John 1:43–48

Jesus Himself took the first step and found Philip, as verse 43 shows. He introduced Himself with two words: "Follow Me." Those two words were clearly enough. They presented Him to Philip as the LEADER, who has the right to command loyal obedience from each and all.

With Philip things were different. He was not drawn to the Lord in the same way, because the Lord had to command him to follow Him. We never read that he reached the place Andrew reached. But there is no doubt that any contact with the Lord must have blessed him.

We are going through a wilderness. We have to pass through a world full of traps, and many of them are hard to spot. So we need more than a centre to work towards. We need a path to follow. Where will we find the true path for our souls? Not when we get to heaven. There we will need no way, because everything there is good and bright. But here, where everything is wrong and enemies of every kind surround you, you need a way that never fails. Where can we find such a path? My answer: in the Saviour... He Himself is the path, the only true way for the Christian. Whatever comes — whatever difficulties or trials — find out what the will of the Lord is. The moment you submit to His will, you follow Him. To obey His word in faith is to follow Him.

It is a huge thing when Jesus rescues us from the waste of our own will, or from a heart tied to the will of someone stronger than us. It is a huge thing to know that in Him we have found not just the Messiah, but the centre of everything God has revealed, planned and purposed. So we gather with Him because we gather to Him. Everything else, whatever it claims for itself, only scatters. It is wasted work, or worse.

On the third day, people became disciples of the Lord through the testimony of John the Baptist and of Andrew. Did the Lord discourage that? On the contrary, by calling Philip Himself on the fourth day He showed that it was the right thing at that time. And those words "Follow Me" were words of power to Philip. He asked no questions. He joined the little group linked on earth with the Son of God. But Philip, like Andrew, wanted others to share the blessing. When he found Nathanael, he could not stay silent.

Verse 43 introduces another day. That day fittingly pictures the regathering of the godly in Israel in the last days, after the church has been caught up to be with the Lord. Galilee reminds us of this godly remnant... The church of God began with a small core of godly Israelites. The restoration of Israel at the end of the tribulation will be the same: in both cases they come from the same root.

In the first chapter of John, Jesus said to Philip, "Follow me." In the last chapter He says to Peter, "Follow me." The first call came before the cross. The disciples had left everything to follow Him, because they had faith in Him. But when Calvary came, their steps faltered, and they all ran away.

It was a wonderful scene, beside Galilee's blue lake at Bethsaida, "The House of Fish," or as others put it, "The Place of Nets." Simon and Andrew lived there (John 1:44). With their partners James and John, and their father Zebedee, they worked at their trade along with their hired servants. Clearly they had a good large fishing business.

He is mentioned as being of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter (John 1:44). It is more than probable that he was among the Galileans of that district who flocked to hear the preaching of John the Baptist. People spoke of no part of Palestine with such contempt as Galilee. Yet our Lord chose His apostles from these despised Galileans, who were simple, earnest, and devoted. "Search and look," said the Pharisees, "for out of Galilee arises no prophet." But sweeping statements are generally untrue. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" is a sample of the same thing.

On the next day He decided to go to Galilee, and Jesus finds Philip and says to him, Follow me. It is an immense thing to be delivered by Jesus from the waste of one's own will, or from having your heart tied to the will of a man stronger than yourself. It is an immense thing to know that we have found in Him not merely the Messiah, but the centre of all God's revelations, plans, and purposes. So we gather with Him because we gather to Him.

With Philip things were different. He was not drawn to the Lord in the same way, for the Lord had to command him to follow Him. But beyond doubt he must have been blessed through coming into contact with the Lord in any way.

We find these two men go out to bring others to the One whom they had found. It must always be so when real blessing is received. Its course is outward and onward to others. If there is no desire in your heart to see others blessed, we greatly doubt whether you have received the blessing yourself. One thing is absolutely certain — you are not enjoying it.

That city had a day of visitation. It had been greatly favoured. The Lord had done His mighty works there beyond the common measure. And Andrew, Peter, and Philip, three of the Lord's apostles, had belonged to that town (see John 1:44). But such favour, such a day of merciful, gracious visitation, had been slighted. The place had not turned to Him who had blessed it. It had not repented (Matt. 11:20).

There is a question whether there were two places of this name, as Trench thought. One would be on the western shore of the lake, in Galilee, and another on the eastern shore, in Gaulonitis. Thomson held that there was only one. We meet the name again in John 12:21, where "Galilee" is added as if to distinguish it.

The earliest disciples had just found a heavenly joy. Eager and generous with it, they want to tell the news and bring others to share the presence of Jesus with them. This is how Nathanael comes into the scene… Philip had already shared the joy with Andrew, Peter and others. Now he delights to pass it on to Nathanael.

As with Andrew, so with Philip, he wanted others to share in the blessing. When he found Nathanael, he could not keep silent… Andrew spoke to his brother Simon about the Messiah. Philip's testimony was much fuller. He named the prophet like Moses, the theme of prophecy, Jesus son of Joseph, and Nazareth as well. John the Baptist was not the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15. Philip, however, was sure he had now met Him.

John records "Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote" as a known and accepted truth; the Psalms equally so.

Nathanael was not at all prepared for this. His heart truly did look for the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. But that the Christ was Jesus from Nazareth, the son of Joseph, he had yet to learn… It had never occurred to him how the Messiah could be "from Nazareth," let alone "the son of Joseph." Even a despised Galilean looked down on that village… If Philip had said "from Bethlehem, the son of David," the expecting Jew would have felt no such shock. But in truth, this passage shows the Lord as wholly above all earthly associations, and so He could come down to the lowest.

Philip followed and became a seeker of others, though he did not yet know much. To Nathanael he could only speak of "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." That was neither a very lofty nor a very accurate description of the One he had just begun to follow. At first it slightly prejudiced Nathanael: still, it was enough to lead him to a meeting with the Lord.

If you compare this testimony with Andrew's, you will see the difference at once. Nor was it so successful. Nathanael objected at once: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Only Philip's next words drew him to Jesus: "Come and see. Prove it for yourself before you judge."

Philip was wiser than to argue the point, and is ready with the kind and practical invitation, "Come and see."

How many since Philip's day have gone through what he found! They were blessed in their own soul, and the question of salvation was clear to them. So they thought everyone would listen to their testimony and accept it too. But disappointment, perhaps keen disappointment, awaited them. They had spoken to dull and even deaf ears, and spoken in vain. The reason was not hard to find. Those they spoke to had never known personal dealings with Christ.

It was the well-understood language of contempt in that day: He should, in other words, be called a Nazarene. Nazareth was the most scorned of places. The men of Judea looked down on Nazareth. The Galileans despised it too, even though it was part of their own district. Later we read of an Israelite with no deceit in him. When he heard of Jesus being there, he exclaimed, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" So if one spot in Palestine matched the rejection Christ received more than any other did, it was Nazareth.

A place not even named in the Old Testament. In Galilee, too. And a village that produced so little good that it had quite a bad name among those who knew it. For Nazareth to be the home of Israel's Saviour strained Nathanael's mind almost to refusal. Philip's wise reply led him to come and see. Was he disappointed? Does God ever disappoint the man or the woman who is content to receive and learn Christ in the unexpected place?

He believed in the glory of the Messiah's Person, as far as the Old Testament had revealed it in advance. But it had never occurred to him that the Messiah could be "from Nazareth," let alone "the Son of Joseph." Even a Galilean, a man others already looked down on, thought that village contemptible... If Philip had said "from Bethlehem, the Son of David," the waiting Jew would have felt no such shock. But in truth, the Lord stands here wholly above all earthly ties, and so He could come down to the lowest.

He does not hide that Christ had come from Nazareth, a place people despised. No doubt Nathanael's objection voiced the common prejudice of the Jews.

His answer — "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" — is not the language of popular prejudice. Such words may well have been common on the lips of scorners. But this is the language of a soul just emerging from a place where deep searching had led to some humbling and unsettling experiences in the heart and conscience. ... So he went at once when Philip called him. He would walk to Nazareth, for a soul convicted of its own sin can call nothing common or unclean except itself. If Nazareth is vile, Nathanael in his own eyes is viler still.

How wisely Philip met him! Argument would never have convinced Nathanael. But Philip knew what time spent with Christ had done for him. So he answered quietly, "Come and see."

Nor was it so remarkably successful, for we find that Nathanael at once began to object, saying, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" And it was not until Philip said, "Come and see. Prove it for yourself before you judge," that Nathanael was drawn to Jesus.

How that little word "Nazareth" came between Nathanael and the Son of God! But when he sees Jesus, he finds that Philip has not said half enough, and falls down in worship at once.

How beautiful, if someone has criticism about the Lord Jesus, to say, Come and see. But how often, sadly, we do not have the strength to say "Come and see", because what do people see in us? ... Can I say to everyone in my neighbourhood, "Come and see", when it comes to the Lord Jesus?

That is not equivalent to saying "In whom is no sin." Guile is sin, it is true, yet there is much sin that is not guile. Guile is hypocrisy, empty pretence, unreality, a lack of uprightness and honesty. Nathanael was a man who, though a sinner, was honest.

In the case of Nathanael (John 1) the Lord seems to have had a silent glance at Psalm 32. That Psalm reveals the secret of having "no guile" in the spirit: confession of all the secrets that might try to hide themselves before God, and pardon meeting them. Nathanael, we may judge, had been confessing in this way. The fig tree is always the symbol of repentance. The Lord sees him in the light of this Psalm.

How can a soul that is truly unburdening itself in the fear of God be full of guile? Does not its very relief depend on the completeness and truthfulness of its confessions? Would it be what it is if there were any pretending or concealing?

So He greets Nathanael on the ground of God's estimate of him: "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile." He greets him as He greeted Gideon in his day: "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor." In God's esteem the poor threshing man of Manasseh was a mighty man of valour, for God had purposed it so. And so, in the reckoning of the mind of Christ, Nathanael was a guileless Israelite. In a divine way he had been acquiring that name under the fig tree. By that name the Son of God knows him.

Again Jesus took the initiative. By His opening words about Nathanael He revealed Himself as the Discerner of the hearts of men. Here was an Israelite, not without sin, but without guile — that is, without deceit or dishonesty. Here was a man who was straight and honest in his spirit before God, and Jesus knew it. The Lord was showing Himself to be the Judge of all, before whom every man lies open and exposed, and who can put every man in his proper place... Nathanael came to see Jesus of Nazareth, and he discovered One who knew all about him and read him through like an open book. Who could this Jesus be?

But if someone has nothing to hide, then he does not fear the light. No doubt Nathanael illustrates this in John 1:47-48. Having "no guile," no deceitful covering up of evil, he could come with confidence to the Lord Jesus. Certainly in coming to Him one finds himself exposed as he really is, and honesty does not object to this.

Jacob was a crooked man, always trying to gain by craft what it was God's purpose to give him by grace. In other words, he was a man full of guile. But by the end of God's ways with him, Jacob's character showed three marks: self-judgment, spiritual understanding and worship. The remnant of Israel will be brought to the same end. God's chastening will purify them in practice, and at the same time show their integrity, for in all their trouble they will cling to the LORD.

He is God always and everywhere in this Gospel. Unseen, Jesus had seen Nathanael. He had seen him in a place where Nathanael must have thought no one could see him. But He who heard the thoughts of his heart in that spot "under the fig tree" saw him. This was the unanswerable evidence of His own glory, of omniscience, and omnipresence. Yet the One who saw him was plainly a man in flesh and blood. He could be no one else than the promised Messiah, Immanuel... the "ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). His prejudice vanished at once, like mist before the sun in its strength.

I believe Nathanael's "guilelessness" was the guilelessness of this Psalm, not just his natural character. He had been under the fig tree in the spirit of this Psalm. There he poured out his heart as a man convicted of his sin, and that freed his spirit from guile. Here we learn that a confessing spirit is a guileless spirit. Jesus had been in the secret of his soul while he was under the tree.

I believe "under the fig tree" was a place of complete secrecy. There he dealt with the Lord about his sins. No one can be without guile until he knows his sins are forgiven. "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." "Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit."

Under the fig tree, I believe, he had been confessing himself a sinner and thinking over his condition before God. It is the spirit of confession which, in God's reckoning, makes us "guileless". That is the character in which the Lord recognises Nathanael... So the Lord had already been with him in spirit before Philip called him. The longings of an awakened soul are always dear to Him.

That question drew out an answer. It settled every doubt in his mind for ever: "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael was won. Alone under the tree with God, Jesus of Nazareth had seen him... What did it matter to Nathanael now where the Lord had lived! All his prejudice vanished in a moment.

The fig tree is not just a fact or an isolated detail. It carries the meaning it usually has in Scripture. In our Lord's great prophecy the fig tree stands for the nation, and one cannot doubt it does so here. Suppose Nathanael was there thinking before God about the expected Messiah and the hopes of the chosen people... Then we can better imagine how forcefully the words of Jesus struck the heart and conscience of this guileless Israelite.