Dear Friends,
Last week we saw Jesus begin to call his disciples. This week He continues to call more. To say that these men were dissatisfied with their current leadership would have been an understatement, to say the least. They recognized Jesus as Israel’s true Leader and they were willing to follow Him wherever He led. Eventually, they were willing to follow Him wherever He led; that will come later.
Father, give us understanding as we read thy word, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
John 1:43-51
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Jesus fulfilled scores if not hundreds of prophecies. The law and the prophets contained careful details identifying the Messiah. For example, when He would come (Dan 9), how and where He would be born (Isa 7; Mic 5), who would introduce Him (Isa 40), how He would live (Isa 35), how He would die (Ps 22), how He would rise from the dead (Ps 16), and how He will come back again (Zec 14). [T]he volume of the book … is written of [Jesus].
By contrast, the founders of all of the other world religions, including all the cults and isims, showed up unannounced. Nobody was waiting for Siddhartha Gotama, Hazrat Mohammad Paigambar, or the seven sages from whence Hinduism came. These people were self-proclaimed prophets, as were Charles Taze Russel and Joseph Smith. Then there is the latest cult: The cult of the New World Order. Its high priests are Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci, along with other New World Order acolytes, who all tell us that vaccines are going to save us. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Bill Gates simply bought his influence. Anthony Fauci, the bureaucrat, is propped up by the media via Operation Mockingbird. He is puffed by Major League Baseball and is even featured in leisure magazines. Gates and Fauci, along with their New World Order cohorts, are preparing the way for the beast and the false prophet. These two will both be delegates for Satan, creating an unholy trinity of sorts.
Only Jesus, however, had prophecies that foretold his coming. Thousands of years before Moses wrote the Torah, there was an oral tradition that the seed of the woman, ie the virgin-born Messiah, would bruise the serpent’s head.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
Only John mentions Nathanael. It appears that Nathanael and Bartholomew are one and the same person. The other writers place Philip and Bartholomew together. In John it’s Philip and Nathanael. Is it possible that Jesus gave Nathanael, (lit God has given) a new name as He did Peter?
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Nathanael was a man who had a certain degree of self-awareness. He recognized that Jesus’ description of him was accurate. How could this be? How did Jesus know this about him?
48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
Even more interesting… How did Jesus know that I was under a fig tree when Philip called me? Here we see one of Jesus’ divine attributes—He is omniscient (ie all-knowing). Before we are done with John’s Gospel we will see that Jesus is also omnipresent and omnipotent.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
John 1:43-51
The interpretation of John 1:51 is something that virtually all commentators agree on: Jesus is the ladder to heaven that Jacob saw in Genesis 28. I believe Nathanael was reading Genesis 28 when Philip found him. Our pathway to heaven is only made possible by Jesus’ finished work on the cross. It is through his death and resurrection that we have access.
Hence, the thesis of this week’s notes: It is 1938 in Germany and we are all Jews. In 1938 Germany, many of the Jews saw the writing on the wall, so to speak. There was a window of opportunity for them to leave, but those who did not take it ended up in the concentration camps. They were the ones who refused to accept reality. They kept telling themselves that it was going to be okay. They were under the mind control of the state. They therefore stood in queues and marched obediently to their demise.
We have been given the warning, yet there are still many, like them, who choose to believe what the state is telling us. The primary tool for their disinformation campaign is the television set. Sitting in front of it is like having a loaded gun pointed at you. There are many fine alternate sources of information available: WAAM, Zerohedge, Western Journal, Gateway Pundit, Revolver, Breitbart, The Epoch Times, and Infowars just to name a few, but the only source of facts that is 100% reliable is the Holy Bible. Each of these other sources must be viewed through the lens of Scripture, just as any book or movie must be. You eat the watermelon and spit out the seeds.
So if my thesis is correct, that it is 1938 in Germany, and we are all Jews, where do we escape to? Proverbs 22:3 says A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. But there are no free countries left to run to are there? Ah, but there is a Ladder to heaven. Our Leader is a Ladder. Psalm 119:114 says Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word. Our refuge is not a place, but a Person. Our Strong Tower, our Hiding Place, is Christ Himself.
…..Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
…..In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
…..For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
…..So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
…..O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
…..The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
…..But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
…..Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Thank You Father, for warning us of the wrath to come. Thank You for making a way of escape. If You choose to hold back your wrath and give us more time, help us to work while it yet day before the night comes. If You are going to be sending your Son soon, please account us worthy to stand before Him, and to escape all these things that shall come to pass. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
