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“We Have Found the Messiah”
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and he hurried to the Savior. Christ’s eye read his character and
life history. His impulsive nature, his loving, sympathetic heart, his
ambition and self-confidence, his fall, his repentance, his labors,
and his martyr death—the Savior read it all. He said, “% 7FYou
are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas’ (which is
translated, A Stone).”
“The following day Jesus ... found Philip and said to him, ‘Fol-
low Me.’” Philip obeyed the command, and he also became a worker
for Christ.
Philip called Nathanael, who had been among the crowd when
the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God. As Nathanael
looked at Jesus, he was disappointed. Could this man, carrying the
marks of toil and poverty, be the Messiah? Yet the message of John
had brought conviction to Nathanael’s heart.
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Nathanael’s Secret Prayers Are Heard
When Philip called him, Nathanael had gone alone to a quiet
grove to meditate on the prophecies concerning the Messiah. He
prayed that if the One John had announced was the Deliverer, God
would help him to know this. The Holy Spirit gave him assurance
that God had come to His people. Philip knew that his friend was
searching the prophecies, and while Nathanael was praying under a
fig tree, Philip discovered his refuge. They had often prayed together
in this secluded spot, hidden by the foliage.
Philip’s message, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the
law, and also the prophets, wrote,” seemed to Nathanael to be a direct
answer to his prayer. But Philip added, “Jesus of Nazareth, the son
of Joseph.” Prejudice arose in Nathanael’s heart, and he exclaimed,
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to
Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no
guile!” In surprise, Nathanael exclaimed, “How do You know me?”
Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, when you were under
the fig tree, I saw you.”
It was enough. The divine Spirit that had brought assurance to
Nathanael in his solitary prayer under the fig tree spoke to him in
the words of Jesus. Nathanael had come to Christ with an honest