What heavenly peace, calmness, confidence, innocence,
breathes in the picture which the beloved evangelist has given us of the first
gathering of disciples round the Divine Saviour!
After thirty years of
quiet, unobtrusive obedience to His Father in heaven and to His earthly
parents, He had been solemnly set apart to His Prophetic and Messianic office.
John the Baptist, who, as a living embodiment, summed up the teaching of the
law, in its awful severity and inflexible justice, and the hope-inspiring
predictions of the prophets, had acknowledged and introduced Him before and to
Israel; the Father had declared His infinite delight in His person, and His
infinite approbation of His work; and the Spirit of the Lord, who had been upon
Him even from His infancy, now anointed Him to go forth and preach the glad
tidings of salvation to the poor and broken-hearted. Called through the voice
of law and prophets, and set apart for His great work by the Father Himself,
who gave unto Him the Spirit without measure, He was led into the wilderness,
and there, as the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, the Covenant head of His
people, He resisted temptation and triumphed over Satan, who had concentrated
all the energies of his malice and cunning in order to defeat the Holy One of
Israel; and, after having achieved this victory for Himself and His people, the
angels of God came down to minister unto Him, thus acknowledging Him as the
Lord of hosts, the beloved Son of the eternal Father, and the appointed Heir of
all things.
Now the time is fulfilled. Having become perfectly
acquainted with Satan's strength and subtilty, with man's frailty and
vulnerability, with the intense agony of the struggle, with the warfare of
faith, even the wielding of the sword of the Spirit - He now possessed sympathy
with His brethren, and was fully prepared to begin His Messianic career.
Again we behold Him walking beside Jordan, in quiet, silent dignity
waiting for the guidance of His heavenly Father; for this had been the precious
jewel of which Satan had endeavoured to rob Him, which He now was guarding with
all His strength and soul - viz., that He was the Son, who would do nothing of
Himself, but whatsoever He seeth the Father do, He doeth likewise. No pride, no
haughtiness, no self-confidence, no flush of triumph can be discerned in His
countenance; Satan's defeat and the homage of angelic hosts cannot disturb the
tranquillity of His soul - cannot alter His true humility and meekness, His
filial reverence and obedience.
When John the Baptist sees Him, he
exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God !" When He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and opened not His mouth, even as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb - when He returned the mockery and cruelty of His ungrateful and bitter
enemies by lifting up His voice in supplication for their forgiveness - when,
in sorrow and agony, He exclaimed, " I thirst!" - then, truly, we see in Him
the Lamb of God, the gentle, meek, lowly, patient Redeemer, who, in perfect
heart-obedience to His Father, and in wondrous love to His Church, emptied the
cup, endured the cross, and despised the shame. But though it is on Golgotha
that we see it most clearly and brightly written that He is the Lamb of God,
the same perfect obedience to God, love to His people, meekness, and lowliness
characterised Him while He was on earth in His infancy, childhood, youth; and
all the words and acts and steps of the three years of His ministry. And
throughout the centuries which preceded His advent in the flesh, He revealed
Himself to Israel as the same loving, obedient, self-denying, and
self-sacrificing Servant of Jehovah, and Saviour of His people - His voice was
heard, " Lo, I come to do thy will. in the volume of the book it is written of
me ; " for doth not Scripture teach us that this was His character in the
eternal counsel of redemption even before the foundations of the world were
laid ? "We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot : who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation
of the world, but was made manifest in these last times for you," (1 Pet. 1.
19, 20.)
What more fitting, speaking, obvious emblem of His meekness,
gentleness, and obedience, than the lamb ? All that is good, and strong, and
bright, and loving in God's creation is but a feeble shadow and picture of the
glory of Christ. And when we remember that all things were made by Him, and
that He is the centre of creation, as well as its aim, head, and glory, we do
not wonder that where-ever we look we see parables declaring to us His beauty,
goodness, and truth. The rock - the vine - the rose - the lion - the morning
star - the sun - the friend - the brother - the husband - whatever gives
shelter and rest, whatever diffuses light, and joy, and fragrance, whatever
breaches faithfulness, affection, and tenderness, declares and manifests Him,
in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell - by whom, and for
whom all things were created, and all things consist. Nature leads to nature's
God - that is, in the strictest sense of the word, Christ, the Word, or Son of
God, "without whom was not anything made that was made."
Every child
understands at once the symbolism of the lamb. Instinctively, the childlike,
humble, confiding, docile soul feels itself drawn to the lamb ; fearlessly the
child will put its tiny arm round the lamb's neck, and think that it has found
a companion - one like himself. There may be patience in suffering, while all
the time an incongruity is felt between the character and the affliction - it
may be borne as a burden, with energy, fortitude, and unswerving, unremitting
concentration of power; but there is a suffering of a willing heart which
cannot be better described than by calling it lamb-like ! The lamb feels, as it
were, that in suffering it fulfils its destiny, its nature, that no strange
thing has befallen it. But, besides the childlike character, and the peculiar
willingness to suffer, and meekness in the endurance of suffering, a lamb
conveys to every one the idea of purity and spotlessness, and lastly, of
attractiveness, which renders it difficult to pass it by unnoticed and
uncaressed, a striking contrast to the repulsive, hostile, combative, and
vindictive beings with which, since the entrance of sin, the world abounds.
This symbolism of nature, - still further explained by the
Divinely-appointed type of the passover lamb, and the descriptions given in the
prophets (especially Isaiah) of the Servant of God, who, by His obedience,
suffering, and death, was to glorify the Father, and save His people, - finds
its perfect fulfilment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was God's holy child, He
had no will of His own; it was his delight, His strength and life, to obey and
follow His Father ; not for a single moment did a thought of self-assertion
gain ground in His mind. He bore reproach, hardship, persecution, ingratitude,
unspeakable pain and agony, and no murmur of impatience escaped His lips, no
thought of bitterness entered His soul. He lived in a sinful and polluted
world, and He was holy, undefiled, harmless, separate from sinners. Though all
around Him used weapons of self-defence and attack - worldly power, the
strength of the arm of flesh, public opinion and enthusiasm - He remained like
a lamb ; no other defence was His, no other power than His purity and love.
And, lastly, so merciful and beneficent was He to all who needed His help, so
gentle and meek to His enemies, so tender and overflowing with love and joy to
the souls who sought His friendship, so forgiving and compassionate to the
trembling penitent, that even the most timid could draw near, and approach Him
boldly. " Behold the Lamb !" The words are invested with peculiar force and
beauty, as coming from John the Baptist. When the prophet Jonah, brought, after
severe discipline and painful experience, to deliver the Divine message to the
inhabitants of Nineveh, lifted up his voice and cried, "Yet forty days, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown ;" although he had a presentiment of the
approaching act of amnesty with which a gracious and compassionate God was to
smile on a repentant people, yet he did not rejoice when, after the
trumpet-blast, so terrible and awful, there succeeded the gentle voice of
forgiving love and mercy. But after John the Baptist had risen like a mighty
lion in the wilderness, and with majestic indignation had expressed the guilt
and degradation of his people, and announced the approaching wrath and
judgment, denouncing the sin, the hypocrisy, and the corruption of the nation,
so that even the secure and self-confident Pharisees and Sadducees trembled -
how wonderful is the brightness and sweetness of that word of love and pardon,
when he exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God!" To His guilty and apostate Israel,
the Father sends not judgment and destruction, but the meek and lowly Jesus -
the Lamb.
The disciples of the Baptist heard it, and they who had
listened most attentively to the preaching of the law, who had felt most
powerfully its awful purity and grandeur, who had entered most deeply into the
spirit of that heaven-descended commandment, which discovers to the sinner his
guilt and his weakness, were the most eager to obey the direction now given
them by their revered master - willingly they allow the law to lead them to the
gospel; as they had obeyed Moses in the wilderness, so they are resolved to
follow now Joshua into the promised land. And the two disciples, Andrew and
John, heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. This is the test of preaching.
If the aim of the preacher, like that of John, is to lead his disciples away
from himself, and to direct them to the Saviour - if he is willing to confess,
not merely with his lips, but to manifest it in his life as the real,
prevailing, and moving feeling of his soul, that he is to be only the voice of
one testifying in the wilderness, and magnifying Christ - if he finds it his
joy to stand aside, and to look on with delight and gratitude at the joy which
souls feel in their knowledge and love of the heavenly Bridegroom - then his
aim is right, his tone is heavenly, his heart is loyal. Again, when the hearers
are constantly led away from man to God, from man's opinions to the Word of
God, from the instrument to the Divine Master; when, with all due gratitude and
docility towards the servant, souls become daily more exclusively dependent on
God for guidance, instruction, consolation - then are they hearing aright and
unto life.
Notice, lastly, how simple the means, how grand the result!
John simply declared, " Behold the Lamb of God !" Here is no vehement appeal,
no angry rebuke, no feverish, would-be impressive urging; it is a simple,
earnest declaration of God's truth. What else have Christ's servants to do but
to set forth the truth, the gospel, the will of God, as revealed in the person
and work of Christ? How much more important to give all our energy and strength
to this, than to the attempt of enforcing and applying, threatening and
inviting, urging and pressing, in perorations thundering or melting. The truth
itself thunders and melts, rouses and whispers, bruises and comforts ; entering
into the soul, it brings with it light and power. How calm and objective do
Christ's sermons and those of the apostles appear ! how powerful by the
consciousness which pervades them : this is the truth of God, light from
heaven, power from above. "Behold the Lamb of God!" This is demonstration,
showing and setting forth the salvation of God. (Compare 1 Cor. 2. 4 with Gal.
3. 1.)
They followed Him. Oh, to have seen the grand countenance of
John the Baptist as he followed with his eye the dear, beloved disciples, who
had never been more truly his followers than at this moment when they were
leaving him ! Then Jesus turned; for He had heard their footsteps, He had felt
their approach in his inmost soul - His heart was expecting them, His love
waiting to receive them from the hand of His heavenly Father. He asked them, "
What seek ye ?" What a comprehensive question ! how sublime, when we
remember that the question is asked of poor, needy, lonely, sin-burdened, yet
heaven-aspiring men, by One who, while He enters with exquisite sympathy into
the feelings of the wounded heart of the restless and home-sick inquirer,
speaks with the consciousness that He is rich, and great, and glorious - able
to give what they seek, to satisfy their longings and desires - to lead them to
a haven of rest. What seek ye, O children of men, ye banished sons of
Eve, ye heavy-laden, tempest-tossed, afflicted, fearful, brokenhearted sinners,
whose immortal souls thirst after God ? Tell me ; I will sympathize with you, I
can help you. Disciples of John the Baptist, who have trembled at the foot of
Mount Sinai, who have beheld the unapproachable, yet mysteriously attractive
height of holiness and purity, what seek ye? A greater is here than Moses; of
greater power, of deeper love.
The disciples felt the
comprehensiveness of the question. They were overwhelmed by it, yet out of the
abundance of the heart they gave the true, the best answer: "Rabbi, where
dwellest thou?" We seek Thee. Many things, indeed, we are seeking ; we
feel many wants, many questions, many difficulties, trials, desires ; nay, what
we seek Thou knowest much better than we. Where dwellest Thou? that we also may
dwell there, abide with Thee, enjoy Thy teaching and guidance ; then shall we
find what we are seeking. Thus the soul replies to the Saviour when asked, "
What seekest thou?" Lord, thou only knowest the depths of my poverty, my
wounds, my weakness ; I cannot tell Thee, I will not attempt to enumerate my
wants, for I cannot remember and estimate them aright. But Thou art the
Searcher of hearts, therefore, where dwellest Thou? If I am with Thee, I have
found all; for Thou wilt show me my wants, to satisfy them out of Thy fulness.
Jesus, recognising in them true children of Abraham, waiting for the
consolation of Israel, prepared by the heavenly Father, and now drawn by His
Spirit, received them at once into His fellowship, saying, "Come and see!"
(Compare Psalm 46.5; Psalm 46.9) Yes, not an
isolated interview, not a transitory conversation, not a passing hour, during
which they listen to His voice, is what the Saviour offers to those who seek
Him, and in Him all they need; but to know, to see, and to live with Him
is His gracious invitation. " Come and see" He saith to His disciples at every
stage, from the very commencement of the new life, till at last we have reached
the summit, where He asks the astonished and adoring saint, " Said I not unto
thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" If
"coming" involves any effort, struggle, self-denial, what encouragement and
promise are held out in the word, " See." Great was the glory which Moses
beheld when he ascended Mount Sinai; greater glory appeared unto Andrew and
John when they accompanied Jesus and entered His dwelling.
It was
about four o'clock in the afternoon, and they remained that day with the
Saviour, but, ere night, friendship and brotherly love caused them to leave for
a while His blessed abode. Finding Andrew's brother, Simon, they announced to
him the wonderful discovery - " We have found the Messiah !" Even up to this
day, though Israel has fallen so low, and forsaken so lamentably the truth of
God, that word Messiah has, to Jewish ears, a sound full of mysterious
attractiveness and sweet solemnity. Messiah ! - it reminds us of a lost
paradise, beautiful garden of Eden, with its glorious trees and lovely flowers,
and life so full of innocent, joyous, holy music, and fills our soul with a
deep, pensive melancholy, as when we are thinking of a dear, beloved parent in
the grave, and of the last act of ingratitude and disobedience with which we
have grieved him. Messiah ! - it reminds us of the majesty of that night, when
God appeared unto our father Abraham, and showed him the sky with its
innumerable stars, and gave him the promise of a great and blessed nation.
Messiah ! - it reminds us of all the past merciful and glorious manifestations
of Jehovah, when He brought His people out of Egypt, when Judah was His
sanctuary, and Israel His dominion; it reminds us of David and of Solomon - the
days of summer joy and beauty; and, though the present cries out, " Ichabod,
the glory is departed," it arouses the hope of God's future favour to His
covenant people, and renewal of His own Zion. They were waiting for the
Messiah, longing for Him with all their heart; though Scribes and Pharisees
were cold and dead formalists, yet God had left in the midst of the rich and
self-satisfied a poor and afflicted people - such as Zacharias, and Elizabeth,
and Mary, aged Simeon, and Anna, and many who are well-known in heaven, who
looked for redemption, that is, for the appearing of the promised Redeemer, the
Angel of the Covenant, the Son of David. Then they that feared the Lord spake
often one to another; the desire of their hearts, the object of their life,
could not but form the frequent subject of their communings : a hallowed
companionship was here, a sacred friendship : there were two or three gathered
together in Messiah's name, and, according to the promise, He came to them. "We
have found the Messiah !" these were the words with which Andrew announced to
Simon the great event of his life. And he brought him to Jesus. The Lord
beholding him claims him as His own, and knowing the place which the Father had
assigned to this new disciple in His kingdom, and the peculiar gifts with which
He had endowed him, changed his name, Simon, into Cephas, or Rock. Our Saviour
assigns to every one his place, his service in His house; and it is He Himself
who must train and qualify us, even by taking from us our confidence in our
natural gifts and adaptation, and giving unto us new spiritual strength out of
His fulness. Simon is weak, though impetuous, bold, strong in his own might
Simon denies Jesus; Simon, son of Jonas, has to be asked three times by the
Saviour, "Lovest thou me?" Simon attempts to walk on the waves of the sea, and
sinks. But Peter, that is, Simon, distrusting himself and looking to the Lord
for strength, is strong and gains the victory. Simon's natural courage and
strength are not only no advantage in the spiritual kingdom, but the very
reverse, an incumbrance, obstacle, and snare. Saul thinks that David would be
assisted by the royal armour, and a helmet of brass upon his head, and a coat
of mail, but David said unto Saul, " I cannot go with these." For man's
strength is weakness before God, and the hero of God glories in his infirmity.
The next morning, Jesus being about to leave the Jordan to go to
Galilee,* He met Philip of Bethsaida, a countryman and friend of Andrew and
Peter; and the Saviour, seeing in him also an Israelite waiting for redemption,
said unto him, " Follow me !" Word of power and of love ! how cheerfully and
gladly followed by the living ; how unwillingly and reluctantly heard by the
dead intent on burying their dead. " Follow me !" Word of gracious
condescension! when the soul hears it, there flows into it a tide of
unspeakable joy and overwhelming humility ; and surprise, gratitude, and peace,
- the trembling joy of a loving, timid bride - take hold of thee. " Follow me
!" The stone is rolled away from the tomb, the past is brought to peace and
reconciliation, a glorious prospect of never-ending life and joy opens before
us. Jesus called, Philip followed.
* [Jesus would go
forth: with the purpose of gathering in disciples. (Psalm 45.
3-5.)]
How rapidly is the circle of first disciples formed,
and how quietly and calmly. Here are no discussions and debates, no signs and
wonders, few words; it is all confidence, love, personal attraction, influence
of heart on heart.* [Nitzsch] It is like a quiet, still, peaceful morning -
like the lovely, gentle spring. Four disciples had now found Him whom they had
been led by God, through His holy Word, to seek, and Jesus had found them; for,
as the Father seeketh souls to worship Him in spirit and in truth, the Son was
seeking hearts, which were waiting for His redemption. They were the men whom
the Father had given Him out of the world; the trees of righteousness, which,
in the midst of a wilderness, the Father had planted to be a garden to welcome
the second Adam. It was meet that, before the heat and toil of the day, before
the angry clouds and darkness which awaited Him, there should be this season of
joy - that the Beloved should come into His garden and eat His pleasant fruits.
And now a fifth was to be added to the number of His followers.
Philip found Nathanael, and partly because he could not but testify of what he
had seen and heard, because he could not but communicate his most important and
precious experience, partly because he knew Nathanael's earnestness, and was
convinced of his sympathy, he said, "We have found Him, of whom Moses in the
law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." It is
not without the purpose of instruction that the different expressions used by
the disciples in this narrative are recorded with, doubtless, exact
truthfulness by the inspired evangelist. In words we read the thoughts which
proceed out of the heart. Philip does not merely say, "We have found the
Messiah," but he seems to be struck with the apparent contrast between the real
character and greatness of Him whom he had found, and the outward position and
circumstances in which He appeared. The great Object of all predictions and
promises of the prophets, the great Centre of all preceding dispensations - the
Messiah, whose coming was prepared for centuries by Moses and the prophets,
behold we have found Him - Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. It is the same
evangelist who notices subsequently Philip's peculiar appreciation of the
outward, visible element - of the disproportion between the actual and the
ideal - " Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that
every one of them may take a little," was his remark, when Jesus, knowing his
peculiarity, and intending to prove him, asked him, "Whence shall we buy bread,
that these may eat?" (John 6. 5-7.) Jesus had lifted up His eyes and seen the
multitude; Philip lifted up his eyes - and they were quick and correct; but
Jesus saw not merely the actual, and what in a lower sense is called real, He
perceived in faith God's reality. Thus again, Philip said, " Show us the
Father, and it sufficeth us;" for he could not see clearly in Christ's humility
and weakness, Divino power and glory. Notice, it is this very same Philip who
saith here, "Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph's Son." Nathanael asked, "Can there any
good thing come out of Nazareth ? " See how true and deep is the remark made by
the evangelist Matthew on the circumstance that Joseph came and dwelt in a city
called Nazareth. He beholds in this providence the fulfilment of what was
spoken by the prophets, " He shall be called a Nazarene," not referring to any
isolated passage of the Old Testament predictions, but to the general tenor of
prophecy, which announced that the Messiah was to come in outward lowliness and
humility, as a root out of a dry ground. Galilee itself was despised; Nazareth
especially had become proverbial for its obscurity and spiritual dead-ness. The
humiliation of Christ consists in this, that His outward appearance is a
stumbling block even to the light-seeking, truth-loving souls; not merely is He
divested of all that is attractive to the lovers of the world and its glory,
but He so humbled Himself, that even a Nathanael and John the Baptist can be
offended at Him. But Nathanael, with the same candour with which he had
expressed his doubt and scruple, acknowledges the claim which Philip's
friendship and enthusiastic conviction ought to exert upon him. His scruple is
not an obstinate prejudice; his doubt is not a perverse clinging to
preconceived opinions. It would be strange if any good thing, if the best of
all gifts, were to come out of Nazareth; but he knows that God's ways and
thoughts are often different from our ways and thoughts, and that the Lord is a
God whose thoughts are wonderful and past searching out. Philip had said to
him, "Come and see." In this invitation there was the tone of firm, undoubting
conviction, joyous satisfaction, and earnest happy anticipation of the result,
namely, Nathanael's faith. And thus the two Israelites approach.
When
Jesus beheld Nathanael, He described his inmost character to those that stood
around him, and exclaimed, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."
We are astonished to hear the true and faithful Witness, the Searcher of
hearts, give such a description of one to whom the Saviour was as yet a
stranger, unknown and unloved. " In whom there is no guile;" we know that true
sincerity and uprightness of heart cannot be found among Adam's children,
except where the Spirit has been exerting His renewing influence. We speak of
sincere, honest, transparent men, and to a certain extent we are justified in
attributing this beautiful character to our fellow-men ; but we feel that the
description, " in whom is no guile," refers to the deepest centre of the
character in its relation to God ; it denotes undivided love to Him who has
commanded us to forsake all idolatry, and give Him the affection of our soul;
it includes undivided trust and confidence in Him who is willing to be our
only rock and salvation, but not willing to be our defence and help when
we trust also in the arm of flesh ; it embraces undivided obedience to Him who
demands of us to fear only one thing - His displeasure and the hiding of His
countenance. " In whom there is no guile," is the same state which Christ, in
another passage, describes by the words, " If thine eye be single, thy whole
body shall be light;" and David truly represents it as the result of
pardon received, and of Divine mercy accepted : " Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." (Comp.
1 John 1. 8, 9.)
It is evident, then, that Christ does not mean a natural
virtue, and that He refers to something essentially different from that
sincerity, uprightness , truthfulness, and transparency which adorn, in a
pleasing and beautiful manner, the character of many human beings. Jesus
declares, that Nathanael's heart was right with God - that he had received the
good Spirit from above.
And again the question arises: How is it that
Nathanael had reached this high state? The Saviour himself replies, by saying,
"An Israelite indeed !" His guilelessness is referred not to humanity, for
humanity is corrupt, it is nature; but it is referred to his being an Israelite
- that is, to the kingdom of grace, the work of the Spirit, the planting of the
Lord. He was an Israelite, and he was not merely a nominal, but a real
Israelite. In every nation it is considered a high encomium when an individual
is spoken of as a good representative and specimen of the people - a real
Englishman, a true German, etc. - that is, a man who possesses the honesty,
thought, faithfulness, liveliness, or whatever characteristic it may be which
distinguishes his nation. Hence, when Nathanael is designated as a genuine
Israelite, the question arises, What is Israel's characteristic ? It is not
outward power or glory, it is not wisdom or art, it is not courage or
enterprise, it is not righteousness or self-trust; Israel has only one thing.
While other nations look to the past, Israel, even in its lowest degradation,
was always commanded to look to the future. While other nations are always
reminded of the virtue and noble achievements of their ancestors, while their
encouragement to the battle is always the memory of their past conquests and
the consciousness of their strength, Israel is reminded of its sin, weakness,
and helplessness. Israel has nothing in itself, but it possesses the promise.
Sin, guilt, weakness, sorrow, are thine - as they belong to no other nation ;
but Jesus is thine, "Salvation is of the Jews." He is called the Consolation,
the Redemption of Israel. This is the idea of which Israel is an
embodiment : human sin, weakness, sorrow, longing after Divine righteousness,
strength, joy. And he was the true Israelite who despaired of himself, and in
true self-abasement and contrition looked for redemption from the Saviour and
Restorer. In this sense Nathanael also was waiting and hoping, believing and
rejoicing, a true Israelite ! And therefore it was true of him " in whom is no
guile"
"The Lord knoweth his own." Outwardly nearly all Israelites
professed the same truths and the same hopes. They all adhered to the
declarations of Scripture, spoke, reasoned, preached very frequently, ably,
enthusiastically about the Messiah - knew and felt themselves a chosen people,
separated from all other nations. But the Lord knew where there was a genuine
Israelite. He is not a Jew who is a Jew outwardly. To be an Israelite is not
the gift of nature ; he is not born of the flesh or of the will of man, he is
born of God, by the Spirit, through the law, the types, the promises, the
psalms, the history, prepared by God to manifest His salvation unto His people.
"An Israelite indeed." That means, in Christ's lips, a flower planted by my
heavenly Father for me - a lamb brought into the fold for my care, love, and
guidance, one of the children whom God has given me
He had uttered it -
was it because in His joy, delight, and love, out of the abundance of His
adoring, thankful, tender heart, the words flowed forth irresistibly? He had
uttered it to His new disciples, not addressing Himself to Nathanael, but yet
speaking so that he heard it. Nathanael, understanding the full import of
Christ's words, is not disturbed in his calmness by the praise bestowed upon
him, but he feels that no superficial acquaintance, no outward report, no
testimony of friends or neighbours, could justify Christ's description of his
character. To say of any man what Jesus had said of him, and to say it in
truth, it is necessary to know him, to be intimately and spiritually
related to him. Nathanael therefore asked Him - thus showing the truest modesty
and humility - " Whence knowest thou me ?" And now Jesus answered in a word,
which entered into the very depths of Nathanael's soul, " Before that Philip
called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." It was not merely,
because these words might have shown, that Jesus was a prophet, that He beheld
and witnessed things which distance would have rendered impossible for ordinary
mortals to see, that they produced such an effect upon Nathanael. Rather are we
to conclude, that Jesus referred here to a moment in Nathanael's life, when, in
solemn solitude, he thought of God's salvation, and longed for its coming. "
When thou wast under the fig-tree" - when no eye beheld thee but the Father's -
when, alone with Him who seeth and heareth in secret, thou didst pour out thy
heart, and remind the Lord of the gracious promises which He had given to His
people, and in which He has caused them to hope - when thou didst sigh and weep
before Him, "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come
down !" - " even then I saw thee." I know thy heart, "thou art an Israelite
indeed!"
When Jesus had thus revealed Himself, Nathanael exclaimed, "
Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." He beheld in Him
the Son of God; for to Him he could apply the words of David, " O Lord, thou
hast searched me and known me, thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
thou understandest my thoughts afar off, thou compassest my path and my lying
down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my
tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether." The Saviour had revealed
Himself as the Searcher of hearts to the woman of Samaria, by telling her all
the evil she had done; to Nathanael, by telling him all the good God had worked
in him. And the Israelite has found now Israel's King - the true David, who
knows His people, sympathises with them, and gains not merely outward
obedience, but submission, confidence, loyalty, surrender, love of the heart.
How quickly they recognised each other ! Christ apprehended Nathanael,
Nathanael took hold of Christ (Phil, 3. 12). He beheld Jesus coming, not out of
Nazareth merely, but of heaven, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, and he
beheld His glory, full of grace and truth.
Nathanael believed now; not on
account of superficial congeniality, liking, predisposition - the word of
praise would have blinded and influenced many into a hasty resolution of
discipleship. " This Rabbi seems to understand and appreciate my character; our
views will likely harmonise." In this manner many fanciful, vain, dreamy, and
self-satisfied souls glide into sentimental faith, intuitions, feelings! Not so
Nathanael, not so the child of God. He digs deep - he seeks a rock to build
upon. The depth of his feeling is the very source of his calmness; beneath, a
rock, above, the clear light - thus do the tempest-tossed thoughts and doubts
possess a lighthouse, guiding and directing them in the darkness of night. God
does not call this calmness coldness or indifference, He beholds in it the
fruit of His Spirit, - He sees in it true earnestness and zeal, and freedom
from self-trust and self-complacency. Jesus is always willing to answer such
questions as, " Whence knowest thou me?" Whereas professions not based on true,
conscientious knowledge - as " Good Master," in the mouth of one who knows not
Christ's divinity - He always refuses to accept. The honour which cometh from
man He is not willing to receive: but the very feeblest stammering and lisping
of infant lips, taught by the Spirit to call Him Lord, are welcome to His
heart. And more convincing and satisfying than signs and wonders is the
evidence which the manifestation of a heart-searching and heart-con-soling
Saviour gives to the earnest soul; evidence, which results not merely in
intellectual conviction, but in the adoration and homage of conscience and
heart.
Jesus promises Nathanael, and all like him, that they are to
witness greater, clearer, more glorious manifestations : "to him that hath
shall be given." "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."
Nathanael had called Jesus, Son of God - the Saviour loves to call Himself Son
of Man. He is the Mediator between God and Man - in Him is realized the vision
beheld by the patriarch Jacob. The wall of separation is removed through His
coming. The Son of Man, even while on earth, is in heaven ; the delight of the
Father rests upon Him, and through Him on the children, whose nature He had
taken upon Him; the angels of God are ascending and descending, watching with
adoring interest His progress, and ministering to Him, who, though for a season
made lower than they, is appointed, even as Son of Man, to be the King of the
world to come. The separation existing between heaven and earth is henceforth
no longer a real and essential one, it is only temporary, and as more in
harmony with the character of this dispensation - till the time comes when
God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven. But the disciples behold heaven
open; in Jesus the darkness, sin, and misery, which, since the Fall, conceal
heaven from our view, have vanished ; and in His person, His work, and the life
He imparts, we behold the heavenly places and live in them. As Christ's
sacrifice and intercession ascend to the Father, His blessings, through the
Holy Ghost, descend into our hearts. In the Son of Man we behold and have God
as our Father; in the Son of Man God beholds and possesses us as His children.
First we believe, then we know and see ; we know by living experience, by
deepening and growing enjoyment: we know in proportion as we exercise faith,
not looking at the things which are seen, - Nazareth and Joseph the carpenter,
- but lifting up our eyes to the city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. " Come and see," were the simple words of Jesus to the first two
disciples who sought Him ; but now, in the circle of disciples - exercising
more faith, and ripened, though within so short a time, into deep and solemn
adoration - Jesus gives the full promise of the glory which in Him hath
appeared unto sinful men, translating them into His kingdom of life and light.
Jesus has thus found five disciples - John and Andrew, Simon, Philip,
and Nathanael. It was the dawn of the new covenant - a quiet, still, fragrant
hour. In deep sleep lay nearly all the inhabitants of Judea; the true
Israelites, who had heard the voice of the harbinger of morning, who were
waiting for redemption, they beheld the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing
in His wings. The Bridegroom came, He beheld the Bride and knew her; the Bride
saw Him, and with trusting love and joy responded to His voice. Meek and lowly
appeared the King of peace, His royalty concealed, His dignity vailed; but the
people given to Him by the Father were drawn to Him by an irresistible
attraction. Prepared by God, through His Word and ordinances and messengers,
prepared above all by the inward, silent, deep influences of His grace, they
found in Jesus the fulfilment of all prophecy - the prophecy written in the
Word, the prophecy of expectation and earnest longing written by the Spirit on
their heart.
Reader, has the Lord planted thee also in a garden, even
the congregation of believers, where His gospel is known, preached, believed,
enjoyed? - has He spoken to thy conscience by prosperity and adversity? - has
He roused within thee terrors of the law, and expectations of salvation, peace,
life? - has He instructed thee, line upon line, precept upon precept - led thee
to seek, to think, to pray? - has He allowed thee, in the preaching of His
Word, in the faith of a mother, or wife, or friend, to see, as it were darkly,
a Divine, gracious, and powerful Redeemer? - and has it stirred within thee a
desire after like faith and love and communion? Then, hear again the message of
John the Baptist, " Behold the Lamb of God !" and remain no longer in the
school of the Baptist, in the outer court, but follow the invitation of Jesus,
"Come and see !" Enter into His fellowship, be His disciple, believe, and
behold the heavens open. Be not afraid of the question, "What seekest thou?"
but answer, " When thou saidst to me, Seek my face, my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek"
December 2005