John 1:41-51

This year we are covering the four Gospel Accounts together in chronological order.

In the previous post, we covered John 1:35-40. Here was the conclusion:

Two of John the Baptist's disciples followed Jesus.


John 1
"41 He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ)."

(In the previous post, we saw the two disciples were Andrew and John the author of this Gospel Account. The phrasing in verse 41 implied both disciples had brothers...and Andrew found his brother (Peter) first...before John found his brother James. Andrew understood John the Baptist testified that Jesus was the Messiah to the point Andrew testified to Peter that he and John had found the Christ.)

"42 He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said, Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)."

(Andrew brought Peter to Jesus. Jesus called Simon "Cephas" which was the Aramaic version of Peter.)

"43 On the morrow he was minded to go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip: and Jesus saith unto him, Follow me."

(This verse began with "On the morrow...", so this was the day after the events of the previous passage...and the second day from John the Baptist being questioned by the religious leaders.)

"44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter."

(Jesus went into Galilee and found Philip...and Philip found Nathanael...)

"45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

(Philip testified to Nathanael that Jesus was the Messiah.)

"46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see."

(Nathanael was skeptical...)

"47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"

(Jesus had a word of knowledge about Nathanael and spoke it before physically meeting Nathanael.)

"48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art King of Israel."

(Jesus stated that He saw Nathanael under the fig tree before Philip went to him. Nathanael proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God and King of Israel!)

"50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

(Jesus stated that they would see greater things than this. In fact, we will see in tomorrow's post, this didn't even qualify as a miracle!)


CONCLUSION
Andrew recruited Peter and Jesus recruited Philip...who then recruited Nathanael. John may have recruited James at this same time.

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