Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/484

 of the  Messias. Jesus said  to  him:  “Follow  Me!”  Now  Philip had a friend  named  Nathanael,  an  upright,  God-fearing  man. Philip hastened  to  him  and  told  him:  “We  have  found  Him  of whom  Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  did  write,  Jesus  of Nazareth.”  But  Nathanael  said  to  him:  “Can  anything  good  come from Nazareth?”  Philip  answered:  “Come  and  see.”

When Jesus  saw  Nathanael  coming,  He  said:  “Behold  an  Israelite indeed,  in  whom  there  is  no  guile.”  Nathanael  asked  in surprise :  “Whence  knowest  Thou  me?”  Jesus  answered  and  said to Him: “Before  that  Philip  called  thee,  when  thou  wast  under the fig-tree,  I saw  thee.”

Then Nathanael,  filled  with  wonder  and  respect,  cried  out: “Rabbi, Thou  art  the  Son  of  God :  Thou  art  the  King  of  Israel.” Jesus spoke  to  him:  “Because  I said  to  thee:  'I  saw  thee  under the fig-tree,’  thou  believest;  greater  things  than  these  shalt  thou see. Amen, Amen,  I say  unto  you,  you  shall  see  the  heaven opened, and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon the Son  of  Man.”

John's testimony  of  Jesus. 1. John testifies  to  the  fact  that  our Lord  will  give  Himself  as  a sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world, i.  e.  of  all  men;  for  he  calls  Him  'the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away the  sins  of  the  world’. The words  of  John  further  imply  that  our  Lord