Some of you know the name Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a pastor in the 1940s who resisted the Nazi regime and Hitler, and for that he would end up losing his life. He was very concerned with a number of things. One of them was what he called cheap grace, as he would say it, or as some people would say it. You know, you just pray a prayer and you're in. It doesn't have to cost you. You can believe in Jesus, but it doesn't necessarily, change your life. This is what he wrote, when Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die. That was from his book, The Cost of Discipleship. And it would cost him his life in a Nazi camp. That's not what we face or even what he was primarily talking about. He was talking about how there's always a cost to discipleship, to following Jesus. Most Christians are not called to die as martyrs, but Christ calls us all to die to our desires and to live for his. Luke 9, 23, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. That's not about wearing a cross as jewelry. That's about bearing a cross, which means you die. When you would see someone carrying a cross in that culture, it meant they were going to die that day. Jesus says we must die to self. This is the opposite message of our world. It's all about self. I mean, just think of all the self-hyphenated words and how the world is all about our building up our self and our self-esteem. Having a better and greater view of self, they think, is the solution to everything. But Jesus is about self-denial. God's word calls us to esteem his name. And it says, believers have crucified their desires. Paul talked about that, he says, self was crucified with him. And he says, let each one esteem others better than himself. We need to esteem others better and esteem Christ of all. Our text today is gonna say, in Christ you will see greater things. And I would invite you to turn to John chapter one, to the word of Christ. And this is the chapter that introduces Christ as the word. in its first verse, but I want you to think about what two words did Jesus say as a command more than any other command? And the answer is the two words, follow me. Not just believe in me. It wasn't a easy believism, just make a decision. It was about a new direction of life. Follow me, he said again and again. He looks with love at a rich young ruler, challenging him to be willing to give up all that he had, and he said, follow me. Count the cost, but know there's greater treasure in Christ. It's a hundredfold greater, and he is worth it. His calling involves transforming grace. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. That's what he would say to those we saw last week, John and Andrew and Peter, as they meet Jesus. And the verse is right before this, but I want to pick up in John 1, verse 43, where it says, the next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee. 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 and the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 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 there is no deceit. Nathanael answered him, how do you know me? Jesus answered him, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered him, rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. Jesus answered 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 them, to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man. This gospel is written primarily to challenge the reader to see Jesus as who He really is and to ask yourself, is Jesus your King you follow? The end of the gospel says it's written so that you would believe like Thomas in Him as your Lord and your God. Do you follow Him in that way? And it invites You to come and see, that's the phrase at the end of verse 46, and that really kind of frames this section into two parts. The first part is come, the second part is see, and it's the same Greek word come in verse 43 as Jesus comes to Galilee, and then later as Nathanael comes, Philip is telling him that Messiah has come, but initially Nathanael's thinking, can anything good come from Nazareth? Philip says, come and see, and that takes us to the second part of the passage to this verb of foreseeing. Jesus sees Nathanael coming, and then he tells him that he had seen him when he was under the tree, when there was no one else around. In a faraway place, he had seen him, and Nathanael is blown away to know that he knows him, that he'd seen him, he'd seen his heart, he knew what he was like on the inside, and saw him when no one else was around far away. Jesus tells him, you will see greater things. You will see heaven opened and angels. You're gonna see this. And not just Nathaniel, the you is plural. This is for the followers of Jesus. If you would translate that into Southern English, it would be, y'all ain't seen nothing yet. There's greater things. And so I want us to just see number one, just break it into using the text setting our agenda. Number one, come as followers and we'll see the names and natures of these initial followers of Jesus and then see, come and see, the second part is see greater things, see Christ's names and nature. In verse 43, the first name Jesus comes to and calls to follow is Philip. This is a great name, by the way, Philip. Normally in history, a student would seek out a teacher. In fact, from Gamaliel in the Jewish culture, Socrates in the Greek culture, they would write about how as, if you're gonna find someone to follow, you need to seek out and find the teacher that you wanna follow. This is how it was normally done. Jesus is doing the, what's not normal, he's doing the unusual, he's doing the radical. He is himself going and seeking his followers and he's calling them with an authoritative demand and command, follow me. And in verse 43, it says Jesus decided to go all the way to Galilee. It's not just some random thing. He's specifically going to call Philip to follow him. So we see that the human side of it, Philip says in verse 45 that he had found him, but the divine side in verse 43 first, it says that he found Philip. Jesus found Philip. Jesus comes to seek and save the lost. Jesus is not lost. We talk about finding him, but he's not lost. I once was lost, but now I'm found by him. And the amazing thing about grace is it lets us be a part of this process. But the normal way that it works is God involves us telling the lost. God not only chooses people, he uses people in the process. like us. And Jesus found Philip in verse 43, then look at verse 45, Philip found Nathanael. This is normally the way it's going to work. And he said to him, we have found him. God's sovereignty never negates our gospel responsibility. And what the Lord began with Philip continues with others, finding the lost, telling them what we have found in him. Most of His followers don't do this in preaching to big crowds like Peter, but we're called to, as Jesus makes disciples, we're to be disciple-makers who seek to multiply other disciple-makers, and often it's more like Philip, one-on-one, we're to share Christ. D.A. Carson says, the foundational principle of truly Christian expansion ever since is new followers of Jesus bear witness of him to others who in turn become disciples and repeat the process. Maybe some of you can think about when you were a new believer and you were just wanting to tell everyone. And we need that heart. Even if you don't have extraordinary evangelistic gifts, the ordinary way that God has worked through the centuries is through relationships and through ordinary people like us. In verse 39, Jesus first said to his disciples, come and you will see. Now in the end of verse 46, Philip says, come and see. The nature of coming to follow Jesus is becoming like Jesus and even speaking like Jesus. As you walk with him, you should talk like him as you follow in his footsteps. And even in just a few words as we're introduced to Philip here, I think we can see someone whose nature is already transforming by into this Jesus of Nazareth. He doesn't know all about him yet, but in fact his faith and understanding needs some work still. You might have noticed the end of verse 45 calls Jesus the son of who? Of Joseph. He probably hadn't heard of the virgin birth yet, but better an excited new believer than an old Pharisee. He may be a work in progress. He doesn't seem to be a natural leader, as you read about him in the gospel. He doesn't seem to know what to do in certain situations. In chapter six and in chapter 12, as these Greeks come to see Jesus, in chapter six he fails the test when Jesus seeks out Philip and asks him to take care of feeding all of these 5,000 men, not counting the women and children. He seems to be a skeptical, analytical type. It seems like he was one of those that's always kind of looking at the numbers because when Jesus tells him that, he says, if we had 200 denarii, we wouldn't have enough to give each of them a small amount. Seems like he's already been doing this mental math in his head and he's determined there's zero chance in this situation. We know people like that, don't we? In the upper room, he asks Jesus, as you say, we know people like that, because we can be like that. He says, show us the Father. That'll be enough. And Jesus publicly corrects him. Have you been with me such a long, long time, and you still don't know me, Philip? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I am the way to the Father, he says. And yet with all of that, this is the one that Jesus specifically chooses and uses despite his limited faith, despite his limited understanding. This is an encouragement to me and good news to someone who doesn't feel like he's a natural leader, doesn't know what to do at times, sometimes just looking at the details and not sure how to make it work. It's encouraging to think that Jesus went out of his way to find this very ordinary Philip and to enlist him and that he has use for followers like that, very ordinary people. The book Twelve Ordinary Men says his preoccupation with business details, his small-mindedness had shut him off from a full apprehension of whose presence he had enjoyed even there at the end in the upper room. We might think he's not going to be one of the most impactful people in world history. But Jesus, from his perspective, this is exactly the one he was looking for and that he had called. And he, thankfully, is the Lord whose strength is made perfect in our weakness. He doesn't look for people who are necessarily naturally strong or think they're strong. He realizes people who know they're weak, who he can use. He uses a lot of people like Philip. which is good news for us and tradition tells us that Philip was greatly used by the Lord in the expansion of the early church and was faithful to death and martyrdom and was one of the first of the 12 to lay down his life. And many were impacted for Christ under his ministry. Praise the Lord that he uses people. Like Philippians, you can also use someone who's very pessimistic or someone who even has prejudice, like the next name, verse 46. Nathanael said to him, can anything good come out of Nazareth? At the least that sounds like a rivalry, if not bigotry. towards the Nazarenes. The Galileans knew some of this. They were looked down on as uneducated, but the Galileans within Galilee really looked down on the Nazarenes, as they called them, people from Nazareth. At least some of them thought nothing good could or would ever come out of there. And in the New Testament, we detect sarcasm towards the Nazarenes, the Nazareth residents. In fact, the Jews, when Paul is on trial, they said, he's a ringleader for that Nazarene sect. That's how they're trying to disparage him. Outside the region, the village wasn't known. It's not mentioned in the Old Testament. It's not mentioned by Josephus, that first century historian who wrote about so many places. It's not mentioned in the Roman sources at all. In fact, outside of Christianity, Nazareth isn't in the Jewish writings until centuries later. The Talmud and the Midrash, one scholar found, 800 years later there is a mention in a Jewish writer outside of Christianity who mentions Nazareth. So this is a little place of little account to people. And Nathaniel, when he hears of Nazareth, he just wants to dismiss that good news. He doubts anything good can come from that disparaged place. And maybe some of you have inclinations like that, or maybe it's not about a place, but you just think, you know, can anything good come out of, you fill in the blank, a situation. You just don't see how good can be. What Philip does is he graciously, he doesn't, really answer the objection except to say, come and see, which is an invitation to us who are like Nathaniel, come and see if you're skeptical or. Maybe you're not yet following Christ here. Come and see. There is evidence that demands a verdict, as one book calls it. If you're a negative person, maybe you're a believer, but you're cynical, you're critical, like Nathanael, come and see that Jesus can change you like he's gonna change Nathanael. It's even remarkable the change that we see in Nathanael, even here. It's our human nature that thinks we're better than others. And we can judgmentally just write off certain people. But Philip, as a good friend, invites him to come to Jesus of Nazareth and see for himself. And what a friend he would have in Jesus as he comes. Because Jesus sees him coming. And Jesus sees beyond Nathanael's issues. Look at verse 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit. Just earlier, the day before, Jesus had seen Peter. And Jesus saw beyond Peter's faults to the man that he would be. He says, you're gonna be called Cephas. You're gonna be called the rock. That's not what he was even through the gospels, but that's what he would become in the book of Acts. And Jesus saw the man that he was calling him to be. And what Peter might wrongly say, what Nathanael might wrongly say, is not the last word in the story. What matters is what the Lord will say about them. Even though Nathanael was disrespectful to his village, Jesus sees in him a man who is not deceitful, a man who he's gonna use and is gonna help him with some of his issues. He sees a skeptic who is willing to come and see the evidence. He sees his flaws, but he sees that this guy is not gonna be a fraud, he's not gonna be a phony, he's not gonna be a fake like so many of the others that Jesus was gonna interact with. No pretense or pretending with Nathanael. In public, he is the same man in private that Jesus saw when he was at home and thought no one else saw him sitting under a fig tree. Before Philip came to him in private and told him about this, Jesus saw, not only saw him from way over in the other place that he was, but he saw him on the inside. He saw his heart. He saw his future. He saw who he would be. He sees someone who may be a bit critical, but he will not be a hypocritical Pharisee. And he is someone who's not like his forefather, Israel. In fact, I think he's alluding to that in verse 51. Israel, who is also known as Jacob, who we heard in our scripture reading earlier, he saw heaven opened, he saw angels going up and down, We read that passage earlier. Before what we read, Jacob had been known for being a deceiver. In fact, his very name and nature was a supplanter, a deceiver, someone who would grab and use deceit. And it's the same word used in chapter 1 verse 47 in the Bible. They would have grown up hearing this story again and again. This was their forefather. He was one who had deceit in him. But God saw beyond Jacob's sin, their forefather Jacob, to the man that he would be, that he would make him to be, and he would call him by a new name. And his new name was Israel. So he becomes the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. And now as the Lord saw Nathanael, he is seeing a descendant of Israel without old Israel's name. nature, without a trace of that old Jacob before God called him. He's one of a new and true Israel without deceit. One writer says it this way, this is an Israelite without any Jacob. I like that. Paul would later talk about the true Israelites being inwardly and a matter of the heart. But this is even before all of that theology. He's seeing what he is on the inside. He's truly, this is who he truly is. And Nathanael is amazed. This is what changes him. He realizes Jesus knew him before they met. He saw him like no other man can. Could have even been thinking of songs that he would have grown up singing, like Psalm 139, Lord, you know me, you see me, you discern when I sit down, you discern when I rise up, you can see my thoughts from afar, you're intimately acquainted with all my ways. He hears what Jesus says and he says, there's only one person I can think of who's like that and that's the God of Psalm 139. This grace of God is at work in Nathaniel before he's called and it's at work in you if you come to this one who knows your heart and sees you through and through and sees everything. And he has more for his followers to see, which takes us to our second point. see greater things, Christ's names and nature. And when Nathanael hears this, verse 49, Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, and this is one of the highest things that anyone would say about Jesus until much later in his ministry, but in this moment as he realizes who is speaking to him, he says, Rabbi, you are the Son of God. No one else had said that about Jesus yet, being the Son of God, audibly, but he, I think, like Peter, when the Holy Spirit, flesh and blood, didn't reveal this, the Spirit, the Father, revealed this. He says, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel. Jesus answered him, because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe you will see greater things? Nathanael here stands amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. who he's finding out many things good can come from Nazareth. He just met him, but this guy knows him. This is not just a guy, this is God's son. He knows him like only the king of heaven can. Jesus had seen in Nathanael what no one else could, and he replies with three names, really titles, Rabbi, But you're more than a teacher, he says, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. This is an Israelite indeed who sees by faith the Israelite king. This is an amazing statement. And it comes on the heels of, he's heard this from Philip in verse 45, we have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets also wrote. And then in verse 41, or earlier, he first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which means Christ. Christ is a title, it's a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah. This is who Moses, he says, and the prophets spoke of. What would they have known from Moses, the writings of Moses? in the law, also known as the Torah, first five books of the Bible. Genesis first speaks of this one as the one who would be born of a woman, a seed of a woman who would crush the head of the serpent and who would reverse the curse. They talk about him in chapter 5 and who would be in chapter 12 and following the seed of Abraham who would bless all the nations of the earth. And that seed would be the seed of Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Jacob, and then Judah. All of them have that promise repeated through them, through a seed who will come of them. Judah, the one who will come from Judah, will be a lion like one. This is all in Genesis. A lion like one who will rise up from the tribe of Judah and who will have this scepter that all the Gentiles and all the people of the earth will bow. Every knee will bow before this one and he will come on a donkey and his clothes will be washed like with blood. This is all in Genesis before we get to, that's chapter 49 of Genesis. And then in Exodus and Leviticus we have this Lamb of God theme that we've looked at in past messages. And then the book of Numbers. Chapter 24 verse 17, it says this star is going to arise one day and there's going to be a scepter that is going to come from Judah. And this is probably a prophecy that these magi from the east far away have this prophecy. They've seen this star and they come and they say, where is he who has been born King of the Jews? It's right there in Numbers 24 and probably another prophecy as well. Deuteronomy 18 verse 18, promised a prophet like Moses but a greater one to arise who everyone must listen to and obey. And that prophet was also mentioned in this chapter earlier in John chapter 1. So just imagine all of this, that's just Moses, the unfathomed joy. to say we have found him, we found him that Moses was writing about and we found him that the prophets were writing about and the prophet Isaiah has already been mentioned. In verse 23, what did Isaiah say about this one to come? Just one of those prophets. He said he would be born of a virgin. His name would be Emmanuel, which means God with us. He would be a child who would be born humanly. He would be a son who would be given from God. And he's clearly not just human because his names are Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He's gonna have a kingdom that will have no end. It's gonna keep increasing. That's Isaiah 9, and the same chapter says that He would be a light for nations from Galilee, beyond the Jordan, which are terms used in John chapter 1. And in the chapters after that, He's called Yeshua. He's called the root, the stump of Jesse. He's called the precious cornerstone in Isaiah. All of that in Isaiah. He's the sovereign Lord who would come and would wipe every tear from their eyes. He's the almighty one who will come and will reign on a throne in Jerusalem. He's Israel's king to reign in righteousness. Isaiah says, behold the king in his beauty. The world will one day. And he'll come to save and to open the eyes of the blind. How do you know when he's come, the eyes of blind people are gonna be open? There's lame people, it says, that are gonna be leaping for joy. Those who have been lame are now gonna be jumping for joy, literally. All these things that Jesus did. and some that he still will do. He's the only Savior, the only Creator in Isaiah. He's the Redeemer. These are some of the titles in Isaiah. The Holy One of Israel, your King. In fact, that phrase King of Israel is kind of a rare phrase, but it's in Isaiah 44. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel. I am the first and I am the last. Does that sound familiar? Nathanael sees him and says, you are the king of Israel. That's Isaiah 44. Isaiah 48 says the first and the last would come as a teacher. He would be a rabbi. Isaiah 53 says he would be despised and rejected by his own people. He would be a man of sorrows. And John 1, one of the first things it says about him is that his own people would receive him not. They would reject him. Line by line, Isaiah 53 is fulfilled by Jesus. He's God's suffering servant. He's his chosen one. He is his righteous one. He would be led like a lamb to die. That's from Isaiah 53 also. And in a Nazareth synagogue, Jesus would come back, Jesus of Nazareth would come back to where he grew up, this carpenter's son, and he would go, and they would bring out the scroll, and the scroll he takes is the scroll of Isaiah, and he opens it to the place. It says, the spirit of the Lord God has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor, to release those who are oppressed, and to give sight to the blind, and all of that, and Jesus folds up the roll, and he sets it down, and everyone's looking at him. And he says, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. That's in that little place of Nazareth in their synagogue that he grew up in. All those texts, all those titles, all those truths, and that's just Isaiah. That's just part of Isaiah. There's actually more in Isaiah that he fulfills. Philip says, we found the one that Moses wrote about. We found the one the prophets wrote about. And that's just part of one prophet. The Old Testament had many names and titles for Christ. John's New Testament gospel begins with many names just in his first chapter. So if you look at verse one, he's the word. And then at the end of verse one, he is God. And verses five through nine, he's the light. He's the true light, he's the light. John was not the light, Jesus is the light coming into the world to enlighten. In verse 14, he's God's son, or his only son, or the King James begotten. Verse 23, he is the Lord, who John the Baptist is preparing the way for the Lord. In verse 29, he is the Lamb of God, and then again in verse 36. In verse 38, he is a rabbi. He is going to be a teacher for three years preeminently. But more than that, verse 41, he's the Messiah, which means Christ. In verse 49, we'll repeat rabbi and son of God, and then we'll add this title King of Israel. And we need to understand, like we hear King of Israel, we think about Jesus, King Jesus, and all that. There was no king in Israel for hundreds of years. There was no Jewish king and rightful king in Israel. That had been cut off in the captivity and all of that, and it had actually been prophesied. There is an emperor over Rome. And there is a Gentile king that he's installed named Herod in the area, but Jesus is the true king of Israel. This phrase is only used properly one other time in the New Testament in all the writers, and it's at Palm Sunday when Jesus comes and they are hailing the king of Israel. But this wasn't a title the Jews just threw around. This is a title that God worked in Nathanael's heart to hail him as his matchless king. And John writes his gospel so that you too will believe Jesus is who John's gospel says he is. That you would believe in him as your Lord and your God. Or you could say as your king. As your king. more than a carpenter, more than a teacher. He is God the Son. He is the Christ. And again, the question is, is he your king? Is he your king? Do you bow to him? This one who laid down his life for sin and then raised himself up again as the risen King, this is who he is right out the gate of John's gospel. He wants you to know who he is. These are all names or titles given to Jesus by John the Baptist or others, but for the first time, Jesus is going to give himself a title. And it's gonna be the title that he prefers for himself, that he actually is gonna refer to himself dozens and dozens of times and not so much the other ones. Look again at the end of verse 50. You will see greater things than these. And he said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. You can trace that phrase, the Son of Man, through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And this is the overwhelming way. Sometimes it's even instead of me or I, he just says the Son of Man in the third person. This is his favorite name. This is how he most wants to be known while he's here on earth, at least. This is what he calls himself more than any other. It might be Part of it was it wasn't such a politically charged title like king, who he is, but a lot of them misunderstood what kind of kingdom he was about at that time when he said, my kingdom is not of this world. Of course, he will be the rightful king. Everyone will see that in the future, will bow and confess it in the future, but that wasn't what he was wanting to stir up in the initial part of his ministry and what he had come to do first in his first coming. And so I think that might be why, although he accepts the King of Israel, he doesn't call himself the King of Israel because of what that would have prematurely stirred up. There's some vagueness in this title, Son of Man, because it can be used more than one way in the Old Testament. It can emphasize humanity versus deity. like Son of God was a clear title of a divine son, but there was some mystery in this. In fact, in chapter 12, the crowds are going to ask, who is this Son of Man? You keep talking about the Son of Man, who is He? Ezekiel, interestingly, is called Son of Man 31 times. And so the title can definitely mean a prophet, a special spokesman, and maybe that's what some of them were thinking initially when he's speaking this way, but it's going to become clearer later in his ministry what he means by this title. And even here, this is in the context of greater things. This is talking about heavenly angels are going to be going up and coming down on the Son of Man. Listen to Matthew 16, 27. This is to His disciples. The Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father and then He will repay to everyone what He's done. He's not talking about Him being a human here. Human beings don't have these angels and then repay everyone for what they've done. In the glory of His Father, we don't have the glory of God the Father. And here's what he says, this is at the end of his ministry, that week when he's about to go to the cross, he says publicly now, Matthew 25, 31, the Son of Man comes in glory, in his glory, and all the angels with him, and then he will sit on his glorious throne. And when he was on trial, it was very clear to them what he meant by this title. that he was claiming deity and not just humanity. This is what he says before Caiaphas, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. And it says the high priest tore his robe and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further need do we have of witnesses? He understood exactly what Jesus was claiming to be, more than a human son of man, because blasphemy has to do with deity. He's recognizing a passage that would have been unmistakable to them from Daniel 7, where it says of God, thousands upon thousands of angels served him, and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened, and it says this, behold, with the clouds of heaven, There came one like a son of man, and he came and presented himself before the Ancient of Days." as the Father, and was presented before Him, and to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him." Or it could be translated, should worship Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall never be destroyed. They understood Jesus was claiming to be that Son of Man. That one who is before the ancient of days in his presence and comes with the clouds of heaven and myriads of angels and they worship him rightly. And he's before the Father's glory and he's given a dominion forever. And Jesus is telling Nathanael, this is amazing, you're gonna see heaven opened. You're gonna see angels. You're gonna see that Son of Man. That's who I am. and the you in verse 51 is plural, this is not just for Nathanael, this is for you all who follow Jesus. Think about that statement. Some of the disciples were already following and they would later see angels that had descended to the empty tomb and had rolled the stone away and were sitting there when they came and talked to them. The women came and talked to these two men, and some of them at first weren't sure if they were an angel, and Mary Magdalene came and spoke to one of them, but all of the disciples, male and female, would see angels appear. When Jesus ascended up to glory, it says he was carried up from them, and these two angels in white apparel came and told the disciples, why are you just standing here looking? He's told you what you're to do till he comes back. The first martyr said before he was stoned, I see heaven opened and I see the Son of Man standing. When he says that, they cover their ears and they gnash their teeth and they drag him out of there and then they begin to stone him. It's in Acts 7. Jesus told his followers in verse 51, you will see heaven opened and angels with the the Son of Man, one of those visions we read earlier at the very start of this service from John in Revelation 4 when he saw heaven opened and he saw all these angels. And they're all falling down and they're all saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. And then as Jesus comes, they're saying, worthy, worthy is the Lamb. He's the Lamb on His throne. He's the King. with a golden crown, the one whom many crowns are cast down before." This is the Son of Man. John sees visions of heaven and he sees one like a Son of Man standing in the midst of the candlesticks. He's in the midst of His churches is what that represents. He's with His people. And John sees heavens open at the second coming in chapter 19, and he'll see the Son of Man also descending with angels in chapter 14. He sees this, and Jesus says, you will see greater things. You're going to see heaven open, but I don't think he's just talking about some of those visions because this is a perfect tense and this is speaking to all of you. You'll see it's continually in the state of being opened and I think it means more than just those visions. The idea there is from now on heaven is going to be open spiritually, paradise, the doors of of glory are open now for all who will see who Jesus is and come in those ways. He is the one to the Father. It's going to be continually open for those who will come on the terms of the King and the Son of Man. And we're to invite people to come and see. Heaven is open to you if you will come and see who He is. And there's also, I think, a clear reference to our Scripture reading earlier about Jacob. Let me just read part of it again. So there's this ladder, the angels of God are ascending and descending on it. Jesus says, The angels are gonna be ascending and descending on the Son of Man in the future, but this is, he says, behold, the Lord, when Jacob sees it, the Lord stood above it, and he said, in your seed, all the families of the nations will be blessed. And behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go. I will not leave you. That's just part of what he says, but it says Jacob awoke. from his sleep and he said, how awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. The son of man is Jacob's seed who will bless all the families of the earth who follow him in faith, who come to those open doors. Jesus is quoting that and he is basically saying I am that one now, I am the connection between heaven and earth. I am the ladder. I am the mediator. I am the way. Now I'm the bridge. I'm that golden gate of heaven. The only way to the Father is through me, Jesus says. It's an incredible statement. The great divide has a cross. And the Lord who stood above when Jacob saw it, came all the way down in Jesus to call us to come up, to come up through him, to come up with him. And to all believers, he says, I am with you wherever you go. No matter what you're going through, you can know this awesome Lord is with you wherever you go. He will keep you, he promises. He will never leave you nor forsake you, Jesus promises. And this is none other than the house of God. We get to meet him. How awesome is this place? And in chapter 2, we're going to see that Jesus himself is the house of God. He's going to replace the temple and all that that represented. But think about what we sang earlier. Angels descending bring from above whispers of mercy and echoes of love, or maybe I got that backwards there, but that's what this blessed assurance is. If Jesus is yours, how awesome is this Lord? This is just John's first chapter. There's greater things to see in the chapters that come later. Jesus can do greater than all that we ask or think, and whatever challenges come our way in the future, we can know that greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. So let's worship this king, and let's witness for him, amen? Amen, let's pray. Our glorious God, Thank you for this stunning and comforting revelation of Christ. We thank you for how you would choose and use people like Philip and Nathaniel and us. And I pray that you would help us to lift our eyes more to you as the Son of Man and all that that means for us and as the King, as our King. We pray this in his name. Amen.