Give Me a Sign: A Study through John’s Gospel

By Kendall Conger

The Gospel of John concisely captures volumes of thought and feeling in an original and bare-boned sketch. A slower unpacking of this narrative outline is powerfully compelling in presenting Jesus as the central figure in history whose supernatural life is the only explanation for the Gospel's existence and its global impact. The reader will see why John is considered by many to be the greatest literary work of all time, and why Jesus is the preeminent figure in literary and human history. For believer and unbeliever, it is important (and culturally relevant) to really grasp the one story and the one person who has captivated and changed the world more than any other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Sep 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666777666

Kendall Conger

Kendall Conger is a practicing ER physician, a former homeschool teacher to his four children for five years, a Bible study leader, and is fortunate to have married up to his wife, Suzy, in 1997.

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Introduction

As evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, John relies on several selected messianic signs He performed. The whole gospel of John is a progressive revelation of the glory of God’s only Son, who comes to reveal the Father, and then returns in glory to the Father. John’s book is less of a biography and more of a theological argument where the true nature of Jesus’ identity is gradually unfolded like a docudrama. In this Gospel, John will call forth witnesses and present the signs he feels makes the case that Jesus is God. In any court, the judge will instruct the jury they must only consider the testimony of the witnesses and the evidence produced- nothing else. Along with these signs, we can almost hear John instructing the jurors to Watch how Jesus lives, listen to what He says, observe what He does, and pay attention to how He treats others- then you will see for yourself who He is. Near the end of the Gospel John writes, Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name (20:30-31). John not only presents the case for Jesus, but is himself a witness who writes in expectation that you will come to the same verdict he has- that Jesus is the Son of God and we may experience true life through Him.

Further, to John, the miracles were not simply single events in time, they were insights into who God is. As William Barclay wrote, Jesus did not merely once feed five thousand people; that was an illustration that He is forever the real bread of life on which our souls daily depend. Jesus did not merely once open the eyes of the blind man; He is forever the light of the world. To John, a miracle was never an isolated act; it was always a window into the reality of who Jesus always was and always is.¹ We all want tangible answers to prayer — something we can point to as a definitive and supernatural intervention. Some make the mistake of looking for signs from God, and then get discouraged when they don’t find what they hoped. While God may give a unique sign to an individual, He has given one final sign to humanity for all time. The Gospel of John will argue that a sign from God looks a lot like Jesus. God says to those who are looking for a sign, I will give you something greater, I will send my Son, the Sign-Maker Himself! John writes in order to instill faith into his readers. As he followed Jesus, he was drawn into a profound, life-changing relationship with Him. It is John’s hope that his testimony will allow you to see Jesus for yourself and come to know not only what He did and said, but also what He can mean for your life today.

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Barclay, William. The Gospel of John. The Westminster Press, 1975 pg. 10

John Chapter 1

John begins his Gospel with a Prologue introducing the full understanding of who Jesus is. This prologue also contains the thesis statement the rest of the Gospel is written to defend and is found in the first verse: The Word [Jesus] was God. Verses 1–18 are like watching a trailer to a movie where the essence of the story is quickly highlighted. Immediately after verse 18, John rewinds the movie to the start of Jesus’ earthly ministry and roles the tape. The last sentence of John’s Gospel (immediately before the epilogue), tells the reader why he wrote this dissertation proving that Jesus is God: These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31).

When you meet a person what do you want to know? Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do? Here is how John introduces Jesus:

John

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Who is Jesus?—The Word [logos] of God, and God of God.

Where is Jesus from?—From the beginning; Eternally with God in heaven.

What does Jesus do?—He makes everything; He gives life and light to all.

In John, there is no Christmas story. Jesus is not born—He existed in heaven before time began. Knowing where Jesus came from and where He is going is key to understanding who He is and also to understanding why the people misunderstand and reject Him.

1) In the beginning was the Word [gr. logos] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

By choosing In the beginning the apostle John recalls the opening of Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and earth . . . and God said . . . .

At the start of Genesis, God said . . . and creation was accomplished.

At the start of John’s Gospel, it is Jesus, who is the very Word of God, that accomplished creation. The Greek philosophers saw the "logos" as the power that puts sense into the world, making the world orderly instead of chaotic, and understandable instead of confusing. The "logos" was the power that set the world in perfect order and kept it going in an organized way. They saw the "logos" as the Ultimate Reason and Order that controlled all things. The "logos" came to be understood as that which gave life and meaning to the universe. Within the sphere of Greek philosophy, however, this "logos" was largely understood to be an impersonal force, not a personal Being.

Unlike the Greek concept, Jesus was not an impersonal source or force or principle. The Jews used the term Word/Logos as the expression of Divine wisdom and power. First, all of God’s understanding and knowledge was contained in His words by which He comprehends all things; for you do not know what a thing is until you have a word for it. Second, God could speak a word as an expression of His will, and His speech had the power to accomplish it. So, for the Jews, the "logos" represented the entirety of God, all that God says, and all that God does, what He thinks in His mind, and what He accomplishes by His will. This "logos" that John introduces is the personal God revealed to us in the Old Testament. Therefore, in this opening, John captures in a term common to both Jews and Greeks, a way for them to begin to understand who Jesus is: For centuries you’ve been talking, thinking, and writing about the Word (the Logos). Now, I will tell you who and what this Logos is.

1) The word was with God and the word was God.

The nature of God is to be one Father in communion with His Son (Jesus, the Word) through the Spirit. God is one thing, or one what [Deity/Divinity]; and three who’s, [three personalities] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

2) He [the Word] was in the beginning with God.

This expression of being with God, denotes friendship, familial relation, and intimacy (a face-to-face nearness).

In the beginning—This description is given in order that we may immediately grasp a continuous history which runs out of an unmeasured past—with the identity of Jesus as the subject of all history from beginning to end.

3) All things through Him came into being, and without Him came into being not even one thing that has come into being.

Positively stated: All things came into being through Him. Negatively stated: Nothing came into being apart from Him. Do not make the mistake of putting Jesus into the category of things made. It is the nature of the Father to forever generate the Son in a face-to-face intimacy that expresses the essence of their deity as an eternal communion of personalites. There was never a time the Son did not exist.

4) In Him was life and the life was the light of men.

"Life [gr. Zoe -spiritual, real and genuine; not ‘bio—physical] The Word not only created all physical reality, but also our spiritual [inner] life as well by being the light of men.

The life was the light of men — The life of Jesus became the light of men. To a Hebrew, light was the ultimate value. All good things were said to be light, and evil was darkness. Light implies a revealing. Jesus not only exposes our sinfulness, He illuminates the way to be saved from it. Light implies knowledge and awareness; while darkness is ignorance.

Intellectually, light is truth; morally, light is holiness and goodness. Christ’s life showed us ultimate truth and ultimate goodness. It isn’t that the Word contains life and light; Jesus is life and light. Therefore, without Jesus, we are spiritually dead and in darkness. As C.S. Lewis said, I believe in Jesus like I believe the sun has risen; not because I see it, but by it I see everything else.¹

5) The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome the light.

"Darkness"—The ignorance, folly, and wretchedness of fallen man.

John writes as a dramatist as much as a historian. The great drama of the Logos coming to earth was to engage in a battle between light and darkness—and to play that conflict out in real time before the human race for all to see. This is the great drama of life and of our existence—a battle between light and darkness which He must conquer for us. When the light appeared, the darkness was actively seeking to extinguish it, but the light prevailed—and will prevail.

6–7) There was a man sent from God. He came as a witness [gr. martyr] to testify about the light that all might believe through him.

John, the author of this Gospel, and John the Baptist are two different Johns. In a sense, much of John’s Gospel consists in calling witnesses to testify about Jesus—that all might believe. That is, to believe in Christ through witnesses like John the Baptist—not to believe in God through Christ.

8) He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light.

John the Baptist (Jesus’ older cousin) was a lamp that shined with a borrowed glow, in contrast to the Logos who was the true Light, and source of light.

9) The true light which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

True—that which is real and genuine. The sun makes its own light; the moon is not its own source of light. Jesus is the source of His own light. Everyone else who possess light, derived it from Christ as a borrowed light.

which gives light to everyone—Christ is the light, the effect of which reaches every man, making unbelief inexcusable (Romans 1). Light from Jesus Christ has truly reached and benefited, in some degree, every person. Whatever enlightenment there may be anywhere on earth, it derives ultimately from Christ. John did not mean that the Word gives this light to everyone in the ultimate, saving sense. He means that the reason why anyone is born into a world with any love or care or goodness at all is because of the true Light, and the light that He gives to the world.

10) He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, it did not know Him.

As men received light and life from the Logos, it was natural that the Giver should be recognized by sthe gift. But He was unknown to them.

11) He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

John makes the indictment on the darkness worse because Jesus’ own people, and even the religious leaders failed to recognize Him as their promised Savior and Messiah. This is the second hint of trouble to come. Christ versus spiritual darkness, and Christ versus the world of men that refused to acknowledge Him.

He came to His own—We might translate it as, He came home. It is the exact expression John used in response to Jesus’ command from the cross to look after Mary—he took Mary ‘unto his own home’ (John 19:27; cf. 16:32). When the Word came to this world, He did not come as an alien. He came home. But His own did not receive Him. That is, they did not believe in Him.

12) Yet, to those who did receive Him, [How did they receive?] to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

His name implies the sum of all that Jesus is. You receive Christ, by believing in Him. There is a difference between believing a person, and believing in a person. People think they are children of God by nature. Though we are made in God’s image, we are children of wrath (God’s anger) by our fallen human nature, however, Jesus gives the right for us to "become children of God," by believing in Him.

13) Who are born not by blood [being Jewish doesn’t make you His child], nor the will of flesh, nor the will of any man [no human effort can attain the right of sonship] but of God.

Regeneration (having spiritual life) is as much the work of God as was creation (physical life). God grants man the grace to believe in Christ, that people might have spiritual life as well as physical life.

14) The Word, flesh became, and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

A) The word became flesh may be the most profound sentence in the entire Gospel. Jesus didn’t just "take on" the appearance of a man. He became flesh and bone. The invisible God became visible. He became killable.

B) For John, redemption is achieved not by man’s escape into a spiritual world of prayers, rituals, or meditations, but it comes by God’s entrance into the created, physical world. This incarnation was the signature moment in human history. Jesus is not the Divinity of humanity, but the humanity of Divinity. The incarnation is not a human becoming Divine, but the Divine becoming human. Being fully God, He resisted all temptation and sin; being fully human, He could be fully tempted, tried and hurt.

C) John uses flesh instead of man to emphasize the abject and lowly state Jesus assumed, and from what heights of glory the Son of God descended.

"and dwelt [pitched a tent, tabernacled] with us"—Jesus did not make a brief appearance, but He rubbed elbows with us; ate, talked, and suffered as one of us. He spent time with us.

D) Monogenes—Only child. One of a kind. One and only. The talk-show host, Larry King, said if he could ask God only one question it would be . . . Do you have a son?

E) Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord and my glory I will not give to another. Christ had in Himself the fullness of all things belonging to God, including His Glory.

F) The verb beheld contains the root of the word theater and connotes more than a casual glance. It involves careful scrutiny of what is before one in order to understand its significance. The incarnate Logos was studied under all possible conditions, favorable and unfavorable, as though He were up on a stage. That glory they beheld was "grace" or loving-kindness for our hearts, and "truth" for our minds that we may know the reality of God. In the prologue, John has delivered his thesis statement for which the rest of the Gospel is the defense: Jesus was God in the flesh—in all His glory, truth and grace.

15) John [the Baptist] bore witness and cried out [In no uncertain terms] the one who comes after me has precedence over me because He was before me.

Before me gr. protos—first or preeminent. John testifies to Jesus’ eternality with an enigmatic expression, my successor is my predecessor.

16) From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

From Him we receive all grace, all the time. The implication is that grace is to be found nowhere else—the full repository of grace is found in Christ and in Him alone. We do not get some grace from Jesus and some from other religions or saints as well. Everything you need is found in Him. When Christ was revealed in the flesh, the blessings of God were poured out, as it were, with both hands overflowing. God does not merely spare men punishment, but through Christ He actively loves men and blesses them abundantly. This new order has an inexhaustible supply of grace.

Grace upon grace—is a figure of speech similar to ‘sorrows upon sorrows’ which means sorrows multiplied, or excessive sorrow. Grace upon grace—means excessive grace, continuous, and unending.

17) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Christ.

Jesus Christ was as truly the channel of divine grace to His people, as Moses had been the channel of God’s law to the Israelites. This is the essence of Christianity in its distinction from other religions: Christianity is God’s favor (grace) given to men, while religion is man’s efforts to gain favor from God. Through Christ, God has extended to you His favor for the asking.

18) God, no one has ever seen; the only begotten God [gr. monogenes Theos], the being in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known [gr. Exegesis—to explain].

A) God, no one has ever seen—The meaning is that no human has ever seen the essence of Deity. But Jesus ‘exegetes’ (explains, makes known) God to us. Men are said to receive into their bosom those to whom they communicate all their secrets (bosom-buddy). Jesus is God’s bosom buddy who knows everything about Him.

B) A young student was in class drawing a picture. The teacher asked, what are you drawing? The student replied, a picture of God. The teacher said, but no one knows what God looks like. The student boasted, they will when I am finished! Jesus is the picture of God. Now no one can say they would believe in God if they could just see Him.

C) The cosmos was created by God as a theater for expressing the drama of redemption (starring Jesus) that we may fully know what God is like. From the beginning, God orchestrated the events, even the darkness, to reveal Himself. The fallen world with its ugliness and mess isn’t a world gone wrong that God did not anticipate. When Jesus came to earth, it was not God’s plan B to fix a debacle. God ordained all events that we might see the fullness of His attributes displayed in Christ—especially in conquering sin, evil, and death.

D) All of our heroes have flaws. Authors don’t even attempt to write a perfect character. There is no such thing, and they would not know where to begin. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy."² Everyone will disappoint, have a fatal flaw, or an Achille’s heel. Not Jesus. Does it not sound like John has set himself up with the most daunting and impossible task of describing the perfect person?

E) Recap: Before the beginning of everything that had a beginning, Jesus existed face to face in the bosom of the father, having the same substance as the Father in His Wisdom and Power and yet was a distinct personality of His own. The Word of God became flesh and blood that He might defeat the darkness. No one has ever seen God’s glory but Jesus came full of grace and truth that we might see God’s glory in action. The life of Jesus is God revealing Himself to us. That is how John introduces the most important themes he will develop as he moves from the prologue into the story. The prologue is the glasses through which John wants his readers to see Jesus. Next, he will start from the beginning of Jesus’s ministry and role the film.

19) And this was John’s testimony to the Priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem to ask John, "Who are you?"

John the Baptist was being deposed by the legal aids to the Pharisees [the religious leaders]. They asked John to identify himself for the court. The Baptist did not fit their Messianic preconceptions and their question implies that The Baptist might be presenting himself as the Christ.

20) He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."

"Confess" comes from the gr. homologesen which literally means same word, [homo-same, logos-word] and implies speaking the truth. God calls us sinners and we confess by saying the same thing, we are sinners.

and did not deny—and did not dissemble nor halt in his speech. These negatives are often added to exclude all exceptions. John told the Jewish leaders who he was not. He did not come to focus attention on himself, because he was not the Messiah. His job was to point to the Messiah.

21) And they asked him, "Are you Elijah?"

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"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

Return the hearts of the fathers . . . a euphemism for a goodly rule, a time of peace, when all is made right—as will happen when the Messiah reigns. It had been 400 years since Israel had a prophet. They were expecting the arrival of the Messiah. John came out of the desert (the traditional meeting place with God) wearing strange clothes, eating strange food [like Elijah] and baptizing Jews. Who does this fellow think he is telling Jews to be baptized?

21) He said, "I am not."

The Jews wondered if the Baptist was the original (one and the same) Elijah from the Old Testament. John was not identical in person to Elijah, but he did play the role of the messenger sent before the Christ. So, in one sense, he was not the person Elijah; and in another sense, he performed the function of Elijah.

21) "Are you the Prophet?

Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you [Moses] from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

21) And he answered, "No."

The prophet like unto Moses was Jesus Himself. Jesus would be a prophet, a priest, and a king.

22) So they said to him, Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?

What if someone asked you, what are you about, what is your life’s purpose? How would you respond?

23) He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.

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A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God . . . the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places made smooth. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it.’

John says, I am but the herald who goes before the King; my job is to clear the way for the King, which means you should be looking for the one coming behind me. The Baptist felt that the work he had to perform entirely superseded the importance of his own personality. I prepare the ground that the glory of God might come and be seen by everyone. Jesus is the Word, John is but, "a voice."

24) The priests and Levites had been sent by the Pharisees.

The Baptist has gained enough attention that it was time for the Pharisees to weigh in. They need to validate or invalidate John’s ministry for the people.

25) They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?

John was requiring Jews to be baptized. Jews maintained that Gentiles were defiled and needed the cleansing of baptism upon their conversion to Judaism, but putting Jews in the same category as Gentiles was alarming. Jews were born into Abraham’s family and did not need to be baptized into it. Why is John doing this? Only proselytes (foreigners) were to be baptized. Who commissioned/sanctioned John to perform this rite on the Jews? John will answer that the justification for his behavior is on the way. They are about to find out. ‘It is true that I am baptizing, and from that fact you rightly conclude that I have some connection with the Messiah; but my baptism is a symbol of repentance from sin and a sign of preparation and for cleansing of yourself before the King arrives. Get yourself cleaned up in preparation of a royal visitation.

26–27) I baptize with water but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

A) To prepare you for the Messiah; I call you to repentance and to baptism. John shows that Jews as well as Gentiles must be proselytes to Christ. A new Covenant requires a new cleansing. Something entirely different is on the way!

B) One thing considered too low for a Rabbi to expect from his disciples was the untying of the Rabbi’s sandal strap. John felt unworthy to serve the Christ in the humblest of fashion.

C) Stands one you do not know—Jesus was unassuming. He didn’t become great because of his good looks. Reminds me of what Isaiah 53 said about Him, He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.

29) The next day John saw Jesus and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

"Behold"—Stare intently. This behold on the first appearance of Jesus to the Jews will be bookended with Pilate’s, Behold the man at Jesus’ last appearance before the Jews. One of John’s chief interests is to remind people that a casual glance at Jesus will never do.

John didn’t present Jesus as a great moral example or a great teacher of holiness and love as some do today. He proclaimed Jesus as the ‘sacrifice for sin.’ It wasn’t Behold the great example or Behold the great teacher —it was Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Jews were thinking of their economic and military problems that currently existed under Roman rule. They thought they needed a strong man to deliver them from the Romans. Not according to the Baptist. Israel needed a lamb (a sacrifice), because they had a sin problem.

"The sin"—Not the plural sins, but the singular sin —with the sense that the entire guilt of humanity was collected into one and placed upon Jesus.

"Of the world"—The sacrifice of this Lamb of God has all the capacity to forgive every sin and cleanse every sinner. It is big enough for the whole world.

30–31) This is He of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because He was before me.’ I did not know Him, but for this reason I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed.

The concise answer of why John was baptizing was to reveal to them the One they did not know. I baptize that He might be revealed. The Jews thought their future king would be more recognizable coming in power and glory.

32–33) And John bore witness: I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

The dove is the symbol of peace and goodness—not a symbol of a powerful conqueror. The Spirit didn’t come and go as with the prophets of old, but was a permanent endowment on Christ and it symbolized His peaceful intentions. The Spirit also symbolized the nature of Jesus’ coming for our spiritual wellbeing, not for our physical wellbeing.

"I see and bear witness [legal testimony] that this is the Son of God." John the Baptist is claiming to be an eyewitness. He is not declaring anything uncertain, for it was God Himself who gave him the knowledge of the Christ. Isaiah 11:1–2: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse . . . And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him . . .

35–37) The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.

Question: How does one become a disciple of Jesus? Answer: Start following Him! John the Baptist is passing the baton (and two of his disciples) on to Jesus, but notice how weak and low the church began. Could there be anything more inauspicious? That’s it? Two people go off following Jesus down the road?

38) Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What are you seeking?

A somewhat stronger question than, "How can I help you?" The question suggests to us this: the need of having a clear objective in life. What are you seeking? Most men live from hand to mouth, driven by circumstances, guided by accidents, impelled on by unreflecting passions and desires, knowing what they want only for the moment. God has made us for something other than the sport of circumstances. If you dare not put your life’s objective into words, consider whether it ought to be your life’s objective at all.

38) And they said to Him, Rabbi, where are you staying?

Did they really want to check out His living quarters? This was a euphemism for asking to spend some time with Him. Can we go hang out at your place for a while and talk? They didn’t have a quick question for Jesus. They wanted a conversation. By calling Him ‘Rabbi’ they expect to be taught. But Jesus does not say, sit down, read these books, learn these lessons, do these drills, or memorize this speech. Rather, he says, Come and be with me.

39) Jesus said to them, "Come, and you will see."

In this Come and see there is a distinct call to the personal act of faith. Both of these words, ‘come’ and ‘see,’ are used in the Gospels as emblems of faith. Coming to Christ is trusting Him; trusting Him is seeing Him, looking unto Him. Come unto Me, and I will give you rest, Look unto Me, and be ye saved.

39) So they came and saw where He was staying and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

Modern fiction uses details like this "about the tenth hour. Ancient fiction (epics, legends and myths) never used such details. You will never read something like, Oedipus met the Oracle of Delphi and it was about 4:00 in the afternoon."

C. S. Lewis said, I have been reading poems, romances, vision-literature, legends, myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that not one of them is like this. Of this text there are only two possible views. Either this is reportage... Or else, some unknown writer in the 1st century, without known predecessors, or successors, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern, novelistic, realistic narrative.³

40–41) One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found [gr. eureka] the Messiah!"

The impression of Christ’s own personality is the strongest force to make disciples. The character of Jesus Christ is, after all, the central and standing evidence and the mightiest credential [sign] of Christianity. If such a character as Jesus had not lived, how did it ever come to be described—and described by such people as the disciples? The historical veracity of the character of Jesus Christ is guaranteed by its unprecedented, unduplicated, and unsurpassed nature.

"First, Andrew found his brother." Now, that is always the case. If a man has any real depth of conviction, he cannot rest till he tries to share it with somebody else. Whoever really believes anything becomes its promoter.

42) He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him [searching, reading him] and said, You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Peter [gr. Petros,-firm, unflinching like a rock]. What you name, you own. Jesus desires to radically change you and take ownership over your life. What Jesus calls you, He will make you.

43) The next day, Jesus minded [willed] to go to Galilee. He found Phillip and said to him, Follow me. [ongoing action: follow, and keep on following]

"Follow me"—This is unusual because typically a person picked the Rabbi of his own choice, not the other way around. But here, Jesus chooses the disciples He wants. Jesus calls who He wills, and changes their names as He pleases.

44–45) Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Phillip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found Him who Moses and the prophets wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!

The streamlined calling of the disciples sets the tone for the person of Christ. He’s like a mighty current moving the fabric of historical events into His irresistible sway of influence.

46) Nathaniel said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Backwater, USA? Can anything good, brave or noble come from Backwater? Nathanael’s prejudice was the habit of estimating people, and their work, and their wisdom, by the class to which they are supposed to belong, or even by the place from which they come. A man’s native place does not honor him, but a man may bring honor to his place. Jesus of Nazareth came poor, obscure, and unlettered, that all might find in Him their brother, their helper, and friend.

46) Philip said to him, "Come and see."

Philip didn’t know what to say. He would simply introduce Nathaniel to Jesus. We are called to be witnesses for Jesus. We are not called to be His lawyer. Jesus doesn’t need our defense, just our witness. A lion doesn’t need defending, he just needs to be let out of the cage. Invite people to ‘come and see’ Jesus!

47) Jesus saw Philip coming and said, "An Israelite indeed in whom there