Chapter 1

An Expository Study of John’s Gospel
CHAPTER 1

John – a special writer
It is important to study these first eighteen verses of John, “the Prologue”, because it gives us a capsule of what is in the entire book. John is a very special writer. He is called by some, primarily by legend, an elder in the church at Ephesus, and he was the apostle of love; dear to the heart of the Lord, and he writes out of that same kind of an attitude or personality. His account of the life of Christ is not geographical; it is not biographical; it is not historical. It is theological. Therefore, he deals with the life of Jesus in a different way than Matthew, Mark and Luke. John does touch upon some historical, biological and graphical things and when he does he is always accurate. But, primarily, John’s account of the life of Christ is theological; having to do with Christ as Divinity becoming humanity in order that we might have redemption.

Eternity
John starts off in eternity, which is prior to time; continuing when time is no more. It is difficult for man to think about eternity, except in terms of time. But time has to do with things that are temporary. When we talk of time, or any of the marks of time, we are talking of things which are destined to end. When John says, “In the beginning was the Word,” he is going back into the eternity of the past, at no specific time, because He has always been so there was no way to mark God’s existence prior to the beginning of time.

Scripture Reading: John 1:1-5 (KJV)

1. THE ESSENTIAL GLORY OF THE SON OF GOD

1:1 … “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is almost poetic. In fact, the first eighteen verses of chapter one are, for the most part, a series of stanzas, the first verse being one of them. Most of these stanzas are three lines; some four. “In the beginning was the Word” – He existed before time and will exist beyond time – this is the One with whom we are going to deal. “. . . And the Word was with God” – the word, “with,” suggests that Someone else was present. We learn from Genesis 1, in the creation, there were three members of the God-head at work: God, the designer or architect, Logos; the General Contractor, if we think of God as the architect; and the Holy Spirit, the builder. When God says, “Let there be light”; it was Logos talking; and the Spirit brought light into being; bringing to completion the decree of Logos. John’s first verse explains to us clearly that God is in every way Divine. The whole verse or stanza deals with Logos in relation to Divinity. Later, John will relate to humanity, but first we must consider the truth that He is in every sense, God. Why? So that when He becomes one of us, we will have some understanding of the awesomeness of the concept: how could God become a man? In our study we will consider several things about the relationship between His coming to be one of us and His work to make us one of Them.

1:4 … “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” The word “life” is used 36 times in John’s Gospel and 11 of those have attached to it the adjective, “eternal” – “eternal Life.” But notice here in this passage, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” – here we are reading about human consciousness, because the life of the Lord, the Word, became the illumination of man’s spirit – “In him was life; and the life was the light;” the enlightenment; the knowledge; the mind; the ability to think, reason, dream, follow, learn and do; just like God, but on a much lower plain, of course. However, God did give us the principle of Himself, to live within us. Even in creation, our life was an element of His life. We were made originally to be an eternal human being. If Adam and Eve had obeyed God in the garden, they would have existed without end. The human body was originally made not to be mortal, but immortal. Only when Adam and Eve sinned did they lose the fellowship of God and access to the Tree of Life. But, as a result of their sin, human kind became mortal or subject to death. However, we should always remember that in our lives exists a spark of God. Before we conclude John’s Gospel, we will hear Jesus refer to us as gods. By creation, we are an offspring of God. He is the One Superior God and we are all little gods; made like Him and with His features, of course in a very limited way; for His features are infinite! Whatever we were at first, in a finite world, He is in the infinite world. And Logos was there with God, in that situation. He came as light unto men and while many rejected Him, they were not able to overcome or overpower His light. Yes, they diminished it; keeping it from having the influence He wanted it to have; but they were not able to overcome Him.

1:1-5 … “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” He is the sole creative power. He gave the decree that we should be made in God’s image. He was the One that gave the order for the breath of life to be breathed into Adam and Eve. “All things were made by Him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). This is John’s way of emphasizing the totality of the Lord’s place in relationship to creation. So, we have God in relation to Divinity and God in relation to the created world. Then, in verse 4 we have, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men”. It is Logos in relation to life. And, that life is followed by light – He is both – the life, of which we are a part and the light that illuminates us to make us living creatures. “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended (overcame) it not” (v. 5).

We now consider someone who was related to Logos in a very subordinate position.

Scripture Reading: John 1:6-18 (KJV)

1:6-7 … “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John” (v. 6). This is John the Baptizer. “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe” (v. 7). This is the first time the word, “believe,” appears in John’s Gospel, but it will appear many more times. Here it is used in a relative sense, because the mission of John the Baptizer was that man might believe on Logos when He came.

1:8 … “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” While John the Baptizer was given the Holy Spirit from the moment of his birth and though he had the Holy Spirit in whatever measure necessary to fulfill his mission as the forerunner of Christ, still, he never performed a miracle. Initially, God did not require miracles for people to be enabled to hear John's message; believing it; accepting John as the introducer; and the Logos as the One introduced. John the Baptizer came between the last of the prophets and the Lord Himself. He, therefore, had an attachment to the old system because he was the last of the prophets, and as the introducer of the Lord he also introduced the Christian system. We now drop John the Baptizer, until verse 15.

1:9 … “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Logos was coming into the world, but long before He did, He was illuminating every man coming into the world. In other words, before He came into the world as Jesus, he had already been operative in human society from the original creation until the fullness of time when He was to appear in human history as a man.

1:10 … “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” He was in His own created place. The sphere that He had made held Him as a visitor; an inhabitant for a time; and did not know Him. That is why John the Baptizer was sent – so Jesus would have a forerunner; someone to announce His coming so people might be prepared to believe on Him and receive Him when He came. No wonder Jesus said later, “of all those born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptizer.” Because we see him in a subordinate role to the Lord, some have never seen him in the light of importance; yet, there has never been a more important person in the world that John the Baptizer. We might think of Abraham; perhaps Moses, Elijah, David, Solomon or others that seem important in Old Testament history. But not any of them had the rare privilege of introducing “Messiah;” Logos; the Christ; the anointed One; to the world. What an honor. Yet, John the Baptizer was so humble. When he was about to declare Jesus’ coming, he said the Lord would increase and he would decrease. And, from that time, he began to shrink in importance, popularity, power and the Lord began to increase, as it was designed to be.

1:11 … “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” He came into His own world; His own created universe; and His own received Him not. The reason John included this long after Jesus had come to earth and made His mark on human history, was because Jesus, as we will see in chapter four, was acceptable to the Samaritans. In chapter 12 the Greeks want to know about Him and believe in Him. The people who, for the most part, did not believe in Him were His own people, the seed of Abraham, the Jews. It is so sad that He came unto His own, and they received Him not.

1:12 … “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” To them that believed, He gave the right, the power, the authority, the ability, the privilege of becoming His disciples, children of God. This is the first time people had ever become redeemed children of God; and they became that in Christ. Adam and Eve were children of God by direct descent; by direct creation. Throughout the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), many people called themselves the children of God, especially the children of Israel. And, God had chosen the seed of Abraham to be the ones through whom He would bless the world. However, for most of their history they did not act like the children of God they did not always act like God’s chosen people. They had much pride in having been chosen and in their perceived important status. Their pride was vested only in their relationship to Abraham, physically, and not in their relationship to God, spiritually. In Romans 9, 10 and 11 you can see how in later history that all played out; the Jews having rejected Him, and the Lord, for a time at least, setting them aside as His chosen people, opening the door of access to the Gentiles.

1:13 … “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This is not a birth of the flesh; it is not a blood that relates to one’s roots or to one’s ancestors. It was not something done by the will of man – not something that one could do for himself or herself. This was to be a birth generated and made possible by God.

1:14 … “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” This is where we tie Divinity and eternity to humanity. “In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . .” John now writes about how we relate to Jesus; the One who was before time began; Who came on our behalf. We are special to Him, because He came to this world for only one reason, to reach and save people.

In other words, nothing in this entire universe is more important to Jesus Christ than you. You, individually, and all of us collectively, represent the reason God sent His Son.

Consider some alternatives
Logos came from heaven to earth so that we might go from earth to heaven. Logos became a Son of man in order that we might become sons of God. He came here to experience temptation without sin in order that He might redeem us, who, because of temptation, have sinned and would otherwise have no right to deal with Him at all. He took away the entire basis for alienation and laid a firm foundation for reconciliation. Many religions today have man looking for God – trying to find Him and serve Him. But in Christianity God looks for man.

Explaining how much He loves and wants us to become His friends; His children; reaching out to us instead of the other way around. That is what makes Christianity almost unbelievable; that Divinity would become humanity, so humanity might become Divinity. The incorruptible Son of God came into this corruptible world so that we, as corruptible beings, might pass through death, which He has overcome, so that when we arise from the dead, we will arise as He arose, incorruptible, all because of what He did by His death and resurrection. He died to redeem us and He arose to justify us. This is the One who became flesh and dwelt among us. The word, “dwelt,” is the word, “tabernacle,” which means “tent.” So, He came down to this earth to tent with us; to encamp with us. God’s relationship to man in history was: God for them. When Jesus came in flesh, as a man, He became: God with us. When He ascended back to the Father and sent the Spirit in His stead, He then became: God in us. God's progression; how He informs us of Himself; how He reconciles us to Himself; how He blesses us in Himself; and how He will one day glorify us to be with Him throughout the continuing eternity yet to come – is: God for us; God with us; God in us.

The final day
On the final day of time, when all of the graves are opened and the sea gives up its dead; each of us will stand before His throne and be judged; both the righteous and unrighteous. At that time, God will send the unrighteous to the place prepared for the devil and his angels and the righteous to the kingdom prepared for the redeemed, and time shall be no more. Think about how a terrible pain feels here on earth. Now think of that kind of pain intensified several times over without any means of relief forever and ever. Hell will be like that. There will be no part of God there. No ray of hope; no sunshine, only pain, anguish and tears. How could a loving God send one of His creatures to such a place? He will not unless they reject His great love; love like no one has ever seen. Basically, God says, “I gave you my Son because I love you, as unworthy as you are because I want to forgive you, forgetting the past, bringing you into My fellowship; keeping you there and at last giving you all the joys of heaven. But, if you reject My love then Holy justice will let me do nothing else but send you where you are determined to go, the same place I have prepared for the devil and his angels, who have already fallen and whose destiny is absolutely certain and unchangeable.”

Our choice
We can elect to go one place or the other. If we elect to go with God, we can be sure that He will reach out and help us in unbelievable ways. But, if we elect to have nothing to do with Him and if we reject Him, then, He says we shall reap what we deserve, instead of having what He wants us to have. That is why He can and will send some to hell. If He had not offered His Son, the most marvelous expression of love ever known, then He might not be justified in providing the kind of punishment that He has prepared. But, if we have only a semblance of reality we will accept Him, because He came down from heaven to be one of us; to tabernacle with us; to experience; to endure all that man could heap upon Him, deserving none of it; to show us, over an extended period of time, that He loves us enough to live and die for us. He died for us and He wants us to live for Him. We will certainly die physically, but that should not give the Christian a moments hesitation, because that will only be a slumber for a period and when He wakes you up, you will never know anything bad again – forever. So, physical death has been robbed of its real sting by the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord. And those who are His have already entered into fellowship with His death and have been raised into fellowship with His living, resurrected life and Christians need never die again.

“. . . he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die . . .” (John 11:25, 26). With that kind of an option; with that kind of a choice; how can anybody say no?

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Nobody has ever seen God in His full glory – we could not and live. But He came here to let us know what God is like.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” (Heb. 1:1-4)

That is the One who came. That is why He could say to Phillip in the Upper Room; in the last hours of His life, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Not His physical appearance, because God does not have a physical appearance. But he that has seen Me has seen God’s character; God’s nature; God’s forbearance; His patient endurance; His loving kindness; His willingness to suffer rather than to let His creatures suffer. What a wonderful God.

1:15, 16 … “John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me” (He is before him in importance and dignity because He existed before John the Baptizer was ever born). “And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” When one becomes a Christian a great measure of grace is received seeing that He then permits fellowship with Himself because of acceptance of Jesus Christ as God’s one and only Son. But in addition to that mighty grace, as soon as you have used it, there will be more and more and more and more “grace for grace.” No matter how much you might need, His grace can never be exhausted. We can fall from it; but as long as we stay in a relationship with God to receive it, His grace will be there for us in overwhelming abundance.

1:17-18 … “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” “Declaring Him” is His role as declarer – Logos, the Word; the Declarer of God; the Demonstrator of God; the Revealer of God – that is His purpose for coming to earth. So, He became like us in order that we might become like Him.

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Phil. 3:20, 21)

Summary
Every victory that needs to be won has been won. Every resource we need is available to us. Every power needed to comply with His will has been granted to us by God. The means of recovery, when we stumble and fall has been provided by Him – willingly, lovingly, and eagerly. If we do stumble and fall we can rise up and say, “I failed you Father, for Christ’s sake, to whom I have committed my life, forgive me again.” We can be assured, just as sure as heaven is there, that forgiveness will be granted to us. What a great way to live; never a moment of defeat once we become a Christian. We can then thank God with every rising sun that we have one more day of opportunity. And when we go to bed at night we can say, “Father, if it is not in your will that I arise in the morning on this earth, I ask you to forgive me, so that I can arise with you over there.” So, whether it is down here or up there, it is really not important. Certainly, the Christian will be happy to arise from sleep again on this earth. But a child of God would also be happy if he/she knew that tomorrow morning would be the morning of the beginning of eternity, the beginning of glory. Such is the heritage of a Christian.

Scripture Reading: John 1:19-43 (KJV)

3. THE REVELATION OF THE SON OF GOD TO ISRAEL

Various verses in the above study, referring primarily to Logos, the Lord, were inserted to show the relationship of John the Baptizer to the Lord. By repeating some of these verses we will be able to understand better the continuity that must have been in John’s mind as he wrote.

1:6-8, 19 … “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light . . . John bear witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me . . . And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are thou?”

Elijah or the prophet?
Remember that John the Baptizer was six months older than Jesus – into his ministry a half year; preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom; repentance of sins and baptism with repentance of sins as the foundation; and people were already curious. Now that Logos, the Word, was flesh, dwelling among them, it was time for the leaders to find out whose who. Notice, they want to find out who John was. The Jews had long expected the coming of Messiah, and, therefore, when an unusual person appeared on the scene, they naturally assumed he might be Messiah. John the Baptizer had been on the scene long enough for the word to spread that he was certainly unusual, so, it was natural for them to think he might be Messiah. In the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi 4:5, 6 we read, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Since the last words from Malachi, i.e., the last words from God, had said Elijah was coming before the great day of the Lord; naturally the Jews were expecting Elijah. So, they confront John with the question. Then, in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19, Moses says,

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; . . . and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

Moses was, of course, talking about Jesus. But, the Jews never associated the “Prophet” with Messiah. They misunderstood the Word of God in their day, just as we do. And some, who considered themselves good students of the Word, had not spent enough time in serious study to know wherein the Word of God overlapped. With this in mind, notice these men who came from the Pharisees to learn of John.

1:20-22 … “And he confessed and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Are thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?” If you are not Elijah or the Prophet or Christ, then who are you?

John’s authority
John had already been performing baptism; it was a part of his ministry and mission; and they assumed anyone who dared assert the right to administer baptism must have authority to do so. If he was not one of the three mentioned in the Word, with whom they could easily identify as having authority to perform baptism, then who was he? Baptism under the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) was largely for the non Jew who committed himself to the Law and circumcision – baptized as a symbol of being cleansed and resurrected to a new life. This had absolutely having nothing to do with the Spirit or the baptism required of those in the Kingdom. It was not a baptism for the Jews. Now, here comes John the Baptizer, out in the wilderness, requiring people to repent of their sins; to confess their sins; to be baptized with the baptism of repentance, unto the remission of sins. It is understandable why they cannot imagine anyone having the authority to do such a thing if he was not Elijah, the Prophet or Christ.

1:23-28 … “He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.” He says I am the voice of one out in the wilderness, crying – calling your attention to One who is coming after me who is much greater than I. He knew from day one that he was a forerunner; to be succeeded by One far greater. He says One is in your midst and you do not know it. That must have amazed and puzzled the people; a greater One in their midst and they did not know. These men, asking about John’s authority, were expected to carry a message back to those who sent them, with clarification and intelligence, surely they were perplexed by what they heard. These things were done in Bethany, on the east side of the Jordan, not far above the Northern edge of the Dead Sea. John conducted most of his ministry in this valley. Jesus left Nazareth, going down there to be baptized of John. When the Gospel of John picks up the story, Jesus has already been baptized and has gone into the wilderness; tempted of Satan. Now He reappears.

1:29 … “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The word, “Lamb,” is only used four times in the New Testament. Here, in verses 29, 36; Acts 8:32; and 1 Peter 1:19. Surely, John the Baptizer, having been inspired from the moment of conception, understood, here in the first chapter of the Gospel of John the Apostle, that Jesus was that sacrificial Lamb. So, it would be no surprise to John when Jesus later announced that He was to be delivered up in Jerusalem by the leaders of the Jews and raised up after three days. This was not a specific of John’s mission, so he did not say a great deal about it. But we do know, from some of these references, that he knew about it. And, no doubt, it helped John feel secure in his mission. He did not know how his mission would end, but he did know that it was temporary. The Holy Spirit never did much in a special measure for the person in whom He dwelt. When Paul left Trophimus sick in Miletus (2 Tim. 4:20), he could not heal him because he was part of Paul’s company and the miraculous powers of healing were not to be used as an advantage for those who were part of the movement. Paul did raise the dead and he healed other people, but not the man he left at Miletus. Paul wanted to know how he was going to Jerusalem, but the Spirit did not tell him, except that he would be bound when he got there. It is doubtful John the Baptizer knew he would be beheaded. But, he had a mission to perform and he was going to carry it out until he drew his last breath. John truly was a remarkable person. It is not easy to play second-fiddle. Shortly, we will be introduced to Andrew, the less talented brother of Simon Peter. The world needs many more like Andrew, probably more than we need a Peter – Because Andrew was a soul winner. In fact, if it were not for Andrew, we probably would not know Peter. So, sometimes, playing second-fiddle is a remarkable job; John the Baptizer a case in point.

1:30-34 … “This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.” He is saying, in effect, I baptized as a means of introducing Him to the world. I was not aware of this when I started my mission, but it soon became evident that it was the very heart and core of it. “And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” So, John did not know the full identity of Jesus until the day he baptized Him. He certainly knew that Jesus was his cousin, the son of Mary; that Mary was the sister of Elizabeth, who gave birth to John. So, he knew about kinship and he knew Jesus was a remarkable person while growing up, but he did not know, until the day he baptized Him, that Jesus was the One he had been sent to introduce. When he baptized Him, the Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove, and then he knew, because that was the sign he was told to look for. “And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” He had no reservations; he was certain beyond the shade or shadow of an intimation of doubt.

1:35-39 … “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” John had done a good job teaching his disciples. They were expectantly waiting for the Messiah. It was enough for John to say, “Behold the Lamb of God!” That was enough. From that moment the disciples followed the Lord. “And Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?” He wanted a statement from them of their intent; their purpose. He did not need that information. He knew why they were following Him but He wanted them to confront the question; to make sure they knew why they were following Him. “They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?” This seems a strange answer. Have you ever been asked something by someone dear to you, causing an inwardly desire to make an extensive and meaningful reply, but, you were timid and uncertain? That is probably the way these disciples felt. In effect, Jesus says, what are you looking for? And they reply, where do you live? They probably did not really want to know where He lived but they did want fellowship with Him; to spend time with them; perhaps He would explain to them more about Himself. “He saith unto them, Come and see . . .” The Lord was kind and gentle to them. He did not ask why do you want to know. Why do you care where I live? What has that to do with you following Me? No, He simply says, “Come and see”. “. . . They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.” Their desire was fulfilled. They went to where He lived, and spent the day with Him. What a day that must have been.

1:40-41 … “One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interprete, the Christ.” He first finds his own brother. This is where missionary work should begin – at home. The ones near and dear to us should be the first ones we desire saved; those who share our lives in some close way – wife, child, father, mother, sister, and brother.

Illustration
A Christian lady once said: “I expect to go to heaven. In fact I am confident I'm going. But, when I get there, if my son is not there, I don’t know what I’ll do. How is God going to help me deal with it? I simply can’t imagine eternal happiness if he’s not there.” She paused and then said, “This thought is giving me a new, intense purpose to try and reach him for Christ. What can I do? He lives so far away. How do I make the first move? How can I turn him toward the Lord?”

Then an old believer said, “The best thing to do is write him a letter and let him know from line one how deeply you love him, telling him exactly what you've told us. You may have written him many letters, but never with the same intensity and deep expression of your love for him. Say a prayer before you write it and ask the Lord to help you use the right words in the right way. Whether he honors your words or not, you can rest easy knowing that they will stay with him a long, long time and he will always remember how his mother reached out for him in love – as God reached out to us in love when He sent Jesus down here to save us.” Years later, a young man who had been there and who had heard the conversation, expressed to someone at her funeral how the experience had haunted him; wondering how it turned out and never knowing. He was told, “Her son is preaching the funeral.”

Andrew first found his own brother. He did not explain the Messiah to Peter. Sometimes people say, “I don't know how to do personal work.” Follow Andrew’s example. Say to someone you know and love, “There is Someone I want you to meet. He’s my Savior. He loves you so much and I want you to know Him. Let me introduce you to Jesus Christ.” That is the message. Simon came to see and hear the Messiah. That is all we need to do; just bring someone to Jesus Christ and let that person learn who He is and what He has to say – hearing it directly from the Messiah.

1:42 … “And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.”

“‘Cephas’ is a Syriac word, and is equivalent to the Greek word Petros, which we render Peter. Both mean a stone, a portion of a rock. ‘Petra’ means a rock, ‘Petros’ a piece of rock. Peter was the latter, not the former.” (Coffman)

Simon was the name for one of the sons of Jacob called, Simeon. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) describes him as unstable and unreliable. He and Levi got into all kinds of trouble. And Simon Peter, before he met the Lord, was like that. He was a true Simeon. Probably, if he fished all day, catching nothing, he might have a few choice words. He was a hard working, rugged man and a Simon in every sense of the word. But the Lord changed all that and told him he would be a piece of rock. As Coffman points out above, Cephas means Peter, and, in English, Peter means “stone, a portion of a rock.” Jesus said this the moment He saw him.

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Perhaps you can think of someone who has come to Christ. Someone the Lord has made into a stone, a portion of a rock. A wise old preacher once said to a new convert, “Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but who can count the apples in a seed? You’re a seed and you are going to plant the seed.” The man became a great missionary and there is no way to determine how many souls were touched as a result of that conversion. They are seeds in a seed, and some converted by such dedicated converts are become preachers of the Gospel themselves, or perhaps wives of preachers or elders, bearing fruit for the Lord. When we reach one we never know how many are actually being reached – seed bearing seed.

When Andrew said to Peter, we have found the Messiah, he did not know that his brother would become one of the chief spokesmen of the Messiah; that he would become a stone and one day write and call us living stones (1 Peter 2:5). We truly are stones in the Kingdom and as such we should be concerned about those who are not. They may be a “Simon” now. But consider what Simon was before he met Jesus Christ. In Matthew 16, when he confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and in the verses following, Jesus said He was going to Jerusalem to be delivered up and put to death and the third day rise again, Peter said, “that will never happen to you, Lord.” Jesus said to him, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Satan means to hinder; Peter hindered before becoming a stone. Some of us may be hindering someone from obeying the Gospel. But we have the ability and potential of doing something tremendous if we will simply commit our lives to the Lord. Then the Lord will bless us in ways we cannot even imagine – with peace that passes understanding and joy indescribable. Think of the seeds you plant by converting a soul to Jesus.

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A Bible teacher once said: “Oh, if our homes could be like the potters house, where the clay we bring into this world, without shape, faith, personality, and character – nothing but a little bundle of clay. If we do an effective job, in prayer to God, following His Word, taking careful steps handling that small lump of clay, we can turn it into a treasure in God’s Kingdom – a jewel in the crown of the Lord.” He also said, “The family ought to be in balance, the temporal verses the eternal, the physical verses the spiritual; where the whole atmosphere is filled with the air of the Kingdom. The child growing up in this kind of setting is bound to develop in a spiritual way. And when he is old he will not turn away from it (Prov. 22:6).” They may go away for a while, but if anything will bring them back it will be what has been planted in their hearts at home.

1:43 … “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.” Andrew found the Lord; the Lord found Philip; Philip found Nathanael. This linkage goes on and on. Notice how quickly the early disciples always knew of someone who needed the One that had just found. It should not take months or years to bring someone to the Lord. Perhaps the best time to lead someone to Christ is immediately after our own conversion because it is precious in our hearts and fresh in our minds.

Carefully read and consider John 1:42-51.