NATHANAEL #1
John 1:43-51
By David J. Riggs
Intro.
A. In the first chapter of the book John it is revealed that the
Word (the great, eternal One) became flesh and dwelt among men.
B. When we read further in the book of John, we see that this
great eternal One testified of Himself as to who He was.
1. There were people who heard Him and saw what He did,
who also bore witness regarding Him.
2. One such witness in the book of John is a disciple, and
later an apostle, named Nathanael.
3. In a two-part study, we want to examine what's revealed
regarding Nathanael as shown in John 1:43-51.
I. LET'S EXAMINE THIS MAN, NATHANAEL, VERY CLOSELY.
A. His name "Nathanael" means "God is giver" or "gift of God."
1. In Hebrew names, if you see "el" at the end, as in
Nathanael, it means "God" in every case.
2. Israel means "strives God" or "God strives."
B. Nathanael is the Hebrew word, but the Greek word is
"Theodore."
1. "Theodore" is the same word "God is giver" or "gift of
God."
2. In a very special way, Nathanael will live up to his name.
C. It is thought by all scholars that Nathanael also had the name
"Bartholomew" and he is so listed, after Philip, in the lists
of the twelve given in the gospels. Matt. 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19;
Luke 6:14-16
II. JESUS COMMENDS NATHANAEL. John 1:47-50
A. Can you imagine standing there that day and have Jesus saying
something good about you?
1. Won't it be wonderful when we stand before Jesus face-to-
face and have Him say something good about us.
a. All of us earnestly desire Jesus say to us in that great
day. Matt. 25:21
b. In that day, Jesus' commendation will be all that
matters.
B. When the Lord was on the earth, He not only commended certain
individuals, but He often rebuked people.
1. When they were not doing right, or not having the right kind
of thoughts, Jesus rebuked them.
a. However, He also took time to commend those people
who were doing the right things.
2. As preachers and teachers of the word, we find ourselves
needing balance in that kind of thing.
a. We are commanded to rebuke and, of course, this is by
far the hardest to do. 2 Tim. 4:2; Titus 2:15; 1 Tim.
5:20
b. It is easy to commend, and that's why many people
today want to commend only.
(1) Even when we commend, we must be careful not to
use flattery. Job 32:21-22
III. A FEW GOOD MEN.
A. When Jesus was on earth, He was looking for, as the Marines
would say, "a few good men."
B. The expression "a few good men" comes from a time when three
military recruiters were given opportunity to address high
school seniors. Each recruiter, representing the Army, Navy,
and Marines, was given fifteen minutes to speak. The Army and
Navy recruiters got carried away, so when it came time for the
Marine to speak, he had just two minutes. He walked to the
podium and said, "the marines are looking for a few good men. I
doubt whether any of you in this room could hack it in the
Marines, but if there are a few good men here, I want to see
you in the dining hall when we are dismissed." He then took his
seat.
1. Later, when he arrived in the dining hall, he was greeted by
a large number of students who were interested in becoming
Marines.
2. Likewise, Jesus appeals to the heroic dimension in every
heart, and is looking for "a few good men." Let us deny
ourselves, willingly take up our crosses, and follow Him.
C. In that day, Jesus wanted a very special kind of man to be His
own ordained apostle.
1. His choice was very serious to him. Before he made his
choice, He prayed all night. Luke 4:12-16
D. Nathanael becomes one of those special men that Jesus chose.
1. Jesus was looking for Nathanael, but Nathanael wasn't
looking for Him.
a. Nathanael was just minding his own business, so to
speak, and one day Philip comes and taps him on the
shoulder and says, "Guess what we have found!" John
1:45
b. Philip, along with Andrew and Peter before him, had
made the greatest discovery of all.
c. For centuries, the Jew had looked forward, with great
anticipation, to this great One, the Messiah, who would
come, and God chose that particular time in history to
bring the Word, His only begotten Son, into the world.
(1) Even the Samaritans were looking for the Christ.
John 4:25
d. You can imagine the excitement of those men who made
this discovery that Jesus was the Messiah.
e. About 500 years ago, Columbus discovered America.
Lewis and Clark discovered the immense acreage of the
Northwest territory. Consider the discovery of
electricity. Consider the many discoveries which have
been made in the medical world.
(1) We sent men to the moon, and they discovered that
the moon is not made of cheese after all, and there
is really no "man in the moon."
f. However, there is no other discovery in history that, in
anyway, compares with the one announced in our text.
g. Philip and Nathanael made the greatest discovery of all.
They discovered the Christ. This is the greatest
discovery that anyone can make.
2. We see Philip is appealing to Scripture. John 1:45.
a. Moses and the prophets wrote of the coming Messiah,
and Philip refers to those O.T. Scriptures and identifies
Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfillment of them.
b. This is what Paul did, and is what we must do. Acts
17:1-3
(1) To help people discover Jesus, we can't take them
by the hand and go across to the holy land and walk
in the places where Jesus walked.
(2) They can't find Jesus that way. They can only find
Jesus in the Scriptures - the O.T. Scriptures and the
N.T. Scriptures.
(3) Our children's Bible classes are for the purpose of
teaching our children to discover Jesus Christ.
(4) They find Jesus the way that we did - by studying
the Scriptures. We study the O.T. We study the
N.T. with the purpose of helping people to discover
Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. That's what
Philip did and that's what we need to do.
(5) Hopefully, through our preaching, people will
discover Jesus Christ, and who He is, and what He
wants us to do, and what He wants us to be.
(6) That we might become better acquainted with our
Lord who died for us.
3. And so Philip says (vs. 45), and it is Jesus of Nazareth.
a. Thus, Philip is saying, "I know who He is." God's
Messiah is Jesus, and he is from the town of Nazareth.
E. Consider Nathanael's reply. John 1:46
1. There are two ways to look at this.
a. Nathanael may have had in mind the kind of thing that
we often do today. In many communities, they have a
rival town. This is typical of human behavior.
(1) People would say, "the last place on earth I would
like to raise a family would be Nazareth."
(2) It may be that this is Nathanael's reply.
b. Since Nathanael was a god-fearing man and knew what
the Scriptures taught, he may be asking, "The Messiah
from Nazareth?"
(1) In other words, "I don't recall any passages of
Scripture that connected the Messiah with
Nazareth.
(2) Can "the good thing" or "any good thing" with
regard to God and His ways come from Nazareth?
Bethlehem was said to be the place of His birth, but
I don't know anything about Nazareth
(3) I don't know which one of those vantage points
that Nathanael was approaching this matter from,
but the fact still remains that he was skeptical.
2. Nathanael's skepticism did not discourage Philip. And it
certainly did not make Jesus unhappy with him, or cause
Jesus to rebuke him.
a. Thus, it not wrong to be skeptical.
(1) We know there are certain skeptics in the sense that
they don't believe anything - except what they want
to believe.
(2) And, on the other extreme, there are people who
believe everything. They believe everything they
hear, whether they read it in the newspaper or
books, or hear it in the news media.
b. Somewhere in between is a good healthy skepticism. We
are believers, but we don't believe everything we hear.
c. People are skeptical about TV evangelists. It would be
good if they were also skeptical about the preachers or
pastors in their own local congregations.
(1) In the book The Day America Told the Truth, by
James Patterson and Peter Kim, it is reported that
when a national survey asked respondents to rank
various professions for their honesty and integrity,
TV evangelists came out almost at the very bottom,
below lawyers, politicians, car salesmen, and even
prostitutes. Out of the seventy-three occupations
compared in the integrity rating, only two ended up
lower on the scale than TV evangelists: organized
crime bosses and drug dealers.
3. If we believe everything we hear, we become gullible, and
will accept some things we should not. 1 John 4:1
a. We are taught to have a healthy dose of skepticism lest
we be lead away by the cunning craftiness of man. Eph.
4:14; Col. 2:8
b. The only thing we should believe, in matters which
concern the soul, is that which comes from God - the
word of God. Matt. 21:23-27
(1) In other words, if it truly comes from God, let us
believe it and follow it.
(2) On the other hand, if it comes from any other
source, let us reject it.
Concl.
A. Notice that Philip invites Nathanael to "Come an see." And
Nathanael did that very thing.
1. Let us take the time to look and see.
2. If we will not listen, if we will not investigate, there is
no hope for us. Luke 8:15
3. We admire Nathanael who did "go and see," and who later
became a great disciple of Christ.
B. We will continue our studying regarding Nathanael in our next
lesson.