GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT US

 

God knows everything about us

 

 

 

Let me just quote the passage in the book of John so we can get some background on the Person of Jesus Christ.

 

(43) "The day following Je'sus would go forth into Gal'i - lee and findeth Phil'ip, and saith unto him, FOLLOW ME. (44) Now Phil'ip was of Beth - sa'i - da, the city of Andrew and Pe'ter. (45) Phil'ip findeth Na - than'a - el, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of whom Mo'ses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Je'sus of Naz'a - reth, the son of Jo'seph. (46) And Na - than'a - el said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Naz'a - reth? Phil'ip saith saith unto him, Come and see. (47) Je'sus saw Na - than'a - el coming to Him, and saith of Him, Behold an Is'ra - el - ite indeed in whom is no guile! (48) Na - than'a - el saith unto Him, Whence knowest Thou me? Je'sus answered and said unto him, Before that Phil'ip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. (49) Na - than'a - el answered and saith unto Him, Rab'bi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Is'ra - el. (50) Je'sus 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 43 - 51.

 

At this point Philip and Nathanael received a call to come to Jesus Christ. Philip was called immediately to the Son of God unlike Andrew who was introduced to Jesus Christ. Even Peter was invited by his brother. God has various methods of bringing His chosen ones home to Himself. Here is the key in this particular context --- Jesus found Philip. Jesus Christ sought us and found us before we made any inquiries after Him. I believe God lives outside of time and sees the future so of course He is going to call who He desires to come to Him. I think much of the church takes this biblical precept to far because what certain sectors of the body of Christ are saying is we can not forsake our salvation.

 

I used to believe this but was in for the surprise of my life in the year 2009. God figuratively shook me and explained that this unfortunate reality is possibly. I actually said, "Lord I am fine in what I believe." God had other plans for me because mysterious testimonies would just pop up on my computer. They said things like, "I knew the Lord and just forgot about Him and ended up in hell." They were resuscitated back to life in their physical body so all I can say is thank God He showed mercy on them. Mysterious theological debates would pop up on my computer and I started to see biblical truths I never knew were in the Bible. Very few Christians rightly divide this biblical subject.

 

The name Philip is of Greek origin and was a gentile name but Jesus Christ never changed it to another name. He was called to serve God the very next day. We should not desire to lose a day for our Lord but we are human and this is a very high standard. Philip became a disciple for Jesus Christ with two words, "Follow Me." Think about this, Philip, Andrew and Peter were from Bethsaida which was a very wicked place. This is a picture of our salvation experience with Jesus Christ.

 

Philip was so excited that he brought Nathanael to Jesus Christ by quoting the Old Testament (the words of Moses penned by the Holy Spirit). If we desire to win someone to the Son of God quoting the Bible in good taste with common sense is very effective to win a soul for Jesus Christ. Nathanael asked, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" This just goes to show us that when we present the gospel we do have to dot our "Is" and cross our "Ts." If we do not we will confuse the other person. Philip could not answer the question but then he did the wisest thing by pointing him to Jesus Christ. He said come and see. There is something very special about us showing the other person Jesus Christ Himself.

 

It is interesting to me that if we were to read all the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) every time the term, "Jesus of Nazareth" is used by a person or group incredible hostility, guile and unrighteous anger came out of the heart. I know we sometimes get very excited because we know Jesus Christ in a personal way but if we are not accurate in what we are saying problems will be inevitable because false theology is not truth.

 

Jesus saw Nathanael coming, some things were said but in the end the Son of God knew his heart was right. Jesus commended him for his integrity. The Son of man knew he was a sincere follower of Him because God sees our heart.

 

His profession was his practice. He was clean on the inside and as a result he had no guile towards God and people. Most of the rest of this passage was an interaction between Nathanael and Jesus. Notice Jesus did not say Nathanael had no guilt. He said he had no guile. When we have no guile in our heart our repentance is very sincere before God.

 

Nathanael was surprised because he was honest. Jesus praised him, Nathanael was surprised he was a sincere man. Take comfort that God knows everything about us so is it not common sense to covet to know Him.

 

Jesus Christ knew Philip before he came to Jesus Christ. The Son of God has knowledge of us before we know Him. For example the eye of God saw Nathanael under the fig tree and Jesus Christ found this man acceptable. We as humans go through a touch and go process with other people because we only see a small portion of the individual we are dealing with on the recipient end because we have limited understanding. The fig tree denotes a quiet spirit and in this context communion with God. This is why God created us so that is the path we need to pursue with Jesus Christ. Verse 49 says Nathanael was so convicted and acknowledged Jesus Christ is the Messiah with conviction so his doubt is completely thrown out and then he became a disciple of Jesus Christ. By calling Him Rabbi he confesses His divine nature. 

 

At this point Jesus Christ raises the hopes and expectations of Nathanael to bring him to the next level of service and communion to God through Him. The Son of God acknowledges the ready faith of Nathanael. The heart of this man was prepared by the Holy Spirit beforehand so this open door in the soul of Nathanael was able to have faith in God very fast in terms of time.

 

In verse 50 Jesus says, ... "Thou shalt see greater things than these." He was referring to His miracles and resurrection. God showing us greater things in a process in our walk with Jesus Christ. By the time God is in process of doing this for us as obedient disciples we will have very little doubt in God through His Son Jesus Christ in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. I did not say God will not shake our faith on purpose for His reasons but this is also part of the process. Our character needs to be tested in our present tense salvation.

 

Jesus then proceeds to explain to Nathanael he will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. This did happen after the resurrection and during the ascension but notice Jesus in this context is referring to Himself as the Son of Man. People would usually refer to Jesus as Lord or Master but the Son of God was at this point referring to Himself as the Son of Man. Great signs but from a very humble God.

 

If you do not know this Great God who has no pride in Him then you may desire to accept Jesus in your heart as personal Savior and Lord by repenting of all your sins and inviting the Son of God into your life. 

 

If you just made that all important eternal decision then determine in your heart that you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I can not promise you that life will not get really tough but with the Son of God in our hearts, a willing spirit all things will work together for good because we love God and are called according to His purpose. Once again this is a decision on our part so we need to make the right Godly choices.

 

God bless you,

Bob D.