Behold the Lamb of God!

John 1:35-51

The First Disciples

35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"  They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"  39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).

40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

Philip and Nathanael

43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael 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."

46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"

48 Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

50 Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51 And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Behold the Lamb of God!  Those were the words proclaimed by John the Baptist when he first saw Jesus because he was looking for and expecting Him to come as John was sent to announce Him.  He had proclaimed this before as the One who takes away the sin of the world, the sacrificial atoning Lamb of God who is the eternally-existing Word and the Divine One Himself as he opened this account of Jesus Christ with.  When John repeated this proclamation to two of his own followers, they saw Jesus and straightaway left John to follow Him.  Jesus asked what they were looking for and they first acknowledged Him as a teacher, a rabbi, one to follow in His teaching and example.  Then they asked where Jesus was staying and were invited along with Him.  Andrew then went and told Simon Peter his brother that they had found (or rather, that He had found them) Jesus the Messiah, the Christ of God’s anointing.  They had beheld the Lamb of God!  Having seen Him they began following, but it was not enough; they had to tell others, just as we do now when we our eyes are opened to the sacrifice of Christ who earned our salvation and opened our hearts to receive Him as Lord and Savior to follow and in turn tell the world one heart at a time.  Andrew brought his brother to Jesus to see for himself and come to know and follow Him as well.  That is what we do in making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) when we lead people to Christ as He uses us to proclaim the Lamb who sacrificed Himself for their atoning redemption while He draws them to Himself (John 6:44).  Jesus gave Simon a brand new name, Peter, which signified his new nature as a future rock of leadership in the church He was building.  We also are givenna new name now as one in Christ and also in eternity (Revelation 2:17, 3:12) because we are called out and chosen ones drawn to know, follow, and proclaim that He is the Lamb of God sent to take away our sin by offering Himself as the sacrifice to earn that which our works can never accomplish (John 1:29)!  Jesus went on to gather Philip and Nathanael to Himself in much the same way; He found Philip who then went to tell Nathanael to come and see the Messiah also.  Nathanael doubted anything good, let alone that this could be Him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote in the law, this Jesus of Nazareth.  He knew that the prophets had said the Christ was to come out of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and so did not believe Philip had the right man, but went to see Jesus anyway.  Our misunderstanding can cause doubt to believe and receive Jesus until we know the facts as the scriptures have recorded for us, but we also need the personal invitation of the Lord to see Him for who He really is first.  Hearing the gospel from others is not enough to convince us without God’s Spirit working in our souls to know and receive (John 1:12) Him as the Divine Lord who is the sacrificial Lamb of God.  Jesus did this for Nathanael by telling him that He saw him already under a tree before Philip called him to come and see.  Then Nathanael understood the omnipotent work of the one who was who others had told him.  This is why we can tell many the gospel but only the ones prepared and led by God to Himself through faith in Christ are able to truly hear and take the truth to heart and turn to be saved and reborn by His work in them.  Then we echo the exclamation of Nathanael by saying, “You are the Son of God! You are the King!” as we acknowledge Him as our Sovereign Lord and divine Savior who is the living Word of God in the words of the gospel message He uses to convict us of sin, righteousness, and the impending judgment (John 16:8-11) which we all face (Romans 6:23) apart from Him.  As we have once sat or are still reclining under our own fig tree, we can rest in the hope that He sees whom he calls and we will or have done so accordingly and surely to behold the Lamb of God who takes away our sin.  This is our true and certain hope.