This time I pick up were I left off on the walk through the Book of John. We are now 2/3rds of the way through the first chapter. In this time we have learned of God, the Word and John the baptist.
We learned that God is unknown unless through the Word who was their in the Beginning and is in fact God. We have learned the Word became flesh who is Jesus. We also learned that John the baptist was not the Messiah but a witness to the Messiah that was to prepare the way.
One other interesting thing John shows us in the first part of Chapter 1 is the 3 parts of God that make the Trinity. We see it on display in scripture. We see God the Father called God in verse 1 of Chapter 1, We see the Son called the Word in this chapter. John the baptist then introduces us to the third. The Holy Ghost shown to rest on Jesus at his baptism signifying that infact he is the person John the baptist was to prepare the way for.
Now it is time however to Look towards the first disciples.
John chapter 1 verses 35-51 (kjv)
35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
We see John is standing the day after Jesus baptism and two of John the baptists disciples are with him.
36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
John around his two Disciples declares Jesus to be the Lamb of God which is the person John has been saying all along he is preparing the way for.
37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Well when his two disciples hear John they immediately decided in their hearts to follow Jesus.
38 Then 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?
Here Jesus asks them simply what do the seek. or Why are they following him. They called him essentially master and asked where he lived which makes it very clear they had decided to follow him.
39 He 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.
Here Jesus tells them to follow him to his home. So they came and stayed with him that day.
40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
We are told one of the two was Andrew who was brother to Simon better known as Peter. The other is generally assumed by many people to have been the Apostle John who wrote this book. This is mostly due to how chapter 1 is narrated starting at John the Baptists as if being witnessed and retold by the author.
41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
We find the first thing Andrew does is find his brother and says come see the Messiah or Christ for we have found him.
42 And 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.
Here Simon meets Jesus and is told who he is and that he will be called Cephas or as we know him today Peter. (Note: Peter comes from Petros meaning a stone in Greek. As Greek not Aramaic was the language of scribes all New Testament texts we use were recorded in Greek so we tend to see greek words over the Aramaic words when reading the New Testament books.)
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
Here we are told Jesus looks for Philip and tells him to follow.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
We are told Philip is from the same city as Andrew and his brother now being called Peter
45 Philip 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.
Philip promptly finds a man called Nathanael and tells him they have found the Christ.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
Here Nathanael is a little questioning if such a thing could be true.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48 Nathanael 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.
These verse can be a little odd to the reader. As Jesus welcomes Nathanael saying he is not gullible. Nathanael asks how does Jesus know him like must people might when someone you never met before suddenly greets you like they have always known you.
Here we are told Jesus saw him under the fig tree before Philip called.
Note: My study bible notes say that meditating under a fig tree is favored by Jews and that this might very will have been Jesus referencing a specific meditation and prayer concerning the Messiah Nathanael was doing earlier due to how Nathanael responds next.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
The response is Nathanael declares Jesus Rabbi and that he is truly the Son of God and King of Israel all questions of doubt are removed and he is now a follower.
50 Jesus 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.
Jesus responds that you belive simply because I saw you under the tree? Well if you follow me I am going to show you much greater things then this and as we see later in this book Jesus was very true in that statement.
51 And 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.
Here Jesus references Jacobs Ladder saying that soon they will see that Jacobs Ladder which was a pathway from the earth to God in heaven is infact the Son of man. As we are told earlier in the chapter only through Jesus do we see and know the Father. This is a very fitting image when you stop to think about it as we are told Jesus the Son of man is the pathway to God.
Conclusion:
With that we have reached the end of chapter 1. We see once again the deity aspects of Jesus shown. We see John declare him the Lamb of God he gathers his first followers and he makes his first declaration to be the Way to Eternal life and a relationship with God. Next we will see Jesus go to a wedding in Cana and do his first miracle.
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