This is a chapter of “beholds.” We are first to “Behold the Lamb of God,” and then to behold a man of God. Nathanael was simple, straightforward, honest, “an Israelite indeed.” In this he was not like his great progenitor, Jacob, who was a supplanter, and not a prince with God till that memorable night when the angel wrestled with him, and withered his carnal strength. Then, in the weakness of that simplicity which laid hold upon the mighty One, Jacob became Israel (Gen_27:36; Gen_32:28). A sincere and simple character was not common in our Lord’s day. It is despised by many at this day. It was greatly appreciated by our Lord, who has the same character in perfection, and is truly called “the holy child Jesus.” This characteristic of guilelessness is
I. A HAPPY SIGN IN A SEEKER. We will illustrate this by Nathanael’s procedure.
1. He is the sort of man to whom disciples like to speak (Joh_1:45).
2. He is outspoken with his difficulties, and therefore his friends see how to meet them (Joh_1:46).
3. He is ready to apply the proper tests (Joh_1:46).
4. He is honest in his use of those tests. Our Lord saw that Nathanael was no captious critic nor idly-curious observer (Joh_1:47).
5. He is open to conviction if fair evidence be supplied. As soon as our Lord proved His omniscience Nathanael believed (Joh_1:48).
6. He is ready to make confession (Joh_1:49).
7. He is prepared to proceed far in the school of Christ. The Lord promised him the sight of greater things because he was prepared to see them (verses
50, 51). An Israelite is the man to know “the King of Israel” (Joh_1:49). An Israelite is the man to understand the famous dream of the father of all Israelites (Joh_1:51; Gen_28:12).
II. A VITAL POINT IN A BELIEVER. The truly upright man, and he only, can be a Christian.
1. A sense of pardon removes the temptation to guile: we cease to excuse ourselves when pardon is received (Psa_51:1-19.).
2. A reception of Christ as “the truth” causes guile to be hated.
3. A truthful assurance of the gospel prevents a hypocritical faith.
4. A complete consecration to the Lord puts an end to a double-minded life, and to all false aims and maxims.
5. A sense of the presence of God makes guile appear absurd.
6. A brave faith in God causes it to appear mean and cowardly.
III. A SURE PRODUCER OF OTHER QUALITIES.
1. It makes a man love his Bible. Nathanael was familiar with the law and the prophets.
2. It makes him pray. He is an Israelite (Gen_32:28).
3. It leads him to be much alone. “Under the fig tree” (Joh_1:48).
4. It makes him wear his heart in his countenance. “Behold an Israelite indeed.”
6. It prepares him to behold the pure and true glories of heaven. Who among us is renowned for cleverness, craft, shrewdness, and the critical faculty in general? Let him he afraid of the much-admired quality of cleverness. The absence of simplicity is by no means a healthy sign. Let us be true in any case, and may the Lord teach us His truth! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A high eulogium
A professor of religion who is what he appears to be, and appears to be what he is.
I. THE PROMINENT FEATURES OF THIS CHARACTER.
1. Regeneracy; newness of heart. This its foundation.
2. An earnest desire and endeavour to know the truth: at first-hand; not through a priest.
3. A deliberate purpose and steady intention to please God in everything. The Pharisee prays to get popular applause; Nathanael retires under a fig-tree.
4. Uniformity and consistency. The heart answers to the life, the life to the heart.
II. THE EXCELLENCIES OF THIS CHARACTER.
1. It is estimable, and is held in esteem. Without it a man is a worthless character, however otherwise distinguished.
2. It is pleasing to God.
3. It brings peace to its possessor.
4. It secures hereafter its great and everlasting reward. (John Brown, D. D.)
One of the rare commendatory words of Christ spoken on a most rare occasion.
1. Bestowed upon a man who spoke contemptuously of his birthplace; was prepossessed against himself; had, immediately after an hour of earnest devotion, fallen again under a prejudice.
2. Was bestowed for the very reason that He was without guile. (Lange.)
The Israelite indeed is
I. A MAN WHOSE HEART IS TRUE TO GOD. Our hearts are so
1. When we seek our happiness in Him, and not in the gratification of the “desire of the flesh,” etc.
2. When we find our happiness in Him, i.e, when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
3. When this love is persistent and permanent.
II. A MAN WHOSE WORDS ARE SUITABLE THERETO. When there is no guile in the heart there is none on the lips. In this is implied--1. Veracity--speaking the truth from the heart; the putting away of all wilful lying in every kind and degree. Roman casuists distinguish lies into
(1) Malicious--such as are told with a desire to hurt. These no one defends.
(2) Harmless--such as are supposed to do neither good nor harm. Men excuse these; but no Nathanael can speak them, and Paul condemns them Eph_4:25).
(3) Officious--those spoken with a design to do good. About these there has been much controversy. Some maintain them to be innocent, and even meritorious. But Paul teaches (Rom_3:7-8)
(a) That the good effect of a lie is no excuse for it.
(b) That it is a mere slander upon Christians to say they teach men to do evil that good may come.
(c) That if any teach this or do it their damnation is just: which is all applicable to this kind of lies.
2. Sincerity. As veracity is opposite to lying, so is sincerity to cunning. Cunning is confounded with wisdom. But wisdom is the faculty of discerning the best ends and the fittest means of attaining them. The two great means of cunning are
(1) Simulation--the seeming to be what we are not;
(2) dissimulatlon--the seeming not to be what we are. It we are engaged with artful men, we may use silence and reserve without cunning; but we may not speak the truth in order to deceive. This is perhaps not inconsistent with veracity, but it is with sincerity. When we speak at all, we should speak the naked truth from the heart.
3. This is properly termed simplicity, which implies
(1) Not only the speaking no known falsehood;
(2) not on!y designedly deceiving no one; but
(3) speaking plainly and artlessly to every one m a childlike though not in a childish manner. This excludes the using of empty compliments.
4. This sincerity and simplicity has an influence on the whole behaviour which, though it be far enough remote from clownishness, ill-breeding, roughness, and surliness, is plain and free from disguise. Conclusion: This, then, is real solid virtue. Not truth alone, nor conformity with truth; not love alone, but truth and love united. (John Wesly.)
Christian simplicity
Several bishops once asked Bishop Atterbury: “Why will you not suffer your servants to deny you when you do not care to see company? It is not a lie for them to say your lordship is not at home; for it deceives no one: every one knows it means only, your lordship is busy.” He replied: “My lords, if it is (which I doubt) consistent with sincerity, yet I am sure it is not consistent with that simplicity which becomes a Christian bishop. (John Wesly.)
An Israelite indeed
I. HIS PORTRAIT.
1. He is a converted character.
2. His profession and his conduct agree.
3. His words and his heart harmonize.
4. He is known by his zeal for God’s glory.
5. He is distinguished by his compassion for souls.
II. THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING AN ISRAELITE INDEED. The advantages are great
1. To his family.
2. To the sphere in which he moves, whether high or low.
3. To the Church of Christ.
4. To himself.
III. IN CONCLUSION:
1. “Behold an Israelite indeed.” “Mark the perfect man,” etc.
2. Admire him--admire Christ in him.
3. Be thankful for him.
4. Imitate him in life.
5. Rejoice in his blessedness in heaven. (A. Fletcher, D. D.)
The true Israelite is
I. A TRUE SON OF ABRAHAM. Nathanael was so called not because he was a descendant of Abraham, but because he resembled the patriarch in his faith and piety. “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed.” “They who are of faith are the children of Abraham.” Faith, then, is the characteristic of the true Israelite. Nathanael was ready to believe. Faith is the primary virtue of the Christian life.
II. IN COVENANT WITH GOD. The Jews were ever ready to boast of this, but the Baptist and our Lord corrected them. Whoever cordially and unreservedly takes God for his God, Christ for his Redeemer, the Holy Spirit for his Sanctifier, is in covenant with God.
III. A WORSHIPPER OF THE TRUE GOD. All other nations worshipped idols. Every true Israelite is a temple of God. From the altar of his heart he offers the incense of sincerity and affection. To God he gives the best of his services. The worship of God is not formal and burdensome, but delightful. He shows his sincerity also by his secret worship.
IV. LIKE THE PATRIARCH FROM WHOM HE TAKES HIS NAME; a wrestler with God.
V. HAS THE PROMISE OF AN INHERITANCE, only not an earthly, but a heavenly. Conclusion:
1. The conduct of Philip must be highly approved, and should be imitated.
2. Although good men are subject to be prejudiced, when they have the opportunity of being better instructed the prejudices give way to cordial attachment.
3. Our Lord is the witness of every action of our lives, and especially of every exercise of devotion.
4. Sincerity in religion is essential. (J. A. Alexander, D. D.)
Of sincerity toward God and man
I. TOWARD GOD. Our piety is, then, sincere
1. When the chief reasons and predominant motives are religious. A religious or rational motive is that which regards God and another world in opposition to men and present temporal advantages.
2. When it is rooted in the heart, and is a living principle within us.
3. When men are religious in secret as well as in public.
4. When there is a constant tenor of goodness in the general course of fife.
5. When our obedience to God is uniform and universal.
6. When it holds out against persecution and the fiery trial.
II. TOWARDS MAN; and so it signifies a simplicity of mind and manners in our conversation and carriage towards each other; singleness of heart discovering itself in honest openness; speaking as we think, performing what we promise, and being what we seem to be.
III. Conclusion. Let us be sincere in our religion, never making use of it to serve any base or unworthy ends; and be straightforward in speech and conduct in our intercourse with men. To this end the following considerations are offered
1. That sincerity is the highest commendation and the very best character that can be given of any man (Jos_24:14; 1Ch_19:17; Psa_15:1; Psa_51:2; Psa_32:2).
2. That this virtue is rare.
3. That the want of it will quite spoil the virtue and acceptance of our piety and deprive us of its reward.
4. Insincerity is a vain and foolish thing. It is designed to cheat others; it really deceives ourselves.
5. Truth and reality have all the advantages of appearance, and many more. It is hard to act a part long. A dissembler must be always on his guard. Insincerity is very troublesome to manage.
6. That it is not worth while to dissemble, considering the shortness and uncertainty of our lives. (Abp. Tillotson.)
Nathanael
Finest paintings or portraits are those which fill the eye and fix it by their natural unadorned simplicity; in which there is nothing superfluous, nothing to call the attention away from the distinctly defined character marked in the features. Inferior courtly artists, such as Lawrence, spend much time in haberdashery, in dress, in attitude, in the studious introduction of the scenery in the background. Vandyke, Velasquez, Reynolds, care usually only for feature, form, character. We have such a portrait here. It arrests us. “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” one of the first and foremost of the little group in which the human manifestation of the Church had its origin.
I. I would make some preliminary remarks on the first impressions given to us by this story and character of Nathanael.
1. In spite of the high eulogy of our Lord, I cannot but say what a bad impression in fact he makes upon us at first. He seems to come before us as a narrow mind, a mind influenced by prejudices. Qualities are mixed in all, even as a beech has beautiful qualities and grave defects--it is very graceful, but it is more subject to the worm, it has little strength, and it shrinks. Let us do justice, even often, to the narrow mind. If it cannot receive us, let us receive it; if it will not contain us, let us retain it. Let us, whenever we can, form affectionate sentiments of nations, of communities, of men; if they are true, you only do them justice; and, if they are false, though your opinion does not alter and make them lovely, at least you are the more lovely for holding such sentiments. Being with Jesus ought to enlarge the most narrow mind: it enlarged Nathanael’s, he was certainly narrow.
2. Preliminary remark. It is obvious that Christ knows some who do not know Him. “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree I saw thee.”
II. But it is time we turn from these merely negative, from what some may regard as, at best, these doubtful aspects of the character of Nathanael, to the positive encomium of our Lord, I may even say the splendid designation of our Lord. That designation, I need not say, comprehends two developments of the man. An Israelite indeed--his Church character. That narrow suspiciousness which proclaimed the Jew, does not prevent his right here--an Israelite indeed; “for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly.”
1. In the first place he was one, as we have in some measure already seen, who was not merely by birth a Jew; his heart was interested in the destiny of Israel; he had entered into the mystery of the Divine separation. Israel led a separated life, and that is the idea of consecrated life; “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned amongst the nations”; that is the first idea of Israel--sequestration, separation.
2. The life beneath the fig-tree, whatever it might be, justifies the idea that he was an earnestly holy man. Our Lord’s designation implies that he had some divinely secluded life, in which he realized the origin of the term Israel. That term is indeed somewhat dark, but it no doubt speaks of one who had seen God face to face--it had its origin when the name of Jacob was changed, and he was called Israel, in the night of Penieh Nathanael itself was a fine name; like so many of the Hebrew names it spoke of God. The affix, El--the hallowing, consecrating name of God--how often we find it in the Hebrew names! Eliab, God of my Father; Elizur, God my Rock; Shelumiel, God my Peace; Eliasaph, God will increase; Elishama, God will hear; Gamaliel, God will recompense; Pagiel, Son of God my Interceder; Nathanael, God hath given. So the Israelites, we may believe in no light spirit, honoured God in conferring names; and Peniel, or the Face of God, was the place where the old patriarch believed he had seen God face to face; and Nathanael had his Peniel.
3. Once more, this Israelite indeed was such, not only by his isolation, his sacred sequestration, his earnest wrestling, his Divine communions, but by his hopes. As I have said, promises can only avail to those who can use them. No Israelite indeed can rest in his heart without the fulfilment of the Divine promise that the Son shall have the “uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.” Let us turn to the foundation of all this in his personal individual character. He was pure in heart, he was a guileless man, “in whom is no guile.” He solved his prejudices against Christ by immediately going to Him. Oh that all hearts prejudiced against Christ would do so! This is magnanimity, this is conduct of which only a great and pure and guileless mind is capable. I think it was also to this temper of mind the splendid designation of our Lord was addressed. Behold he comes--the man incapable of doubting, and turning, and duplicity, and sophistry; incapable of attempting to make the white appear black, or the black white, or the worst best, or the best worst. Here is a man who can dare to be true. We are to believe that it was beneath the fig-tree’s shade that such Divine purity and guilelessness were attained and studied. (E. Paxton Hood.)
