Let us bow our hearts before the Lord and ask him to bless the reading and the preaching of his word. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we pray indeed that we may have great delight in your word. Fill us with joy and rejoicing as we hear your word. May we see, indeed, the glory of Jesus. And may it have a great effect on us in our lives. Father, work in our hearts now and in our minds that we would be able to listen, that we would hear you speaking, even as you speak through one who is very like us, your servant. Grant all of us your grace to be blessed in the hearing of your word. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. This morning for our scripture reading, we'll read John 1, 35 to 51, which is also our text. And yeah, that's a pretty long text. So we're going to deal with it a little bit different than normally. So first of all, the gospel of John, chapter one, starting verse 35. Let us give our attention to the reading of God's holy inspired word. Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing him following, said to them, what do you seek? They said to him, rabbi, which is to say when translated teacher, where are you staying? He said to them, come and see. They came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day. Now it was about the 10th hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which is translated the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said, you are Simon, the son of Jonah, you shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone. Verse 43, the following day, Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and said to him, follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit. Nathanael said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said to him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open. and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Let's also read a few verses from Matthew 4. We'll read 18 through 22 there. Matthew 4, 18 through 22. Continuing on in the reading of God's Word. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. May the Lord bless reading in the proclamation of his word to us this morning. Dear brothers and sisters, beloved congregation, last Sunday we heard about the glory of Jesus in the witness of John the Baptist, especially how that witness was his emphatic declaration that this is the Son of God. And now this morning we go on And we see how John the Baptist is also an instrument for the calling of the first disciples of Jesus. And how in the context of calling his first disciples, Jesus declares, just like we read, that he is the Son of Man. And we will see how that also speaks of the glory of Jesus. Our theme is the glory of Jesus is shown in the calling of his first disciples. Pretty simple. Now, we read about another account of this, calling of the first disciples, in Matthew chapter 4. And yeah, it seems so very different from our text, doesn't it? And of course, many of you can well imagine this and understand this, that it's this kind of thing that Bible critics easily use to give examples of so-called mistakes in the Bible. Look at how different they are. So, the Bible isn't reliable. That's what they say. But, brothers and sisters, we should understand, and this is why I wanted us to read that, that this calling in Matthew 4, it's about a year after what took place in our text, in John chapter 1. So you see, here in John, our text, is the beginning. We could even say a foundation for this calling that we read in Matthew 4. so that in Matthew chapter four now they become more regular in being with Jesus and in being trained as Jesus called them to be fishers of men so now they would give up their regular vocations of fishermen and be fishers of men and so on and so you see here in our text is really the very beginning the early stages and again I pray that in this we do see the glory of Jesus in calling these first disciples. Our first point is, we see two disciples of John the Baptist become disciples of Jesus. Well, here we see how John the Baptist was truly the one to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus. Earlier, in verse 29, John had declared, and he declared this to people in general, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." And now on our text, well, we read, again, the next day John stood with two of his disciples. We just can't help notice how John, by the Holy Spirit, makes reference to the next day. This takes place several times here in John 1, and going on into John 2 as well. And I struggle to find the reason for this, for this very specific repeated mention of the next day. Or, you know, the following day, it says sometimes. And from my studies, all we can conclude is this, that John, by the Holy Spirit, wants to specify that these events happened in succession. You know, one after the other. So there was no long period of time between. And that's important because, you see, our text is closely connected to that earlier passage that starts especially in verse 29. So, you see, now John is with two of his disciples. We quickly learn that one was Andrew and the other one isn't named. There are some who think it might have been Thomas. It's most common to conclude that the other one was John the Gospel writer. And it is common in the Gospel of John that when John refers to himself, he does not mention himself by name. In any case, John the Baptist is with these two disciples of his. They're standing there together. And verse 36 says, John was looking at Jesus as he walked. And he said, behold, the lamb of God. Well, you know, we might wonder why he just said that it's a little bit less than what he said earlier in verse 29. You know, it doesn't include who takes away the sin of the world, but we don't have to stumble over that brothers and sisters. Because in that culture at that time, it was common. It's not so common with us, probably because we have a very low attention span. But it was common that once, you know, the whole was said, then you could just say a part and those who heard it would very naturally be thinking of the whole. So you could say one part of a psalm and they would think of the whole psalm. That kind of thing. So it's not of great importance that John didn't include who takes away the sin of the world in the second declaration of behold the Lamb of God. But then notice in verse 37 it says the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. They heard. We might even want to conclude this time they heard it. And if you think, wow, you're really focusing on something unimportant, if you look down at verse 40, that same thing is repeated. It says, one of the two who heard John speak. So this is rather relevant here. They heard it. But you see earlier in verse 29, they most certainly also heard it there. And yet we might want to say they heard, but they didn't really hear. Now, the next day, they really heard. They heard John speak. Behold, look, the Lamb of God. It was like John the Baptist was saying to his followers, I'm not the one. Look at him. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And in hearing this, it says they, these two disciples of John, They follow Jesus. But yeah, that wasn't a loss for John the Baptist. It wasn't like, oh, now he has lost two followers. What a bummer. Instead, now John sees the fruit of his ministry, right? He has prepared these two to follow Jesus. That was John the Baptist's calling, right? That's why he said, for example, in chapter 1 verse 30, Jesus is preferred before me. You heard about that already. And later, in John chapter 3 verse 30, John the Baptist says he, that is Jesus, must increase, I must decrease. So his calling was to do exactly what now he saw happening, these two disciples going to follow Jesus. So we read on, as they are following Jesus, verse 38 says, then Jesus turned and seeing them following, said to them, what do you seek? Well, first of all, when it says Jesus turned, that shows a very specific effort towards them. And also, especially, it says, seeing them following. That's used to say something very pointed, that's very focused. Seeing. He observed this in a pointed way. And one English translation says it this way. It translates it this way. And it's not really a translation, but it is in the English Bible. Having fixed his eyes upon them while they were following. And it does get at the import of this, having fixed his eyes upon them as they were following. And the point is, this is not just, you know, a casual turning and seeing them. And so also, what Jesus said is not just a casual thing. It's very specific. It's very pointed. When Jesus says, what do you seek? You notice Jesus didn't say, whom do you seek? He asks, what do you seek? The NIV translation says, what do you want? And that really is the meaning of this. And brothers and sisters, if we think about this, well, how different this is from the typical and very common so-called evangelism of today. If we want followers, you know, those who will accept Jesus, we shake hands, we give a hug, we make it as easy as possible. We don't question too much. Don't make hassles. Don't question motives. It's basically, just don't lose the first two. But Jesus, Yeah, this also is His glory. Jesus wants an expression of motive from any who would follow Him. What are you seeking and following Jesus? What do you want in life? And that kind of thing. I just couldn't help thinking this, and maybe you are, so I'm going to say it. You know, given the context, we could wish and we almost would expect to then read that these two would say, well, we have come to see that you are the Lamb of God who can take away our sins. But that's not what they said. Instead, their answer in verse 38 is, Rabbi, where are you staying? Now, by calling him rabbi, they did address Jesus with respect and honor. That word rabbi, it literally is great one. And it was a title used to address a teacher, especially a teacher that speaks of spiritual truths. And that's why the new King James has which is to say, when translated, teacher. The Old King James says, which is to say, being interpreted, master. And I wondered about this bracketed insertion here, but these are both okay translations. You see, rabbi is Aramaic, so John, by the Holy Spirit, just simply shows the meaning in the Greek, and he does that quite often. Also, when we later get to this thing of Cephas and so on. So it's just a matter of explaining in Greek what is said in Aramaic by a rabbi. But you see, the point is, these desire to be taught. They want to learn. And in asking, where are you staying? In that culture, it was to hope that you would be invited. So it's not just, you know, to see where he's staying, but it's to spend time to learn from the master, the teacher, the rabbi. And it's, it's, sometimes it's so simple it doesn't really, you know, grip us. But in verse 39, you know, Jesus obliges them and simply says, come and see. And we simply read, and they came and saw. But then it also says, they remained with him that day. And by the Holy Spirit, John also adds, now was about the 10th hour. Well, there is some question about what time that actually is. And I'm not going to go into all the options. I don't know that we need to do that. But there are different ways to understand what the 10th hour is. It does seem best to understand this as 10 a.m., so the 10th hour being from, you know, midnight. But maybe the more important question is this, why is this added that it was the 10th hour? Well, you see it is connected with them staying with Jesus that day, right? That means that from 10 a.m. they had the whole day. where they had this teaching from Jesus. And that leads us to our second point. Our second point is, one of these disciples, Andrew, found his own brother and brought him to Jesus. In verse 40, if you look at it, it says, one of the two who heard John speak, there you have it again, who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. So you see, it's very important. They had spent that day with Jesus, and it was in the context of also what they heard John speak that here's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world so you see it was out of this teaching of that day in verse 41 he found he first found his own brother Simon and said to him we have found the Messiah well in case you read it or you maybe even ask it and I hope you're getting sharp enough to think about these kinds of things But, you know, when it says he first found his own brother and so on, I don't want to get into the technical matter of what that first means, that word first there, or what it doesn't mean. There's all kinds of things said about that, but it's a technical matter, and it actually is a textual difference whether it is an adverb or an adjective, and that would imply all kinds of other things about what it means that first. So as I said, I don't find it very helpful to get into that. The important thing is this, brothers and sisters, that Andrew, in learning from the teaching that he had received, he had a heart to go find his own brother Simon and to tell him, we have found the Messiah. But that's not all he did. He didn't just tell him and then leave him. In verse 42, it says, he brought him to Jesus. It's very, very clear. Andrew had a taste of the heavenly gift of Jesus, the Messiah. And this gave him the desire to go find his brother and also to bring his brother to Jesus. And you know, we know this from other scriptures, that at this very early stage, Andrew, and also the other disciples, who would become apostles, and even while they were apostles, they had a very small understanding of what it was that this is the Messiah. In fact, in many ways, they had a misunderstanding of it, and I don't want to go into all of those details. But just understand that when they say this, And even in their confession, it doesn't mean that they understand it all, or that they even understand it rightly. But at the same time, here is a good beginning, which in time would lead to more and a better understanding. So, in verse 42, it says, when Jesus looked at him, he said, Now here too, it's kind of difficult to explain this looked at him. But it's, you know, what we would maybe say looking him over. This really is about the glory of Jesus to look this way. So that Jesus would then say to him and realize this is without the two of them ever having met. You know, he hadn't been introduced and this kind of thing. And yet Jesus said, you are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated a stone. Now this is not just Jesus changing his name or, you know, giving him a new name. Rather in essence, Jesus is saying, now you are this person and I will make you into this person. Cephas is Aramaic for the Greek name Peter. And Peter means rock, petros, rock. But oh, I pray we see the glory of Jesus here, that he has the power to change a person, to change you and to change me, to change our loved ones, from being what we are. And you know that Peter, as Simon, well, he had been so excitable, so changing, so impetuous, you know, just talking off the cuff. And he would be changed from that to being solid, like a rock. So that later, Peter, like we read in John chapter 6, and we referred to this already before, that Simon answered Jesus and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have, just listen to this, we have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. In Matthew 16 verse 18, a well-known passage, often misunderstood, Jesus said, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church. And of course, the rock isn't Peter. The rock is what Peter confessed when he there said to, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. So you see, in all of this, we see Jesus and the power of the word. in Jesus, the power of life and light, full of grace and truth. Well, before we go on to our next point, we might want to ask, how do we bring others to Jesus? You know, not just tell them, but bring them. How do we do that? Well, in short, we bring them to the Word. He is the Word. We bring them to that Word. Dear brothers and sisters, if the light and the glory of Jesus is truly known in us, then we will almost naturally You know, no one had to tell Andrew to go and find his brother. It was, if you will, a natural thing because of what he came to taste and see. And so also, we will have a heart to bring others to the light, to the word. Yeah, as the Lord gives us opportunity. Well, then let's go on. Our third point is Jesus found Philip and Philip found Nathanael. So, you see, now there are two followers or disciples of Jesus, Andrew and Peter. And in 43 and 44, we're told that Jesus found the next one. Found them in the same town or at the same town where Andrew and Peter were from. Now, there may be a lot of conclusions about this, how this came about, but we're not told. You know, whether they had acquaintance with each other, none of this is told to us, so it's best that we not try to speculate and imagine any of this. But it simply says Jesus found Philip. And there too, it's pretty simple. Jesus simply said to him, follow me. And we have every reason to conclude that Philip obeyed this command. It is a command. So he became another disciple of Jesus. As a bit of an aside, but it is interesting to see that of all the apostles, only Andrew and Philip have Greek names. And they were of the very first disciples Jesus called. And later in John 12, in fact, we read how Greeks wanted to see Jesus. And so they came to Philip. And they said, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And then Philip told Andrew, and we read how the two of them, it says, told Jesus. We also read about this same Philip in John 14, where it says in verses eight to nine, Jesus, sorry, Philip said to him, that is to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Well, you see here in our text, yeah, Philip is a disciple. He had been with Jesus. And a disciple means, you know, they're learners, they're followers. They live under him. But they also had to learn more. But again, there was a good beginning. And we also see that good beginning because if you look at verse 45, Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Well, literally that last part, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph, literally the word order is Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth. It's kind of clumsy in English, so I assume that's why they switched it around in English. But you see that word order in the original is important because it seems that what got Nathanael's attention was this term Nazareth, the last word he would have heard. We see it from his reaction when in verse 46 he says, can anything good come out of Nazareth? So it was as if Nathanael kind of heard two things. First he heard Messiah and then he heard Nazareth. See, the one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, that was Messiah. He would right away identify that. And the idea that the Messiah would come out of Nazareth, the last word that he would have heard, well, it just seemed impossible, like a contradiction. You know, no prophet in the Old Testament had said he would come out of Nazareth. And maybe even more noteworthy, is the way Philip responds. So Nathaniel says, can anything good come from Nazareth? And Philip says, come and see. He makes no argument. He doesn't set out to say, you know, I had this experience and blah, blah, blah. He just says, come and see. It's like if you come with me and you meet him, you'll see. As if Philip knows that the word and the glory that is Jesus, he will speak for himself. Philip has experienced this. So in verse 47, they're on their way. And it says, Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. and then jesus said something it says says something of him or about him here is a true israelite in whom is no deceit well we properly wonder why would jesus say this about no deceit and about a true israelite well given the whole context and especially also what we see later in verse fifty one which we'll look at in our fourth point we have to realize that in saying this jesus is thinking of the covenant father jacob you remember how jacob was a deceiver in a whole lot of ways but especially in deceiving his father isaac so that he would get the blessing that was to be for the firstborn i'm sure you know that story and in genesis twenty seven verse thirty five Isaac said to Esau, your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing. Yeah, this is the Jacob who God changed to and made him Israel. Changed his name because he became a different person. But here in Nathanael, Jesus saw a covenant member, an Israelite, a member of the church, who was true and in whom was no deceit and you notice this immediately prompted Nathanael to respond how do you know me verse 48 how do you know me here again we see the glory of Jesus to know the heart of man as Jesus answered and said before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you Nathanael has shown this awesome reality that when he was sitting there under the fig tree in his, you know, inner thought, in his devotion, if you will, then Jesus was there. And Jesus sees into the secret places. You know, man in unbelief thinks, oh, no one sees here. But Jesus does. And he saw, he saw Philip there, under that, or Nathanael there, under the fig tree. And yeah, it was this reality. Nathanael, he came to see, and he came to confess. Verse 49, just in this, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. See, it was Jesus' supernatural knowledge. When we say supernatural, it means above the what is natural. It is a knowledge that only God has. And because of it, Nathanael knew, here indeed was the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel. Last Sunday we read Psalm 2, and there, if you want to make a note of it, there the connection of Messiah with the Son of God and the King, it's very clear there. And it's really also rather clear in what we read this morning earlier in Psalm 110. So here's another disciple who came to believe, who came to follow, who came to learn from Jesus. By the way, Nathanael is also called Bartholomew in other Gospels and in Acts. So Bartholomew simply means kind of son of Tholomew, kind of like Barjona is son of Jonah. So Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person. It's just that Nathanael was a son of this other fellow. But then in verse 50, Jesus said to him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. Well, Nathanael, he too had but a very small beginning, very small beginning of understanding. But it was a good beginning. He did believe. And you see, it's to that belief that Jesus promises he will see greater things. Now, let's go on and learn about that in our final point, in the fourth point. Jesus promises greater things in being the Son of Man. Well, seeing greater things, it has to do with stronger proofs of Jesus being the Messiah. These would show the glory of Jesus. in his teaching, in his miracles, and later on in his resurrection, and even in his ascension. And all of that is included in what Jesus said in verse 51. Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. In that verse, brothers and sisters, is really the summary of the entire life of Jesus, of His whole ministry on earth. And it very obviously is from the Old Testament revelation, which God gave to Jacob in Genesis chapter 28. I'm sure many or probably all of you know this story in Genesis 28, how God sent Jacob a dream, a revelation. Of it says, A ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven, and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." And you read there how Jacob heard the voice of God, giving the covenant promise to him, and so on. But notice the order. Both of them use the same order, angels ascending and descending. You know, if we had a trivia, I don't really like Bible trivia, But if we had a question thing and it was, are the angels ascending or descending or descending and ascending? We would very quickly say, well, it's descending. They have to come down first in order to ascend, right? Both of these places, Genesis 28 and here in our text, it has ascending and descending, going up and coming down. Now, in John 3, verse 13, Jesus says this. John 3.13 No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. See it? The only way angels would be ascending, going up, is if the Son of Man at first descended, come down from heaven. Obviously, Jesus is the fulfillment of this ladder. Brothers and sisters, here is the glory of Jesus. In Jesus, heaven is open to earth. In Jesus, the link between heaven and earth is restored. We heard about this some time ago now from Isaiah 64. Oh that you would tear open heaven and come down. Remember that? And you notice in our text Jesus says most assuredly. That is literally Amen, Amen. We heard about this in the Lord's Prayer. Why we say Amen? Sometimes it's translated. I think the old King James says verily, verily. The point is, it is that which God will most surely bring about. That's why Jesus said, Amen, Amen. Most certainly, most assuredly. But even more. Listen to this, brothers and sisters. Even more than that. In verse 50, we read, you will see greater things. That you is in the singular. In verse 51, it says, Jesus said to him, that's to Nathanael. But then, Jesus says, I say to you. And the you is plural. Jesus says, this is for all who would follow Jesus. and who would believe in Him. They, you and I, all who follow Him, will see greater things. That heaven is restored to earth through Jesus, who's the Son of Man. It's really a stark contrast. It's so remarkable how after so many kept confessing Jesus as the Son of God, now Jesus declares himself to also be the Son of Man. And if we think about it, wouldn't the term Son of God be so much more applicable for the glory of Jesus, for his work, for his wisdom, for his miracles? And think about all that is to come yet. Changing water into wine, Lord willing, we'll see. Walking on water, feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. Bringing back to life the very dead Lazarus, and so on. Doesn't Son of God speak more to these things? Why Son of Man? Well, like someone said, it is to make things real. This is real stuff. This is a real man here. Jesus as a real man, just like us. That's why we confessed it earlier in the WCF. Of course, without sin. So the son of Joseph, out of Nazareth, born of a woman, though she was a virgin, and on and on. Son of God shows that he is true God. The One who was in the beginning, which we heard right in the beginning of Gospel of John. The One who was God, and so on. And Son of Man shows Him to be, at the very same time, true man. The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And it's so important, brothers and sisters. He continues to be the Son of Man. Not only in his death as a lamb, but also in his resurrection, and in his exaltation as the Almighty Ruler, the one we read about in Psalm 110. He is the one who like Daniel saw, and this is much earlier in history, but in Daniel 7 we read Daniel writing by the Spirit, he says, I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, That's Jesus, the Son of Man! And again, all who believe in Him, and all who follow Him, they see this. These greater things. We see much of it now. But yeah, we will see, we will see this yet in its final fullness. Because, in conclusion, we have seen how the glory of Jesus is shown in the calling of these first disciples. They came to know Jesus, and they came to confess, You are the Son of God. But Jesus, as the Son of God, also declared that He was the Son of Man. And much later, John, the Gospel writer, as he's old and he's exiled, the Spirit opened to him a glimpse of heaven. And he saw, he saw Jesus. But now, just like David of old, John sees a towering figure. And the Spirit tells him to write what he sees. And we are told, he was told to write this for our encouragement, for our comfort, for our assurance. And it's such a glory It's such a glory that it's like normal language fails. And so John, he just keeps using like. We read it in Revelation 1. Let's hear part of it again. Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet. Well, literally, that garment is a long robe. It's a priestly robe. It shows that he is the mediator. He is the builder to God. Or as we heard in the text, he is the ladder. And it says, and girded about the chest with a golden band. Well, that golden band, that belt, it's not on the waist. As if preparing to go to work. His work of redemption is completed. So now He wears it on the chest, as if resting from that work and drooling. And we read, His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand seven stars. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength." You can't even... It's hard to even read this. He illuminates, he penetrates, he burns, he purifies, he cleanses, he pierces. It's just awesome. It's so awesome as someone said, we want to run for our life and disappear. If we really hear this, we want to do that. And yet, our life is not found in running from Him, but in running to Him, in running to Him. And like John, we are comforted in the midst of our fear. As it says, when I saw Him, I felt that His feet is dead. That's fear. And he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. Brothers and sisters, may we have grace from God to see these greater things. As I said, we see much of it now, but we will see it in its fullness. We have a glimpse of it from John. in words that just are beyond human language. So it's always like this, like that, as if, as if. But it's glorious. When we see those greater things, may we pray as in our assurance from Psalm 80 with the psalmist, O Lord God of hosts, Cause your face to shine and we shall be saved. Brothers and sisters, behold the glory of Jesus. Amen. Let us pray. Almighty living God and gracious Father in heaven, may we truly find life in running to Jesus. Even if just a little bit of what we have heard this morning gives us an impression of His glory, we will run to Him. And it will be on our hearts to do what we can to bring others to Him. Bless us with your truth, O Lord. And may the word that you have given to us accomplish its purpose that you have for it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.