Come and see

 

For I know their works and their thoughts.  It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory  --Isaiah 66:18 (NKJV)

Businessman and bestselling author Orrin Woodward said, "Success is the exponential effect of little things done consistently over time."  Woodward was speaking in the context of business and finance, but the concept is evident in the growth and success of any local church that follows the Great Commission of Matthew 24:19-20.  It's not just converts making other converts, but disciples making other disciples.

You may be saying to yourself, I am a Christian, and I want to share my faith, but I just don't know how.  In today's Scripture we can see how, beginning with the testimony of John the Baptist, five other disciples were called and committed themselves to becoming disciples and in turn making disciples of all nations.  Through the testimony of these half-dozen men, the whole world was changed.

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.  Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to Him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are You staying?"  He said to them, "Come and you will see."  So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.  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 the Messiah" (which means Christ).  He brought him to Jesus.  Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John.  You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.  He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."  Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  Philip said to him, "Come and see."  Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward Him and said of him, "Behold, and Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"  Nathaniel said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."  Nathaniel answered Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!"  Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these."  And He said to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, you will see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Let's look at this a little more closely, and see the scenario from the point of view of each of the disciples.

John the Baptist

John testified that Jesus was the Lamb of God.  It was not the first time he had identified Jesus in this way (see verse 29).  But this time it was in the presence of two of his disciples, Andrew and another disciple (probably John--the Gospel writer never identifies himself in this book, other than calling himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved.)  It is as though John the Baptist was looking directly at the two men, tilting his head toward Jesus, like, "Hey, fellas, there He is--go follow Him!"

In calling Jesus the Lamb of God, Bible commentator David Guzik points out all that this title would mean to a devout Jew:

• He is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
• He is the animal slain in the Garden of Eden to cover the nakedness of the first sinners.
• He is the lamb God would Himself provide for Abraham as a substitute for Isaac.
• He is the Passover lamb for Israel.
• He is the lamb for the guilt offering in the Levitical sacrifices.
• He is Isaiah’s lamb to the slaughter, ready to be shorn
• Each of these lambs fulfilled their role in their death; this was an announcement that Jesus would die, and as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.

Andrew

The first disciple mentioned by name in John's Gospel was Andrew.  When he and the other disciple left John the Baptist and started following Jesus, Jesus turned to them and asked a pointed question: "What are you seeking?"  In other words, what is your expectation here?  Do you follow out of idle curiosity, or is this something you are willing to commit to for life? I think Jesus asks the same of us.

The disciples ask Jesus where He is staying, so they can follow Him there and spend time with Him.  Not to spiritualize the text too much, but Jesus met them where they were, then took them to another place.  He does the same for us.

The first thing Andrew wanted to do after spending time with Jesus was to go and find his brother Simon.  When we are truly following Jesus, we will want others to follow, as well.  Interestingly, every time that Andrew is mentioned in the book of John, he is bringing someone to Jesus.  In this passage, he brought his brother. In chapter 6, Andrew brought to Jesus the boy who had brought a lunch of five loaves and two small fish, which Jesus used to feed 5000 hungry men.  In chapter 12, some Greeks wanted to see Jesus.  They first went to Philip, and Philip brought them to Andrew, and Andrew brought them to Jesus.  I wish that I were known as one who, like Andrew, was always bringing people to Jesus.

Peter

Andrew brought Peter to see Jesus.  Peter might have been a stocky fellow, since Jesus looked at him and said, "I think I'll call you Cephas."  Now Cephas is an Aramaic name meaning "Stone."  We are more familiar with the Greek name, "Petros" meaning a rock or a stone.  In a more colloquial sense, Jesus was telling Simon, son of John, that his new nickname would be "Rocky."

Later on we see in Matthew 16 where Jesus makes a play on words using this same nickname.  Giving Simon encouragement about his faithfulness, Jesus tells him, "You are Peter (Petros, or "Rocky") and upon this Rock (petras, or "cornerstone") I will build my church."  I don't think Jesus meant that the Church of Jesus Christ would be built on the man Simon Peter; I think Jesus may have pointed to Himself when He said, "Upon this Rock I will build My church."

What would Jesus give me as a nickname?  I once told my wife that I would like to be known as Barnabas like Joseph the friend of Paul, whose nickname means "Son of Encouragement."  What nickname would you like to be called?

Philip

Jesus specifically sought out Philip. Philip was from the same hometown as Andrew and Peter, a village called Bethsaida (which means "House of Fish.")  In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, when Jesus called Peter and Andrew, He said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Philip's first act after being called by Jesus was to find his friend Nathaniel.  Nathaniel questioned his friend about the Messiah's origin--the Scriptures never say that the Messiah would come from Nazareth.  In fact, Nazareth was not thought of in a positive way.  Spurgeon said, "There is always some city or village or another whose inhabitants seem to be the butt of every joke and the object of scorn. The people of such places are thought to be low, uncultured, not-very-smart. That is the kind of place Nazareth was."

To this objection, Philip's only reply was, "Come and see."  We may not always know the right words to say to unbelievers' objections.  Our job is not to counter every argument.  Our job is simply to invite people to "come and see."

Nathaniel

This is the most interesting encounter of all.  Nathaniel (who was known in other Gospels as Bartholomew--another disciple with two names!) was invited to meet Jesus by his friend Philip.  Jesus tells Nathaniel that He has had His eye on him.  Jesus calls him "A true Israelite, who shows no deceit."  Nathaniel wants to know how Jesus could come to that conclusion.  Jesus replied that He had seen Nathaniel "under the fig tree."

Bible commentator David Guzik writes, "It is possible Nathanael liked to pray and meditate upon God and His Word under the shade of an actual fig tree. Yet, under the fig tree was a phrase Rabbis used to describe meditation on the Scriptures. We can suppose that Nathanael spent time in prayer and in meditating on the Scriptures, and Jesus told him 'I saw you' there."

It is also possible that the portion of Scripture that Nathaniel had been meditating upon was the story of Jacob when he was fleeing his brother Esau, and had the dream.  The reason we speculate this is the comparison that Jesus made.  The dream Jacob had in Genesis 28 is sometimes referred to as "Jacob's Ladder."  Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder from heaven to earth, with God at the top and angels going up and down the ladder.  Jesus told Nathaniel, "Truly I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."  Jesus Himself is the ladder, the access between heaven and earth, our only way to get to God.

A song that gets some airplay on our local Christian radio station comes from this passage.  It goes like this:

Come and see, come and see
Come and see a Man from Heaven
Come and see, hear Him speak
He has seen the face of God

Come and see, come and see
This Jesus of Nazareth
Come and see the One that we
Have heard of all our lives

A voice crying in the wilderness
A voice from the sky loud and clear
A still, small voice deep inside
And a voice still ringing in my ear

Saying, "Follow Me, Follow Me
And I will show you My Father
Follow Me and you will see
The heavens opened wide"

Come and see, come and see
Come and see this Man from Heaven
Oh, could it be, oh, could it be
We will see the face of God?
Oh, could it be, oh, could it be
We will see the face of God