Is heaven real?

"What Are You Seeking?"

(John 1:35-51, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, January 4, 2009)

John 1:35-51 ³⁵ The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ 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?" ³⁹ 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. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). ⁴² He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). ⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 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 anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward 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 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! You are the King of Israel!" ⁵⁰ 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." ⁵¹ And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Behold, the Lamb of God! (35-37)

The Lamb of God! For the second time in this first chapter of John's gospel, Jesus is called the Lamb of God. This is an expression that we could never make sense of today without understanding some of the Bible and ancient religion in general. These words, the Lamb of God, are at the center of the whole point of the Scriptures and the Christian religion. I grew up hearing these words every Sunday as part of a worship liturgy, but I did not understand what they meant. Maybe you can relate to that.

We don't live in a world where people kill animals and offer them up to God in order to take away God's anger. From the opening chapters of the Bible, this idea is very important. God instituted it by giving Adam and Eve animal skins in place of fig leaves, which was one of the early hints that blood would have to be shed in order for the world to regain the sweetness that once had filled the air. That story of animal sacrifice was something that all kinds of people seemed to know in some way. That's why so many old religions had something like this. The common ideas in all of these systems were these: 1. There is a realm of the gods beyond our view. 2. The powers there are personal and can be angered. 3. Being at peace with them requires the shedding of blood. These points are correct.

The biblical story of the Lamb of God moved way beyond the first few hints of Genesis when detailed laws of sacrifice were instituted in the days of Moses. It is there, in Exodus and Leviticus, the second and third books of the Bible, that we begin to learn something about the "lamb" part of this expression, "the Lamb of God." When God rescued His people out of slavery in Egypt, the fact that the firstborn sons of the Egyptians died and the Israelites did not die, but lived, had everything to do with the blood of the lamb, and that was according to the command of God. Every year from that point forward, lambs were to be slaughtered and eaten at every Jewish table in the feast that began the biblical Old Testament year, the Passover. There was a point to all this, a point about substitution, about death, and about life. Lambs were also killed as part of a daily sacrifice to God, and for special peace offerings, sin offerings, and other rituals that comprised Old Testament worship.

Though the hints in even the first book of the Bible included things about a lamb that would somehow be a human being, it was in the later writing of the prophet Isaiah that we heard of a man who would come, a man who would be led like a lamb to the slaughter in a death that would somehow come by God's hand, a death of a Substitute for us, a man who would somehow be carrying our sins in His death. As plain as that passage in Isaiah 53 seems to us who live after the death of Jesus, it was not something that people were able to see clearly before the cross. That is why it is so significant when this man, John the Baptist, the forerunner, now for a second time, turns to Jesus of Nazareth and calls Him the Lamb of God. It is at this point that two of John's disciples begin to follow Jesus.

Come, and you will see. (38-39)

When I say that Andrew and his companion followed Jesus, I mean that physically. The question that He asks these two men who are following Him are the first words of Jesus recorded in this gospel: "What are you seeking?" That is a very good question. Imagine His eyes searching your heart. What are you seeking? What were these two men looking for? What is anyone looking for who makes a decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ? Do they want peace with people? Do they want things to work out well in their lives? Do they want to be a part of something that will appear to be successful to their families, friends, and neighbors? If so, they are following the wrong man. But if they want the truth, if they want the Lamb of God, if they want peace with God, if they want their sins forgiven, if they want heaven, and if they are willing to wait for these gifts, then they should follow Jesus, the Lamb of God.

All of this would have made for a very interesting discussion on the meaning of life, but that is not at all what happened there that day. When he asked them "What are you seeking," they replied with another question: "Where are you staying?" This seems odd, but He takes it for what it is, a beginning, and He speaks another loaded phrase that could be taken for nothing: "Come and you will see." This is what they actually do of course, but it is precisely the advice I would like to give to anyone who had even the slightest interest in Christ. Putting it in a different way, in the words of Psalm 34, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" But then they have not been talking about food or drink, but residence. Residence is a fascinating issue. We know that He spent some time in a town called Capernaum around this point, but He was raised in Nazareth, and was born in Bethlehem. But He really came from another place in a way that Adam, Noah, Moses, and Isaiah could never quite claim. Jesus came from heaven. He came from that place where God and His angels live. When He says, "Come, and you will see," if we will follow Him, that is where He will finally lead us, until all of heaven comes down upon this earth and renews this world.

Andrew and Simon, Philip and Nathanael (40-46)

For now these men spent an afternoon with Him somewhere. We read of Andrew leading His brother Simon (later Peter), and then Philip leading Nathanael to Jesus. What shocks us is the certainty of their words. They call Jesus the Messiah, the One of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Again we are thinking of place. Philip has the right person, but He speaks of Nazareth and Joseph, when we might more properly speak of a better Father than Joseph and a better place than Nazareth. We are also surprised by the frank words of Nathanael, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Suddenly Philip is saying the words he heard not too many hours before: "Come and see." And so he does, and what does he find?

An Israelite and the King of Israel (47-49)

Again we are surprised by the enthusiasm of His early reaction to the Messiah. Our Lord demonstrates His knowledge of Nathanael, pointing to something of the man's character or at least his personality, and also a small fact about his earlier encounter with Philip. Nathanael is deeply impressed by this. Now he is the one who has moved beyond Joseph, "You are the Son of God." He may not entirely understand what he is saying. Jesus is the Son of God, but this title was also a way of referring to the expected Messianic King of Israel.

You will see heaven opened. (50-51)

Our Lord receives this as Nathanael's statement of faith. He has told this straight-talking Israelite that he saw him under the fig tree before Philip called him. Just as when Jesus says the words "follow me" in other situations, and people drop their nets and comply, it is now as if Nathanael is overwhelmingly carried along by the man from heaven who is truly the Son of God. Yet Nathanael has actually seen almost nothing yet. There is so much ahead of them all. Jesus assures him that he will see greater things.

He could have said, "You will see tremendous miracles. The blind will receive sight. The dead will be raised. Thousands will be fed from next to nothing in provisions." He could have told him so many more Nathanael-specific things, things that no one would have had any way of knowing. He could have told him what would happen in his (Nathanael's) future life and ministry, where he would go, what he would do, how he would live and die. Instead He speaks to Him of that better place than Nazareth, of heaven and the Messiah. He speaks from one of the many hidden passages about Christ in the Old Testament. He gives a one sentence sermon when He says these words: "You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

In the first book of the Bible, the man Jacob, who God named Israel, had a dream the night before he would meet his wife. He was all alone on his journey at this critical juncture in his life. We read about it in Genesis 28:11-12. "He came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!" Jesus is giving a one sentence sermon on these two verses.

This is what He is saying to Nathanael: "I am Jacob's ladder." Heaven is real. Angels are real. There is a connection between the realm of heaven, the land of God and His angels, and the realm of earth, the land of humanity. I am the connection. He is saying, "You will see this." When you see heaven opened, and you see the inhabitants from the land of God and His angels coming upon the earth through Jesus Christ, then you will have really seen something!" But then, what are you seeking? Do you want to see heaven opened? Come and see!

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. Why might John have repeated his earlier words about Jesus being the Lamb of God?

2. What are some of the unusual features of these interactions between Jesus and some of His disciples?

3. Why does Nathanael end up deciding that Jesus is such an impressive person?

4. How will Jesus fulfill the secret Messianic expectations of Genesis 28:11-12?