John 1:35-5135Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. 43The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 44Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 48Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 49Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 50Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 51And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. (John 1:35‑51)
The next day after John the prophet announced Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Son of God, Jesus came to the place again, and John again called, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
Two men were standing with John who wanted to know more of One sent by God to take away sin, and they followed after Jesus. He turned and asked them, “What seek ye?” They said, “Rabbi ... where dwellest Thou?” A rabbi was a man who taught the people of God, and was the most respectful title they knew to address Him.
Jesus invited them to “come and see.” It is not told where He stayed — it may have been an outside shelter — but they were welcomed to stay with Him. It was “about the tenth hour,” or near night. They counted twelve hours to a day, beginning at sunrise.
Telling Others
When we know a great event, we want to tell someone. Those two men had found Him who was the Holy One sent by God to take away their sins. This was the very greatest event to them, and they wanted others to know Him. One man, Andrew, went to tell his brother and brought him to Jesus.
Jesus knew the brother’s name, Simon, but gave him a second name, Cephas, which means a stone in Aramaic. Later the Greek language was used more and their word for stone is “petros,” translated into our language, Peter. Peter is the word most often used for him, though Cephas is also used, as in 1 Corinthians 15:55And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: (1 Corinthians 15:5).
All great buildings were then made of stone, as the temple in Jerusalem. That was no longer used in honor to God. Peter was to be one of a new “temple,” not of real stones but of people who believed the Lord Jesus. Peter later wrote of others who believed as “lively (or living) stones” (1 Pet. 2:4-54To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4‑5)).
Come and See
Jesus was going to Galilee and told a man named Philip to follow Him. Philip went to a man named Nathanael to tell him they had found the One written of in the Scriptures, and that He was Jesus of Nazareth.
When Nathanael found that Jesus knew him before and knew what he thought in his heart, he also believed Jesus to be the promised One. He would learn that Jesus had first come from Judea, just as the prophets had written.
All these men lived in Galilee, and were of the twelve chosen by Jesus to be with Him and to tell others about Him. They began to tell others as soon as they knew who Jesus was. It seems Nathanael had another name, Bartholomew, as that name is given in the other gospels and Nathanael is given in this gospel (see Matt. 10:33Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus; (Matthew 10:3); Mark 3:1818And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, (Mark 3:18); Luke 6:1414Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, (Luke 6:14); also, John 21:22There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. (John 21:2)).
The titles of the Lord Jesus in the first Chapter of John, are: the Word, the Life, the Light, the Lamb, the Son of God, the Messias, Christ, the King of Israel, and the Son of Man.
Further Meditation:
1. What was a rabbi’s job?
2. How many different sets of brothers were part of the Lord’s disciples? What can we learn from this?
3. If you’ve just been enjoying some of the names and titles of the Lord Jesus Christ you might enjoy The Names of God by P. Wilson.