Notes of an Address on John 1:1-5, 14:18, 29:51.
IF there is one thing more than another that is wanted today, it is men and women, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, who are seeking simply quietly, without any pretension to follow the Lord in the way, wherein He has been pleased to place them.
The earlier verses of the chapter bring before us so very beautifully the greatness the worthiness, of the Person whom you and I are called upon and honored to follow. We see the majesty and the glory of His Person as the One who is God, who is the perfect expression of all that God is.
Then we have Him as the One who came into this world: not exactly “was made flesh,” but who in the infinite grace of His heart “became flesh.” In this world of contrariety and opposition, we find Him very God, yet very Man, that He might be the perfect expression amongst men of all that God is. We want to note that carefully. The One who is very God becoming very Man was in this world, where every man was doing that which was right in his own eyes, the perfect expression of all that God is. You and I are called upon to follow Him, and in measure as we are enabled to do so, we will be the expression in this world, (and it is just the same world today as it was when it crucified the Lord of glory) of what Christ was when He was here, and that is the expression of God.
Then we find how there were those who were attracted to Him. Here He was this lowly, heavenly-Stranger, who had come into the world, the like of whom had never been in the world before; and He was going to be the point of attraction, to gather others around Himself, and become their Center. He was here a Man, a lowly Man, a real Man, sin apart, and yet there was that glory which could not be hid, so that those whose eyes were opened, who were numbered amongst the few spoken of in verse 12, who received Him and became the children of God, could say we beheld His glory.” They saw in that lowly Man the complete expression of all that God is.
In the 18th verse we have a further statement of His glory. “No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” Note that it is not the only begotten Son who “was” —we sometimes speak of Him as the One who left the Father’s bosom, that is not strictly accurate; the only begotten Son who “is” in the bosom of the Father. There never was a moment when He, as the Son, was not in the Father’s bosom. The babe in Bethlehem’s manger was the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father; the lowly Stranger at Sychar’s well was the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father; and He who is the only begotten Son came down here to disclose all the secrets of that bosom to you and to me. Is it not wonderful? And that is the One who calls upon us this afternoon saying “follow Me.” God help us to do so!
Having got the testimony of the apostle as to who He is, we read in verse 29 of the object of His mission into the world, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto Him, and saith. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” His work is here presented in its most comprehensive character. Not simply the One who has taken away our sins — blessed be His name. He has done that―but the One who in a day yet to come, on the ground of redemption, is going to take away “the sin of the world.” Then we have the testimony of the Baptist, that “this is the Son of God.” So that the One whom we are called upon to follow is the One who was in the beginning with God; who became flesh; in whom the glory of God is set forth; by whom all the love of God is revealed; by whom the great work of atonement has been accomplished; who is yet going to clear this universe of every trace of sin and bring in something altogether new, where everything will be in perfect accord with the mind and the heart of God, where the whole scene will be vocal with His praise, and where God Himself shall be all in all; that is the One, and no less than that, who asks us to follow Him.
But what is so beautiful is that there were those who apart from His direct call to follow Him, were attracted to Him. He became the Center around whom were gathered those whose affections were captured by Him. We find in the close of the 35th verse, “John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He walked He saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’”
I wonder, my dear fellow Christians, if you and I know something of the joy of looking upon Jesus as He walked. We shall never really follow the Lord until we know what it is to look upon Him as He walked, O what a walk was His! Every thought, every action, every word, every step of that walk, from the moment He came into the world, until that moment that He left it, brought joy, delight, satisfaction, and Pleasure to the heart of God, so that once and again He opened the heavens over Him, and said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I have found My delight.” Even in Isaiah He called attention to Him saying, “Behold my Servant whom I uphold; Mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth.” At the end of His pathway our precious Lord could lift His eyes to heaven, and say to His Father, “I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.”
Let me urge every one of you whether old or young to look and look again upon Jesus as He walked. Read the Gospels and read them again and again. It would help us in a great many ways if we did this, in our home life, in our business life, and in our assembly life too. Don’t you see? The more we look upon Jesus as He walked, the more, though unconsciously to ourselves, shall we become like Him, and thus the more joy we bring to the heart of God, and the greater glory will be brought to the name of our Lord.
When John exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God,” his soul was simply lost in the delightful contemplation of that all-glorious Person, he was so to speak, thinking aloud — “Look at Him! —Behold the Lamb of God!” What was the result? This, that his two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Following Jesus, they left John. The Spirit of God does not emphasize the fact that they left John, but He does emphasize the fact that they followed Jesus.
They were attracted by Him though up to that moment they had not heard His voice. He had not said a word to them, they had simply been drawn to Him by the testimony of their master, John. There was that about Jesus which so filled the vision of their souls and so won their hearts, that John was left behind, and it was Jesus, and JESUS only. Then seeking to draw them out a little, He turned and said. “What seek ye?” I dare say you have noticed in this gospel that the first time we hear the Lord Jesus speaking in incarnation He asked “What seek ye?” And His first word after His resurrection was “Whom seek ye?”
If we want to follow Jesus, we must realize firstly how great a Person He is, and how well worthy to be followed. The second thing is, we want to look upon Jesus as He walked, and in that way we shall become increasingly like Him. The third thing is, we want to know Him, and if we want to know the Lord Jesus we must live with Him. We know Him as the One who has put our sins away, but to know Himself is something more; and let me repeat it, to know Him we have got to live with Him. These two disciples followed Him to where He lived, and they abode with Him that day for it was about the tenth hour.
Inside that closed door what wonderful things must have fallen from His lips upon their ears; and not only upon their ears but right down into their hearts! The result was that their feet were set in motion, and this is what will happen to everyone in like circumstances. We are not told that He asked Andrew to do it, but off he went and he got hold of his brother Simon and said to him. “We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.”
Now see what we have got — here was the small beginning of what was to form the nucleus of the great Christian company yet to be — Andrew and his brother disciple whose name is not given to us, only two. Andrew went and got Simon, that was three. Not a very imposing number. By and by we find the Lord Jesus goes forth, and, I take it, these three disciples with Him, and He finds Philip, and says. “Follow Me.”
I want you to notice this; to my mind it is most delightful. We hear a great deal today about the smallness of numbers, and we talk about being poor and feeble, and about the great weakness until we sometimes almost wonder whether all Christians are vanishing away. Now do not let us run away with the idea that numbers are necessarily a manifestation of power, or the evidence of strength and that the work of God is prospering. Only three men! I suppose nobody would trouble to take any notice of them, but do not forget there were three men — and the Son of God. Would you rather form part of three with the Son of God, or be part of three hundred without the Son of God? To ask the question is to answer it.
Why should the Lord say to Philip, “follow Me.” Supposing a distinguished Rabbi had come along and said to Philip, “follow me.” I do not suppose Philip would have taken any notice. But here comes One, whom Philip, as far as we know, had never heard about up to that moment. He simply utters these two words “follow Me,” and what happened? A response was produced, and Philip followed Him. Now we have, Andrew, his brother disciple, Simon and Philip, the number is growing! Philip was so charmed with His company, that we are told, “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.”
Observe, the Lord had stirred the affections of these men to their very depths, so that they wanted everybody else to know Him. I think we can see the joy in their faces as they go saying one to another, “We have found Him, we have found Jesus, and we want you to find Him too.” That is how the work of God is going to be carried out. It is all very good to have a lot of conversions at meetings — and we have to hang our heads as we own how few they are — but I tell you how the Church of God is being formed, and how God’s purpose is going to be fulfilled: —by you and I just having our heart filled with Christ, and with a shining face and heart bubbling over with enthusiasm saying to the men and women with whom we work, “We have found Jesus, and He is the most wonderful Saviour, we wish you knew Him.”
Thus Nathanael was brought to Jesus, and Jesus gave a fine testimony to him. So now we have got Andrew, his brother disciple, Simon, Philip, and Nathanael, they were just five in number, which I suppose was all indication of human weakness. They were still an insignificant little company, of a sort that nobody would be likely to notice.
The synagogue worshippers would look down upon them — poor unknown men, why pay any attention to them?
But they were five men who had the Son of God as their Center as their Object, as the One who had gained their hearts and affections, and to whom He was everything: five men who had set out on this grand adventure of following the Lord. They were divinely taught men, and they learned that the One of whom they had first heard as the Lamb of God, was the King of Israel, that the King of Israel was the Son of God, that the Son of God was the Son of Man, who is going to have universal dominion in the day of His glory.
What do you think of Christ my dear brethren? That is a question not only to be asked in gospel meetings. I know what you are saying, “There is nobody like Him.” You are saying like the Psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.” Tell me, is He worthy to be followed? He is! If He is worthy to be followed, then let me close with the very practical question, “Are you and I going to follow Him?”
That is the question! My brethren, you and I have been left here and we have had conferred upon us the priceless privilege of following the Lord. That is a privilege that will not be ours when we get to glory; it is a privilege and Honor which, thank God, is ours today. The Lord is coming quickly: our day of privilege and opportunity will soon be over. The Lord in His grace direct our hearts to Himself, and make Himself so unspeakably precious to each one of us that we shall by His grace simply and whole-heartedly follow Him until we see Him in His glory.
W. Bramwell Dick.