Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:
(John 1:19) And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
In verses 6 and 7 in the last post, the evangelist John had told us that John the Baptist had been sent by God to bear witness of Jesus. He now began to tell about John and just how he bore that witness.
(20) And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
It seems that at least some of the priests and Levites who came to him must have thought he was the Christ, but John told them freely and truthfully that he was not Christ, the Messiah.
(21) And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you that prophet?" And he answered, "No."
If he wasn't the Christ, they wanted to know just who he was. They asked if he was Elijah, and he said he was not. From the accounts in Matthew and Luke we learned that they had also asked if he was the prophet Jeremiah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead. So whichever prophet they were asking John about in this verse, he answered he was not that prophet.
(22) Then they said to him, "Who are you? That we may give an answer to them who sent us. What do you say of yourself?"
Then who was he? They wanted to know so that they could tell the people who sent them to find out. They asked what he had to say for himself.
(23) He said, "I am 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lord,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."
Quoting Isaiah 40:3, John told them he was the one Isaiah spoke of when he spoke about the voice of one crying in the wilderness to make straight the way of the Lord.
(24) And they who were sent were of the Pharisees.
Those who were questioning John were Pharisees who were a very legalistic sect zealous for the traditions of the elders. They were knowledgeable of the scriptures and were anticipating their coming Messiah.
(25) And they asked him and said to him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not that Christ, nor Elijah, nor that prophet?"
There were baptisms done before John came on the scene, but they were for pagans who had converted to Judaism and ordered by the Sanhedrin. They never baptized Jews so they wondered by whose authority he was doing it now, if he was not Christ, Elijah, or some other important prophet.
(26) John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know."
John answered that he did indeed baptize with water. The account in Matthew 3:11 said a good bit more about this. He baptized with water for repentance of sins, but there was one among them whom they did not yet know who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
(27) "He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's strap I am not worthy to unloose."
John explained that the one among them they did not yet know was the one coming after him who was preferred before him, so great in fact that he was not worthy to even loosen His sandal strap.
(28) These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John was baptizing.
This conversation between John and the Pharisees took place at a place called Bethabara where John was baptizing. "Bethabara" literally means "house of the ford" or "house of passage," and was thought to be the place where the Israelites passed over the Jordan River under Joshua. There could be symbology in this that this is where an opening was made for people to pass through to the Gospel of Jesus, and ultimately to be able to pass through to the kingdom of heaven.
(29) The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
The day after John had been conversing with the Pharisees, Jesus came to John and John accurately and prophetically declared Him to be the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, that ultimate Lamb sacrifice that would atone for all sin when He was crucified.
(30) "This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"
John went on to say that Jesus was the one he had been talking about when he said that one would come after him who was preferred above him because He had been there before him in time and was before him as the foremost superior One.
(31) "And I did not know Him, but that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore I come baptizing with water."
Although Jesus and John were cousins (Luke 1:36), it appears that John had not known Jesus previous to His baptism and the beginning of His ministry. John had spent his time in the hill country in solitude and Jesus had been in Nazareth. John explained that his purpose had been to proclaim Jesus's coming and make Him known to Israel, preparing the way for Jesus.
(32) And John bore record, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it dwelt on Him."
John gave testimony that he had seen the Holy Spirit descending from heaven in the form of a dove that rested on Jesus.
(33) "And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, 'Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He who baptizes with the Holy Ghost.'"
John again said that he had not known Jesus before His baptism, but God who had sent him to baptize with water had told him that when he saw the Spirit descending from heaven and resting on Jesus, he would know that He was the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.
(34) "And I saw and bore record that this is the Son of God."
John had been a witness to the Spirit descending like a dove onto Jesus and remaining there, so he had therefore heard the voice from heaven declaring that Jesus was His beloved Son (Matthew 3:17), so he knew and testified that Jesus was the Son of God.
(35) Again the next day after, John stood and two of his disciples.
The day after John had seen Jesus and had revealed Him as the Son of God, he was standing with two of his disciples.
(36) And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"
When John saw Jesus walking, he directed his disciples to see the Lamb of God.
(37) And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.
Upon hearing John's declaration, his two disciples followed Jesus.
(38) Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), "Where do You dwell?"
When Jesus turned and saw the two disciples following Him, He asked them what they were looking for. They referred to Him as Rabbi which the evangelist John interpreted for his readers telling them it meant Master. A Master among the Jews was a title for a learned teacher. The disciples then asked where Jesus dwelt, as if asking where they might go to learn from Him.
(39) He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He dwelt and stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
Jesus invited the two disciples to come with Him to see where He dwelt, which they did. The Jewish clock began at dawn, at 6:00 in the morning, so the tenth hour would have been 4:00 in the afternoon. The disciples wound up spending most of the day with Jesus.
(40) One of the two who heard John and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
One of the two disciples of John who had followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. This was apparently before Jesus officially called the two brothers to be fishers of men (Matthew 4:19).
(41) He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah," which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
It seems the first person Andrew wanted to tell was his brother Simon. He found him and told him that they had found the Messiah. Once again, the evangelist John seems to be translating for his readers. He wrote that the Messiah was the same as the Christ. The Hebrew word "Messiah" was interpreted in Greek by the word "Christ" and both words mean "Anointed."
(42) And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah; you shall be called Cephas," which is by interpretation, a stone.
Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus. When Jesus looked at Simon, he declared his name to be Simon, the son of Jonah, Simon Bar-Jonah as Jesus called him in Matthew 16:17. However, He told him he would be called Cephas, which was the Hebrew word for "rock" or "stone" as John interpreted it. The Greek word John used for "stone" was "Petros" or "Peter" as Anglicized.
(43) The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find Philip and say to him, "Follow Me."
The day after Peter's introduction to Jesus, as Jesus was going to Galilee he found Philip and told him to follow Him.
(44) Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
Philip was from Bethsaida which was where Andrew and Peter were from. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Bible pointed out that there were three apostles of Jesus called out of Bethsaida, which Jesus later lamented and declared woe upon because it was a wicked place that rejected the word, miracles, and person of Jesus (Matthew 11:21), proving, as he would say, that a man's native place did not honor him, but a man honors his place, and having three apostles of Jesus coming from Bethsaida was no small honor for it. I just love how God always seems to use flawed people and lowly places! It gives hope and encouragement to all people from wherever they might hail!
(45) Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
Nathanael is probably the same person Bartholomew. "Bartholomew" means "son of Tolmai," "Bar-Tolmai," like Jesus called Peter Simon Bar-Jonah in Matthew 16:17. Therefore, it is likely that Bartholomew had another name. The three previous gospels mention Bartholomew and John does not. John mentions Nathanael and the other three do not. Additionally, the three previous gospels name Bartholomew directly following Philip, and John names Nathanael following Philip. So it does seem reasonable to assume that Nathanael and Bartholomew are two different names for the same person. In a later passage in the gospel of John, Nathanael is listed among the disciples whom Jesus appeared to after His resurrection. Although Jesus had many more disciples than just His chosen twelve, the 21st chapter of John does seem to concern only those of His chosen twelve.
After Jesus told Philip to follow Him, Philip went and found Nathanael and told him they had found Jesus of Nazareth about whom Moses and the prophets had foretold.
(46) And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
Nathanael questioned how anything good could come out of Nazareth as it was a wicked place in his mind. Additionally, he surely knew the Messiah was to come from Bethlehem as prophesied in Micah 5:2, not Nazareth. The prophesy had stated that Jesus would come out of Bethlehem even though she was little among the thousands of Judah. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but He grew up in Nazareth, a place so miserable that Nathanael could not imagine anything good coming from there. Once again we have God using the lowliest places to bring forth something magnificent! Philip only answered Nathanael's doubt by telling him to come and see for himself.
(47) Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said of him, "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile!"
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, He said of Nathanael in the hearing of Nathanael himself and all who were present that he was indeed an Israelite, not only by birth, but worthy of the name. He found no deceit or fraud in him; he was what he professed to be, and probably didn't tolerate fraud in anyone else, which might be why Jesus may have been giving him a small zinger because he had doubted that anything good could come from Nazareth.
(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."
Nathanael asked Jesus how He knew anything about him. Jesus answered that even before Philip had summoned him, He had seen him under a fig tree. Of course, He did not mean that He was bodily present to see Nathanael, and Nathanael obviously realized that:
(49) Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
Realizing that Jesus could not possibly have seen him under the fig tree unless He was the Son of God, he declared him so and also to be the King of Israel. He called Him Rabbi, which meant Master, and that title belonged to no one else but Christ, as Jesus said in Matthew 23:10.
(50) Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' you believe? You will see greater things than this."
It's as if Jesus said to Nathanael, "You believe I am the Son of God just because I saw you under the fig tree? You haven't seen anything yet!" Indeed, Jesus told him he would see much greater things.
(51) And He said to him, "Most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."
Jesus told Nathanael he would see heaven open up and see angels descending upon Him and ascending back to heaven. Whereas it would literally happen at His baptism, this was probably meant to be in a spiritual sense. Through Jesus, the secrets of heaven would be made known to His disciples and it would be evident that He had the full favor of God in heaven and His ministering angels. With Jesus's sacrifice, there would be an open channel to God and His angels for His believers. There would certainly be no doubt that Jesus was their promised Messiah!
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