THE KING’S BUSINESS
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did not come from the badness of his heart, but from his ignorance of the facts. This is true of not a little of the skepticism of our own day; but we should note well Nathanael’s sincerity, humility and honest desire to know the truth. In these respects he was quite unlike the ordinary skeptic of today. When Philip bade him “Come and see” he went, he saw, he heard, and he believed. He was entirely different from many professedly honest skeptics today; they say, “I cannot believe,” but when you say, “Come and see; let me make you acquainted with Jesus, and then you can judge for yourself,” they won’t come. They are not honest skeptics like Nathanael. They do not wish to believe. Nathanael’s skepticism ended in hearty faith. All honest skepticism ends that way. Vs. 47-49. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in zvhom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto Him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto (omit, “ and saith unto”) him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the (omit, “the”) King of Israel.” These are remarkable words of commendation which Jesus speaks of Nathanael. He tells the bystanders as He sees him coming and as He reads his heart, “Here is one who answers to the true character of an Israelite” ; in other words," He says, “He ?s a true child of the one who had power with God” (cf. Gen. 32:28), and He adds that there was no deceit in him; he was absolutely frank, simple and sincere. There is no reason to suppose that Jesus had any previous acquaintance with Nathanael, but He read men’s hearts and knew their inmost souls. The Psalmist had spoken
of the group of the disciples. Moses wrote of the coming Messiah in the law by types and also by direct and explicit prediction (Deut. 18:15-19 cf. Acts 3 :22, 26; 7:37). The prophets wrote of Him in very many very definite predictions. Christ is the key to all the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments. At a later date Peter said that all the prophets gave witness to Him (Acts 10:43). Nathanael was amazed at the suggestion that the Christ should come out of Nazareth, or that any good thing should come out of a city so obscure. There is no necessary implication in Nathanael’s words that Nazareth was a peculiarly wicked place, his words merely indicate that it was an obscure place. It was also a neighboring village to his own, and consequently he would not be likely to regard it with favor. However, the inhabitants of Nazareth were bad enough, they were willing to murder the Lord when He offended them (Luke 4:29, 30), but they were not essentially different in this from other people. The whole of Galilee was despised by the Jews of Judea : our Lord’s home was in a despised town, in a despised province, of a despised people. Nathanael was a doubter, and so we see a good man can be for a time a skeptic; but he was an honest doubter, and so we see his doubt was of no long continuance. Philip’s reply to him “contains the essence of the true solution for religious doubts,” Come and see. It states “the first principle of Christian apologetics.” Any one who will put Christ and Christianity to the practical test of personal experiment will soon lose his unbelief. Better than to argue with people about the Lord Jesus is to get them to come right to Him and get acquainted with Him for themselves. Doubt will not long stand against personal acquaintance with Jesus. Nathanael’s skepticism
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