PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
35 Again the
next day John was standing with two of his disciples,36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the
Lamb of God!” 37 The two
disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.38 And Jesus turned and saw them following, and *said to them, “What
do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher),
where are You staying?” 39 He
*said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where
He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for 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 *found
first his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah”
(which translated means Christ). 42 He
brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son
of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
43 The next
day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He *found Philip. And Jesus
*said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip
was from Bethsaida, of 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 Nathanael said to him, “Can any
good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
Him, and *said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there 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 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 that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You
will see greater things than these.” 51 And
He *said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the
heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the
Son of Man.” (John 1:35-51, NASB)
REFLECTIONS:
In this passage, Jesus is selecting five of his twelve
disciples. The process is so simple and
matter-of-fact that it boggles the mind.
These would be His continued companions that would sleep with Him, eat
with Him and change the world with Him. Yet
in all these initial encounters there was a common thread… the Messiah. They were looking for Him. They were expectant. They were tuned in to what God was doing in
their day. They didn’t miss the call,
they were WAITING for Him. All it took
was a WORD from Him or the WORD of a trusted family member or friend… and they
were IN!! Interesting, that Jesus just
HAPPENED TO BE THERE AT THAT TIME AND PLACE… where they were seeking for
HIM. I am probably reading more into
this than I should, but I like to put myself in the place of one of these guys
and think… What would I do… if I came upon this chance encounter that would
change my life forever? Would I over think
it? Would I have asked for His
credentials? Or would I JUST KNOW that
was HIM after one word?
It is interesting that only one disciple, in this portion of
scripture, Nathanael, asked Him a question before He submitted to the authority
of Jesus. How do you know me? Jesus supplies him with a completely
supernatural answer… before his question and after his question. Jesus proceeds to tell him enough about
himself that Nathanael realizes that only the Messiah could know everything
there is to know about him BEFORE the encounter. Not only that, but Jesus equates him with
Jacob and the Heavenly Ladder that was the supernatural covenant promise
between him and God to make him a great nation.
This was a mind-blowing promise even to a patriarch of the faith like
Jacob. Now, Jesus was handing it to
Nathanael. Truly, Nathanael saw these
angels ascending and descending up and down this ladder on a daily basis for 3
years and not only that, but HE would be a patriarch of this NEW FULFILLMENT of
God to His people, one of the twelve disciples… an incredible promise. We don’t hear much about Nathanael after this
except that he is called Bartholomew instead of Nathanael interchangeably in
the Scriptures. The name Bartholomew is
a family designation, meaning "son of Tolmai." Nathanael means
"gift of God. Church tradition says
Nathanael carried a translation of Matthew's
Gospel to northern India. Legend claims
he was crucified upside down in
Albania. I don’t know what happened to
him ultimately, but Jesus saw him as a huge part of history and chose him to do
His work in the earth… and he saw the fulfillment of the promise Jesus gave in
the early beginnings. He IS a patriarch
of the New Covenant. One of the twelve.
POINT OF ACTION:
God has called all of us to be His SONS and DAUGHTERS… to be
an integral part of His Plan for harvesting the earth and creating a wonderful
forever family. Have you heard the call?
Do you know what your part is? Know that
before Jesus called you… he knew you.
You don’t have to be anything but you to HIM. He sees you… and has chosen you. Are you seeking Him? What kind of promise does God want to hand
you today? It may change the world.
PRAYER:
Lamb of God, Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah, Son of God. I want to hear your voice when you call. Give me an ever-seeking heart to hear you
continuously. I want to SEE You and I
want to SEE those supernatural angels ascending and descending from
Heaven. I want to be used to bring your
Kingdom to bear on a fallen world. You
have called me… I have answered… now I want to make you PROUD.
I am June Criner, and I love nature. It teaches me so much about God. We have a nest of baby birds on our front
porch. I am witnessing the third set of
birds being born and learning to fly from the nest. I love to see how the mother and father birds
feeds the chicks until they are overgrown to fit into the nest and how little
by little the fuzz on their bodies form real wings. I even saw how the chicks, as they get big,
begin to perch on the edges of the nest.
The mother bird, at just the right time, goes in behind the chicks and
pushes them ever so gently OUT of the nest, to fly. I hope today you get the idea that you were
made to fly in the Spirit of God. Feel
the nudge?
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