John 1:35-51
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter[g]).
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe[h] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you,[i] you[j] will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’[k] the Son of Man.”
Footnotes
- John 1:42 Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean rock.
- John 1:50 Or Do you believe … ?
- John 1:51 The Greek is plural.
- John 1:51 The Greek is plural.
- John 1:51 Gen. 28:12
John 1:35-37
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
John the Baptist again points to Jesus, saying, “Look, the Lamb of God!” And two of his disciples then left to follow Jesus. Later in the passage, Andrew and Philip both go and tell those close to them about Jesus.
Are we pointing others to Jesus? Are we inviting the people around us to take a close look at who He is so that they’ll be interested to find out more? Our lives and our words should be screaming, “Look at Jesus! Look at who He is! Look at what He can do for you! Come meet Him for yourself and you’ll see!”
Are you open to drawing attention to yourself like John did so that you can bring attention to Christ? John exclaimed, “Look at Jesus!” He wasn’t quiet about his faith. What about you? How does God want you to be a little louder about your faith so that you can point others to the Messiah?
John 1:38-39
Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
John’s two disciples go and spend the rest of the day with Jesus. We need to be spending time with Jesus, don’t we? How can we let Him nourish our souls – How can we let Him teach us as our rabbi – if we aren’t spending enough time with Him?
I love how Jesus invites these two men to come to the place where He’s staying, and when we spend time with Jesus, He invites us into His home as well. He brings us into the very Presence of God. That’s worth spending some focused time with Christ, isn’t it?
But how much time is enough? Like eating a nutritious meal, you’ll know when your soul is satisfied. You’ll know when you’ve spent enough time with Jesus and He says, “That’s enough for you for now. Go and live in what we’ve talked about. We’ll meet up again later.”
If you don’t have a desire to spend time with Jesus, pray to the Holy Spirit to give you a hunger for the things of God.
John 1:42 and John 1:47
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter)…When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
Jesus knows who you are, and He knows who you will be. He knows everything about you – the sins, the shame, the regrets, the good intentions, the honest desires of your heart – and He calls you to be His disciple, to follow Him.
The only way for us to truly change is to follow Jesus. The only way for us to let the good parts of us truly shine is to follow Jesus. He teaches us, and as we respond in obedience, His Spirit transforms us from the inside out. We become the best versions of ourselves. We become who He created us to be.
Will you follow Jesus today and let His Spirit work in you?
John 1:51
“Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
Jesus is quoting and calling to mind the vision Jacob saw when he was fleeing from Esau after he tricked his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn (see Genesis 27). The vision is recorded in Genesis 28:12-17:
He 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. 13 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. 14 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. 15 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.” 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 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.”
Older translations call the stairway a ladder, so this vision is often called Jacob’s Ladder. When Jesus says the angels will go up and down on the Son of Man, He’s saying He is that ladder or stairway. He’s the way to Heaven.
To climb a staircase from one floor to another, you have to trust the staircase, don’t you? You have to trust it won’t fall. Will you trust Jesus to be your way to Heaven? Will you thank Him for providing a way for you? We can’t be our own way to Heaven, and we can’t create any other ladders that will get us there. In sending His Son to earth, God was lowering the staircase for us to climb up.
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