WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.919 one and the passage we read there from verse 43 through to the end of the chapter 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:15.880 and looking at this interesting and significant incident where Jesus met with Nathanael or 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:23.480 Nathanael met with Jesus, climaxing in that great statement or confession as Nathanael 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:32.539 confessed Jesus as the son of God and the king of Israel. It's a very interesting series of 00:00:32.539 --> 00:00:43.280 findings that you find here from verse 43 onwards. Jesus decided to go to Galilee and he found Philip 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:49.579 and said to him, follow me. And this part of the chapter you can see that that really is the 00:00:49.579 --> 00:00:56.579 foundational finding which leads to these other findings. Jesus found Philip and then it says 00:00:56.579 --> 00:01:05.700 that Philip found Nathanael and told him about this Jesus that had come to reveal himself to them. 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:11.259 And that's an interesting pattern. It's a very significant pattern as well because there's a 00:01:11.259 --> 00:01:19.400 certain theology behind that. You actually are found, first of all, by Jesus and then having been 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:26.760 found by Jesus, the mission that Jesus gives you is to go and find others for him. That's essentially 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:32.200 really what you can read into this passage legitimately, I think, because Jesus, as we know, 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:39.780 came to seek and to save that which was lost. He sought them out, first of all. He found them. 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:45.060 He then revealed himself to them, those that he came to save. And that's still a work, of course, 00:01:45.060 --> 00:01:51.019 that's going on through the Holy Spirit. So the following of Philip is a consequence of being 00:01:51.019 --> 00:02:00.520 found by Jesus. Jesus finding Philip leads to Philip following Jesus and then Philip finding others 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:08.439 to bring them to Jesus, to know Jesus for themselves. And it reminds us too that following Jesus, 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:14.680 while there is a certain decision aspect to it, there's more to it than just people deciding for 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:20.840 themselves that it'd be a good idea to follow Jesus or become a Christian or become a disciple. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:26.840 There's always the underlying foundational work of Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit, 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:32.659 reaching out to find his people, to bring them to himself, to bring them to know him. And the 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:37.740 consequence of that being they follow him. And as they follow him, they go out and search and they find 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:44.480 others then to come to bring them to Christ so that hopefully they will actually find Jesus for 00:02:44.480 --> 00:02:49.700 themselves. That's really the pattern, if you like, that lies behind the evangelism of the church. 00:02:50.300 --> 00:02:57.260 We don't set out as those who have not ourselves first been found by Jesus. We don't begin to go and 00:02:57.260 --> 00:03:04.740 find others for Christ without first knowing what it is to be found by him and to be brought to know him 00:03:04.740 --> 00:03:14.200 for ourselves. And so you see the sequence that you find there, found by Jesus, then following Jesus, 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:20.180 and then finding others for Jesus, just by way of introduction. We're not going to follow through 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:26.420 any of those aspects of the passage itself, but they are there as you go through it. And as we'll see now, 00:03:26.419 --> 00:03:34.659 through Nathanael and how he came to be a follower and a disciple of Jesus. So Jesus found Philip. 00:03:35.279 --> 00:03:40.060 Philip was from Bethsaida. Then Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:47.659 we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of 00:03:47.659 --> 00:03:56.699 Joseph. Nathanael said to him, can any good thing or can anything good come out of Nazareth? 00:03:57.659 --> 00:04:06.639 Nazareth was a very insignificant place, small, hardly noticed on the map, no reference to it in the Old Testament 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:15.280 prophecies or in the Old Testament at all. And for Nathanael to be confronted by the suggestion that somehow or other, 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:22.480 Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of Israel could have come from Nazareth, that this was the actual place 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:30.800 that he came from or associated with him. Philip's response was, can any good thing, can anything good 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:37.379 come out of Nazareth? Here is Nathanael the skeptic, Nathanael the rejecter of such an idea. He just 00:04:37.379 --> 00:04:43.199 dismisses it at once as something that's hardly credible at all, not worth giving much time to. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:52.279 Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Of course, sadly, you and I know that that's still 00:04:52.279 --> 00:04:59.099 the reaction that you meet with on the part of some to whom you present the gospel, who see your witness 00:04:59.099 --> 00:05:05.419 to Jesus, to whom you speak about Jesus, who hear the gospel about Jesus, or who don't necessarily hear 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:12.920 the gospel, but somehow get into a confrontation with the truth as it is in Jesus. And sadly, as you know, 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:18.140 as you very well know, this is very much the type of reaction, sadly, that you come to on the part of 00:05:18.140 --> 00:05:23.700 many people in our own community and in our nation. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Can there be 00:05:23.700 --> 00:05:30.800 anything good relating to a man who died on a cross all these thousands of years ago? Can I credibly 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:37.720 accept that this is really foundational to my human being that this man revealed in the gospels this 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:44.540 Jesus of Nazareth and all that's said about him with regard to his death on a cross? And then, as people 00:05:44.540 --> 00:05:49.620 will say, his supposed resurrection from the dead. What relevance does that have to me? What relevance 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:55.879 does that have for the time that I'm living in? What relevance does that have for individuals or for 00:05:55.879 --> 00:06:06.319 people today? Can any good thing come in relation to this Jesus of Nazareth? And Nathaniel's reaction is really 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:18.560 instructive. He doesn't do anything other than just say, come and see. Come and see for yourself. He says to 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:29.100 Philip, Philip's response rather to Nathaniel is, come and see. That is his invitation. And that fits in 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:35.740 again with a whole strand of teaching throughout the gospel of John, because seeing Jesus is really 00:06:35.740 --> 00:06:42.120 a significant thread all the way through the teaching of John's gospel. Just to give you a few 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:51.340 examples, you find in chapter 1 here, verse 39, where you find Jesus saying to these two disciples who 00:06:51.340 --> 00:06:57.280 were actually then disciples of John the Baptist, they asked him, Rabbi, where are you staying? 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:03.780 Where do you abide? Another important element in John's theology, John's teaching. They said to him, Rabbi, 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:11.000 where are you staying? He said, come and you will see, or come and see. So they came and saw 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:17.540 where he was staying. And they stayed with him that day. You see, they're seeing Jesus keyed into coming 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:25.279 to know who he is, to know what he's about, to know his significance. Chapter 4, verse 29, there's another 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:34.279 instance of it there. Let me just flip over quickly. Chapter 4, verse 29, you'll find the same idea 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:44.539 actually there of seeing Jesus, where where do you find the woman who left her water jar, went out into the town 00:07:44.539 --> 00:07:52.259 and said to the people, come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. They went out, of course, after that, 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:58.500 and their testimony was that they now believed because of his own word. But that began with the invitation of this 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:04.800 woman, this appeal of this woman. She had come to know Jesus. He revealed himself to her. And she went 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:10.839 and said to the people of her own town, come and see this Jesus. Essentially, that's what you're doing. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:17.120 As you reach out with Jesus, that's the essence of your evangelistic emphasis, your evangelistic 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:23.540 witness, your interaction with people that you want to see saved. This is really essentially what's at the 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:30.480 heart of it. This is what you want them really to respond to. Come and see. Come and see for yourself. 00:08:30.640 --> 00:08:39.080 You find the same in 640, chapter 6, verse 40. You can follow through this thread yourselves more fully, 00:08:39.680 --> 00:08:46.139 if you just note it for the moment, chapter 6. And there you find in verse 40, that same idea. 00:08:46.139 --> 00:08:55.379 This is the will of my father, Jesus says that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him 00:08:55.379 --> 00:09:05.419 should have eternal life. Looks on the son. Takes particular notice of the son. And you find chapter 9, 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:11.980 man was born blind, the miracle of giving him his sight. One of the great texts in the chapter been 00:09:11.980 --> 00:09:23.279 preached on many times is where the man's testimony was. Whereas I was blind, now I'm seeing. 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:30.519 A testimony to the power of Christ, but also an illustration of how Jesus opens eyes spiritually. 00:09:31.060 --> 00:09:36.600 Now there are other texts as well we could spend some time on. Chapter 12, verse 21, the Greeks that 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:45.259 actually sought to see Jesus, they said to the disciples, so we want to see Jesus. Chapter 14, 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:54.320 verse 9, Jesus saying, whoever has seen me has seen the father. Chapter 17, verse 24, in that great prayer of 00:09:54.320 --> 00:10:03.000 Jesus, climaxing really there where he says that all his people will come. And his prayer is, 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:12.100 father, I will that they be with me where I am, that they may see my glory. See, that thread goes all 00:10:12.100 --> 00:10:18.779 the way through John's gospel, seeing Jesus. That's what we're about even tonight here, isn't it? Doesn't 00:10:18.779 --> 00:10:24.639 matter where you start in the Bible, this is what you want to get to. This is what you really have as 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:30.240 the desire of your soul. And as you try and lead others from the truth or into the truth, this is where 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:37.120 you want them also to come to see Jesus for themselves. Well, here is the testimony of 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:44.120 Philip to Nathaniel. And this is this wonderful, simple, but yet profound response. Come and see, 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:50.560 come and see for yourself. He doesn't get into all kinds of arguments at this point. He doesn't 00:10:50.560 --> 00:10:56.860 try and bring theological points out. Not that there will be anything wrong with that. But at that stage, 00:10:56.860 --> 00:11:04.899 what Nathaniel needs to, above everything else, is to see Jesus for himself. Come and see. 00:11:05.860 --> 00:11:15.580 So there's Nathaniel. At that moment, the skeptic. The one who just dismisses the idea of Jesus, 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:24.320 the Messiah, coming from Nazareth. But then Nathaniel becomes the confessing believer. How often 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:30.580 that has happened in the course of history, that people who began in their contact with the gospel, 00:11:30.780 --> 00:11:35.320 with the Lord's people, with the preaching of the gospel, with the testimony of God's people, 00:11:35.400 --> 00:11:42.860 began to, from the point of being skeptics or dismissive of Jesus, yet the truth comes to grip 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:47.040 their soul. They begin to actually see there's more to this than they first thought. 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:55.919 And they come eventually to recognize Jesus for who he is and to accept him and to believe in him and 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:04.679 trust their life to him. Well, what's the response then after the dismissal by Nathaniel of Jesus? 00:12:05.419 --> 00:12:09.159 Well, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:14.699 Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.779 Nathaniel said to him, How do you know me? 00:12:17.939 --> 00:12:24.000 Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were still under the fig tree, I saw you. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:30.600 Now, there's so much in that, but look at Christ's perception, first of all. 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:38.019 He hadn't yet spoken to Nathaniel, but as Nathaniel was coming towards him, 00:12:38.680 --> 00:12:44.399 before he ever said a word to him, Jesus was penetrating his very mind, his very soul. 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:49.200 He was actually just reading, if you like, what was in his heart. 00:12:50.180 --> 00:12:56.860 And what is interesting here is that when he said, I knew you, 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:00.980 and before you were, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. 00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:03.740 And Nathaniel said, How do you know me? 00:13:04.560 --> 00:13:12.080 Well, to know a person's name, very often in the Bible, is associated with knowing his character. 00:13:12.919 --> 00:13:20.480 It's not accidental that God actually speaks about his own name or the revelation of his name, 00:13:20.820 --> 00:13:26.379 because his name has the content of who he is and what is true of him and what he does. 00:13:26.379 --> 00:13:32.240 The name of God really is a summary, in effect, for the attributes that God has revealed of himself. 00:13:32.439 --> 00:13:39.200 Whether it's his power or his mercy or his love or his wrath, the name of God is very much tied in with that. 00:13:39.700 --> 00:13:49.460 And here is the same thing in a lesser sense, but it's still the same idea that Jesus knows the name of Nathaniel. 00:13:49.580 --> 00:13:50.399 He knows his character. 00:13:50.740 --> 00:13:52.200 He's looking right into his heart. 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:53.059 He's measuring him. 00:13:53.259 --> 00:13:54.159 He's weighing him up. 00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:56.679 He knows exactly who he is and what he's about. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:04.459 And the interesting thing, too, is that obviously there's a connection with the passage we read in Genesis, 00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:15.199 where Jacob comes to see in his dream this ladder or these steps reaching up from heaven to earth, 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:19.220 and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:25.580 And this is really a fulfillment, if you like, of what Jacob saw. 00:14:26.300 --> 00:14:31.019 Although Jacob wasn't at all, of course, clear at that stage who this was about or what this was about. 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:35.639 He came to the conclusion, rightly, that God was in it, that God was there. 00:14:36.160 --> 00:14:38.960 And this is the house of God, the very gates of heaven. 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:40.680 God was surely here. 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:42.579 And I did not know it, he said. 00:14:43.299 --> 00:14:47.399 But here, God is here in the person of Jesus. 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:50.659 Now, Jacob renamed the place. 00:14:50.819 --> 00:14:52.199 It used to be known as Luz. 00:14:52.539 --> 00:14:56.699 He gave it the name Bethel, the house of God in Hebrew. 00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:04.360 But it's not so much the place now, things have moved on, and the fulfillment of Bethel is in the person of Jesus. 00:15:04.580 --> 00:15:09.620 It's not now the place, as Jacob referred to it. 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:14.500 This place is a holy place, a fearful place, a place of holiness. 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:22.200 This is where God is now, if you like, revealed in the person of Jesus, his own precious son. 00:15:22.200 --> 00:15:32.400 And, of course, Jacob, in many ways, received blessing or sought blessing and did receive blessing by guile, by deceit. 00:15:32.560 --> 00:15:36.820 He was known as somebody who was very manipulative. 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:40.500 Notice what he's saying here about Nathaniel, what Jesus is saying. 00:15:41.259 --> 00:15:46.280 An Israelite indeed, in truth, in whom there is no deceit. 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:56.240 And really, that's leading us into, or doesn't go out to explain it, but take other scriptures in along with it, the whole tenor of the New Testament. 00:15:56.439 --> 00:16:03.860 In fact, it's really saying to us, a Christian, a believer in Christ, a saved, a disciple of Jesus, in a true sense, 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:13.600 is somebody who, in all seriousness and with honesty and serious-minded, accepts Jesus for who he is. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.379 There's no guile about it. 00:16:15.620 --> 00:16:17.180 There's no pretense about it. 00:16:18.019 --> 00:16:22.019 There's nothing like Jacob trying to maneuver things. 00:16:22.580 --> 00:16:27.019 And that's one of the things that we have to keep saying to people when we present the gospel to them. 00:16:27.420 --> 00:16:28.720 This is not about trickery. 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:29.860 This is not about foolery. 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:36.180 This is not about trying to actually produce something like magic or anything to do with that sort of stuff. 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:38.820 This is the truth of God. 00:16:38.820 --> 00:16:49.200 And the truth of God reassures us that to come to know Jesus, to come to see him for who he is, to confess him for who he is, 00:16:49.340 --> 00:16:58.240 to make the open confession that Nathanael said here, is really to regard Jesus truthfully, without guile, without reservation. 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:02.180 He is who he is. 00:17:02.179 --> 00:17:16.839 And Jesus says to Nathanael, an Israelite, indeed, this is somebody who has no guile in him and is going to come to accept himself. 00:17:18.139 --> 00:17:24.619 So then there's Nathanael's confession, where Jesus had said before, 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.899 Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. 00:17:27.900 --> 00:17:31.259 Nathanael answered him, there's no delay in the matter. 00:17:31.800 --> 00:17:32.460 There's no guile. 00:17:32.580 --> 00:17:33.560 There's no nothing else. 00:17:33.860 --> 00:17:34.340 Hesitation. 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:36.880 And Rabbi, you are the son of God. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:39.320 You are the king of Israel. 00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:42.820 Now, that's one of the great confessions of the Bible. 00:17:43.620 --> 00:17:45.880 That's one of the great confessions of the New Testament. 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:50.620 Because in the Old Testament, you have the Lord as the king of Israel. 00:17:50.619 --> 00:18:02.459 And you have evidence of the figure of the Messiah in relation to him being a divine person. 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:05.039 Book of Daniel, for example, chapter 9. 00:18:05.779 --> 00:18:09.500 But both of these are brought together in the one person of Jesus. 00:18:09.859 --> 00:18:14.859 He is the king of Israel, and he is the son of God. 00:18:16.859 --> 00:18:19.859 He has the character of God because he is God. 00:18:19.859 --> 00:18:24.319 And he is the king of Israel because he is the Lord. 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:41.619 And, of course, all the way through the New Testament, you find that Paul especially emphasizes again and again the lordship of Christ, the kingship of Christ, the supremacy of Jesus as the savior of his people. 00:18:41.619 --> 00:18:46.759 And so our confession really amounts to the same, doesn't it? 00:18:47.719 --> 00:18:50.639 Your confession of Jesus tonight as your savior. 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:57.800 These are the terms that you actually have in your mind and your heart as you confess him to be your savior. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:02.960 You sing the psalms, for example, Psalm 145. 00:19:03.100 --> 00:19:07.880 We sing it very often, Psalm 145. 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:14.680 And the opening words of that, O Lord, you are my God and king. 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:17.780 You will I magnify and bless. 00:19:17.780 --> 00:19:30.940 There it is in the psalm as a prophetic utterance on the part of the psalmist, looking forward to the time when this would be openly confessed more fully and more clearly because Jesus would come himself. 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:36.960 And in him would be seen the Lord and the king of his people. 00:19:37.860 --> 00:19:40.580 Lord, you are my God and king. 00:19:40.700 --> 00:19:48.580 So every time you sing Psalm 145, verse 1, whoever else you think of, think of Jesus because that's who you're singing about. 00:19:49.140 --> 00:19:50.920 You are my God and king. 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:56.000 And the precious, precious thing is you're using the possessive pronoun. 00:19:56.820 --> 00:20:00.039 You are my God and king. 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:02.400 He is our God and king. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.759 He is my God and king to you individually as a Christian. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:13.019 You possess him along with others who have come to trust in him and know him. 00:20:14.140 --> 00:20:18.200 Christ's perception leading to Nathaniel's confession. 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:28.580 And, of course, you think of that title that Pilate put on the cross that the Jews who were observing appealed to him to take down or to change. 00:20:28.980 --> 00:20:33.080 This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:36.980 Jesus, king, all together in that one title. 00:20:37.840 --> 00:20:39.519 The appeal was, don't write it out. 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:40.080 Take that down. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:40.840 Change that. 00:20:41.340 --> 00:20:44.759 Put it saying he said of himself that he was the king. 00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:51.359 And what Pilate said, without him really realizing the effect of his words, and certainly not in terms of their theology. 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.119 What I have written, I have written. 00:20:56.579 --> 00:21:00.980 And you could say of Nathaniel, I have confessed. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:02.819 I have confessed. 00:21:03.740 --> 00:21:04.799 It is the truth. 00:21:05.500 --> 00:21:10.220 It's the wonderful truth that this Jesus is the son of God. 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:12.559 And he is the king of Israel. 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:14.339 And you can sing of him. 00:21:14.600 --> 00:21:16.079 And you can sing to him. 00:21:16.339 --> 00:21:17.880 And you can speak with him. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:19.400 And you can confess him. 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:21.460 My Lord and my God. 00:21:21.819 --> 00:21:22.539 My king. 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:24.120 My God. 00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:28.440 What a privilege tonight to be in that situation. 00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:31.039 And when we are in that situation. 00:21:31.539 --> 00:21:37.539 And we know in here in our hearts that Jesus is indeed for us the son of God and the king of Israel. 00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:41.799 And this is something, of course, that you desire to make known. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:48.019 You desire to make it known to others by the ways in which the Bible itself encourages us to do that. 00:21:48.019 --> 00:22:01.180 Whether it's by going to take communion and join his people in that witness and testimony that this Jesus, this crucified Christ, this now risen Christ, is in fact your God and your king. 00:22:02.220 --> 00:22:04.700 This is Nathaniel's great confession. 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:09.660 And then, of course, Jesus, thirdly, comes to make this great statement. 00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:15.580 And he said to him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:18.340 You will see greater things than these. 00:22:19.040 --> 00:22:27.759 And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:32.560 Of course, as we said, that's keyed into or linked with the passage in Genesis. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:40.339 Where Jacob saw the ladder stretching from heaven to earth and the Lord, it says, stood above it. 00:22:41.179 --> 00:22:42.220 Significant reference. 00:22:42.659 --> 00:22:47.659 The Lord stood above it as Jacob looked upwards as he saw the ladder in his dream. 00:22:48.419 --> 00:22:50.879 The Lord stood above the ladder. 00:22:51.099 --> 00:22:56.819 It went from earth to heaven and connected with the Lord himself. 00:22:56.819 --> 00:23:04.299 And now in the person of Jesus, the son of God, that has come to its ultimate fulfillment. 00:23:05.059 --> 00:23:06.799 He is the connecting point. 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:10.700 The one in whom the earth and heaven are connected. 00:23:11.099 --> 00:23:20.579 The one in whom human beings in Jesus himself come to connect with God in a way that they become his own redeemed children. 00:23:20.579 --> 00:23:30.259 He is himself the connection, the ladder, the steps from earth to heaven. 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:33.619 And you notice the word opened. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:38.019 Truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened. 00:23:38.779 --> 00:23:40.559 It doesn't just say open. 00:23:41.220 --> 00:23:50.399 It says opened, which means something that actually happened, an event that actually took place, but remains in place, remains through. 00:23:50.579 --> 00:23:56.339 In other words, it is God who opened this doorway, this portal into heaven. 00:23:56.859 --> 00:23:58.679 It's not something that just somehow happened. 00:23:59.159 --> 00:24:01.579 It's not something produced by human beings. 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.639 It's not something that religion has invented. 00:24:05.699 --> 00:24:12.659 Heaven is open to God's people because it has been opened in the person of Jesus himself. 00:24:13.019 --> 00:24:16.500 He is the way, the truth, and the life. 00:24:16.500 --> 00:24:33.099 And the access that we have through his death and resurrection from the dead in his own person through all that he has done is an access where we essentially in a spiritual fashion are ascending from earth to heaven. 00:24:33.099 --> 00:24:48.539 And it's an interesting point, both in Genesis and here in John, that what's said is you will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. 00:24:48.539 --> 00:24:57.740 You might expect it the other way around, that the angels would come down, first of all, before they would actually then ascend. 00:24:58.299 --> 00:24:59.279 That's not how it's put. 00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:06.339 You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. 00:25:06.339 --> 00:25:19.579 In other words, I think what he's really saying is that because Jesus is the one in whom this pathway is set and is himself the way into heaven for us, 00:25:20.579 --> 00:25:26.199 what he's saying is that it begins where Jesus is, and at that point he's here on earth. 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:38.559 And through his, in seeing his death and appreciating his resurrection, Nathaniel and these early disciples were going to come and see the meaning of this more fully as time went on. 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:50.940 That this ladder begins on earth in the person of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus and it terminates in heaven, particularly after Jesus himself has ascended. 00:25:50.940 --> 00:26:10.980 And the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man, accompanying this person of the Son of God through all his activities from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth. 00:26:12.860 --> 00:26:17.180 And now Jacob's words apply him more fully. 00:26:17.180 --> 00:26:23.900 Surely, surely Jacob said, the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. 00:26:25.620 --> 00:26:30.600 Well, isn't that what maybe you once said, most of us would have said of Jesus himself. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.539 The Lord is not in this place. 00:26:33.620 --> 00:26:36.600 You don't look for, for, you don't look for the Lord. 00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:44.279 You don't look for a creator, God, and a person who was born and crucified and laid in a tomb. 00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:57.059 When we come to know Jesus for ourselves, when the Lord opens our heart and opens our understanding, that which we once did not see, we come to see. 00:26:57.579 --> 00:27:02.339 And we say with Jacob, surely the Lord was in this person and I knew it not. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:05.359 But now that I know it, what do I say? 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:09.879 I say, now I see heaven opened. 00:27:10.919 --> 00:27:14.059 And I see the Son of Man as my Saviour. 00:27:15.059 --> 00:27:26.219 And I see the very angels rejoicing in the fact that heaven is now connected to earth and earth to heaven in the person of this Jesus, this great Saviour. 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:30.500 Rabbi, you are the Son of God. 00:27:30.500 --> 00:27:34.680 You are the King of Israel. 00:27:35.500 --> 00:27:37.519 May God bless his word to us. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:43.420 We're going to conclude our service this evening singing Psalm 146. 00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:45.799 146. 00:27:49.259 --> 00:27:51.099 And that's in St. Sam's version. 00:27:52.380 --> 00:27:54.299 That's on page 191. 00:27:54.420 --> 00:27:54.680 We'll sing. 00:27:54.680 --> 00:28:24.660 We'll sing.