Word/Son of God (21 Days of Prayer & Fasting)
Today we get two names of Jesus for the price of one. And they serve as bookends to the first chapter of John. The gospel opens with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In referring to Jesus as the Word, John is explicitly telling us three things about Him:
But John is also implicitly telling us a fourth thing. By using the Greek term logos (the Word), he is also making it clear to his audience that Jesus is God's embodied revelation to us. He is the sum total of all that God had previously communicated about Himself in the Old Testament. These are lofty things to wrap our heads around, but John brings them into beautiful relief as we fast forward to the end of the chapter…
Here we find the account of Nathanael's calling:
45 Philip found Nathanael 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." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 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." 49 Nathanael answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God..."
There are a few noteworthy things about this account. First, Nathanael is nobody's fool. He is not ready to buy Philip's claim that he's found the Messiah just because he says so. Plus, there's the small matter of the Messiah having been prophesied to come from Bethlehem. This character named Jesus is apparently from Nazareth (though not by birth), the wrong town, and a backwater one at that. But while Nathanael was critical, he was not closed-minded. He goes with Philip anyway. In doing so he encounters a Man who not only knows his character, but who knows his every step. Nathanael ends up having the same experience that anyone can have who openly and honestly approaches Jesus. Whether it's encountering the embodied Word in the flesh or reading the Word in the pages of scripture, something supernatural happens; the Word begins to read us (Hebrews 4:12). And when it does we can't help but declare another name of Jesus: the Son of God.
- Jesus is co-eternal with God
- Jesus is in relationship with God
- Jesus is God
But John is also implicitly telling us a fourth thing. By using the Greek term logos (the Word), he is also making it clear to his audience that Jesus is God's embodied revelation to us. He is the sum total of all that God had previously communicated about Himself in the Old Testament. These are lofty things to wrap our heads around, but John brings them into beautiful relief as we fast forward to the end of the chapter…
Here we find the account of Nathanael's calling:
45 Philip found Nathanael 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." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 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." 49 Nathanael answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God..."
There are a few noteworthy things about this account. First, Nathanael is nobody's fool. He is not ready to buy Philip's claim that he's found the Messiah just because he says so. Plus, there's the small matter of the Messiah having been prophesied to come from Bethlehem. This character named Jesus is apparently from Nazareth (though not by birth), the wrong town, and a backwater one at that. But while Nathanael was critical, he was not closed-minded. He goes with Philip anyway. In doing so he encounters a Man who not only knows his character, but who knows his every step. Nathanael ends up having the same experience that anyone can have who openly and honestly approaches Jesus. Whether it's encountering the embodied Word in the flesh or reading the Word in the pages of scripture, something supernatural happens; the Word begins to read us (Hebrews 4:12). And when it does we can't help but declare another name of Jesus: the Son of God.
Posted in 21 Days of Prayer
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