heart the great privilege we have and the potential we have to further the kingdom of Christ and to bring eternal blessing to others. As soon as Andrew came to Jesus, he went to fetch his brother Simon in order to bring him to Jesus.
The fact before us is most striking and instructive. Out of the three first members of the Christian church, one at least was brought to Jesus by the private, quiet word of a relative. He seems to have heard no public preaching.
He saw no mighty miracles wrought. He was not convinced by any powerful reasoning. He only heard his brother telling him he'd found a savior himself, and at once the work began in his soul. The simple testimony of a warm-hearted brother was the first link in the chain which Peter was drawn out of the world and joined to Christ.
The first blow in that mighty work by which Peter was made a pillar of the church was struck by Andrew's words, we have found the Christ. Amen. And then let us also learn from Christ on how we might better souls that we come into contact with.
Let's consider the kind way in which our Savior invited and welcomed these men to come to be with him. He responded to their simple coming to unto him. People feel at ease and welcomed by the presence of the Savior.
We read that Jesus first inquired of them, what do you seek? And they came and were ready to follow him, but he was the one who initiated their conversation. They came behind him, but though he had his back towards them, he was soon aware of them.
He turned and saw them following. Note, Christ takes early cognizance of the first motions of a soul towards him and the first step taken in the way to heaven. He did not stay or wait till they begged to leave to speak to him, but he spoke first.
What communion there is between a soul and Christ is that it begins this discourse. He saith unto them, what seek ye? This was not a reprimand for their boldness in intruding into his company. He that came to seek us never checked any for seeking him.
In other words, it prevented anyone from seeking him, but on the contrary, it's a kind invitation of them into his acquaintance whom he saw bashful and modest. Come, what have you say to me? What is your petition?
What is your request? What do you seek? And our Lord set before us a wonderful pattern that we should mimic in our own desire to be available and desire us to serve others in bringing them to Jesus Christ.
Note those whose business it is to instruct people in the affairs of their souls should be humble and mild and easy of access and should encourage those that apply to them. The question Christ put to them is what we should all put to ourselves when we begin to follow Christ and take up the profession of this holy religion.
What seek ye? What do we design and desire? Those that follow Christ and yet seek the world or themselves or the praise of men deceive themselves. What seek we in seeking Christ? Do we seek a teacher, a ruler, a reconciler?
In following Christ do we seek the favor of God and eternal life? And then consider the great ministry that commenced with the conversion of Peter brought to Jesus Christ by his brother. We have no concept of what the Lord may do with our witness as we point others to the Savior.
Sometimes we hear good things, not often, but sometimes we do and one day we'll see the fruit that the Lord has wrought through our faithful pointing others to him. And I included just a few short email notes I got this week.
I came home Friday to 241 email address email notes and I found these two from two African pastors, one in Durban, South Africa and the other up in Kenya I believe, and it's encouraging to receive words like this.
We point people to Christ and God blesses that doesn't he? And may the Lord help us to be faithful. Let's pray. Thank you Father for your word. Thank you for the privilege we have to point people to Jesus Christ as John did and we pray that you would bless our efforts.
We pray as a result of the witness of this church Lord that many would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and so help us continue to bless our missions efforts Lord. Thank you for the glorious results that we're seeing in these days and the encouraging words we hear.
Bless us Lord as we go forth from this place today and help us Lord to have opportunity and the courage to speak other to others pointing them to Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.