John 1:29-51 | Stairway to Heaven

If you have a Bible, go and grab it and open it to the book of John, the fourth Gospel in your New Testament. If you don't have a Bible, that's our gift to you. We'd love for you to have a copy of God's Word that you can have and read on your own to see what the Lord has to say. We're going to be looking at the book of John, Chapter 1, verses 29-51.

Two weeks ago, we saw John the Baptist questioned as to whether or not he is the Messiah, to which he made clear that he's not the guy. And now, in verses 29 through 51, we see the person that John the Baptist was talking about come onto the scene.

It says this:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”), and he brought Simon to Jesus.When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”). The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.“Come and see,” Philip answered. Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered. “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!” Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

— John 1:29-51 (CSB)

Let's pray. Lord, we want to see greater things. So we ask, Lord, that you would open our eyes of faith now in your Word. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Have you ever heard someone tell you, “You've got to see this”? Whether it's a video on social media, something cool that's happening, some event that you need to arrive at. I was recently stuck in what I call entertainment purgatory. I was the guest at someone's house, and the husband affectionately opened a laptop and proceeded to show us 20 videos of their family growing up. I never asked for that, but he decided I had to see it. He loves his family so much; he values it so much. I've got to be honest, I do the same thing just with my own hobbies, whether it's films or music. David and Sam can tell you, on the ride to the airport a couple weeks ago, I forced them to listen to all of my terrible music choices because I said, “You have to hear this.”

Humans love to share things that matter, particularly things that are valuable or glorious. We naturally tell one another, “You have to see this.” And what we find in this passage in verses 29-51 are disciples of Jesus doing the exact same thing. In fact, seeing Jesus in these three sections actually involves three separate actions, kind of all overlapping and trying to get us to understand a clear picture of what it looks like for us to see God and what the proper response for Christians is.

So there are three things, really, that God is calling us to do here in this passage. If we want to see the Lamb of God, we need to do three things. First, you need to look. Second, you need to come. And third, you need to believe.

Look: The Lamb of God

Let's start with point number one: You need to look. Read with me from verse 29:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.”

— John 1:29-31 (CSB)

Two weeks ago, we saw John identify himself as the one who calls out to make straight the way of the Lord. And this “way of the Lord” isn't a method, but a person. The reason why John the Baptist comes and baptizes with water isn't to necessarily do something for the people that are getting baptized with water, but to point to this other person—to reveal the Son, the Son who comes before, who existed before John, and who ranks ahead of John. And that's why John the Baptist baptized with water.

See, John's baptism isn't the same as our baptism. It's different. In fact, in the book of Acts, you see the apostles interact with people that were baptized in John's baptism, and they teach them about the good news of the gospel, and then they receive the Holy Spirit because John's baptism is different. It doesn't exalt; John's baptism exposes. It's different than Christian baptism because it's primarily oriented around identifying a person rather than acknowledging what has happened. It's not effective; it's a baptism of repentance. It's an acknowledgment that you messed up; it doesn't fix the actual problem.

You see, justice isn't satisfied with just acknowledgment. It takes more than that. Justice isn't satisfied with you admitting that you did wrong. If all it took to satisfy wrongdoing was an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, then every single prison in the entire world would be vacant. But justice doesn't just require acknowledgment; it also requires payment. It requires someone to do something to actually pay the penalty, whether it's pay a fine or do jail time. Someone has to take the responsibility of that wrongdoing and absorb that penalty.

And when John sees Jesus, he knows that Jesus is the one who's going to pay that penalty because Jesus is the Lamb of God. The idea of being a lamb is more than just being an innocent sheep. The lamb serves a specific purpose. Here's what the prophet Isaiah says about this suffering servant that would come in Isaiah 53:6-7. This is Isaiah prophesying about this person who would come to save us from our sin. He says this in verse six:

We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.

— Isaiah 53:6-7 (CSB)

This Lamb of God that would come would pay this penalty of sin on our behalf. This suffering servant would suffer for the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53 says that “by his wounds we are healed.” And so when John identifies him as this lamb, he understands that this lamb is going to do something that he could never do.

A clear example of this lamb forgiving sin would be the Passover in the Exodus, the tenth plague before Israel crosses through the Red Sea. We usually think about the parting of the Red Sea as kind of the giant climactic moment. We forget about the plagues and, in particular, the tenth plague. The nine plagues happen beforehand, and Israel is spared from all the suffering that the Egyptians have to go through. But when it comes to the tenth plague, the slaughter of the firstborn, Israel is not necessarily exempt from that judgment. And so God commands Israel to slay a lamb and take the blood and cover the doorposts so that when the angel of the Lord descends, they would see the blood on the doorpost and then pass over that household and move on to the next household. The Israelites couldn't rely on their own blood in order to save themselves. They couldn't just identify themselves as God's people. They needed the blood of a lamb to cover them.

In the same way, John looks at Jesus and calls him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. See, the primary function for John is to point to Jesus who will take away sin, who will wash away that sin—a real washing that will do a deeper cleansing than any amount of water could possibly do.

Our baptism isn't a baptism of repentance alone. That would not save you. That would not save me. If we celebrate that baptism, it is not a baptism of repentance alone; it is a baptism of repentance and faith. It's not enough to acknowledge that you've done something wrong. You need to place your trust in someone who can actually save you, who can forgive you of your sin, who can absorb that penalty. And in order to trust, you need to look at the Lamb. You need to look at him. That's why John the Baptist points him out.

And at his baptism, that's also what God does as well. Read with me from verse 32:

And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

— John 1:32-34 (CSB)

The Holy Spirit descends and rests on Jesus, not to transform Jesus or to do anything inside Jesus, but to identify Jesus. John hears clearly from the Lord, “the one that the Spirit descends on. That is the one who is the Son of God,” and God himself identifies Jesus as the one for us to look at. In fact, that's the primary function of the Holy Spirit: to point to the Son. If you believe in the Spirit and his work, you should be staring at Jesus.

If you're not a Christian and you're here this morning, we're not here to give you tips on a better life. Christianity isn't about mere acknowledgment. This isn't about some kind of behavior adjustment or something to help improve your own standing or to gain tools to help advance in your spiritual life. We're not interested in you looking inside and making some introspective inventory on ways that you can improve. We want you to look outside. We want you to look at the Lamb to see the real work that Jesus has done on your behalf—something that you could never do.

John the Baptist is called by Jesus the greatest man to have ever lived. I don't know about you, I think Jesus is probably right. And yet even John the Baptist is willing to acknowledge that there are things that he cannot do. John the Baptist cannot save himself, and neither can you. We want you to look outside of yourself and look at Jesus.

Come: Following Jesus

Which brings us to point number two: Come. Read with me from verse 35:

The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated “the Christ”), and he brought Simon to Jesus.When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).

— John 1:35-42 (CSB)

John the Baptist recognizes the one to come, and his disciples do the only reasonable thing: They leave John the Baptist to follow Jesus. They leave their previous mentor to go follow Jesus because Jesus is the one that John the Baptist was pointing to.

John's disciples come ready to learn. I love that Jesus turns around and asks them a question. He just asks them, “What are you looking for?” And these disciples respond not with some kind of passing conversation or just wanting to gain some insights or get Jesus's autograph. They're interested in where Jesus is staying, where he dwells. They want Jesus. That's what they're looking for. Not just looking for answers, not just looking for gifts. They want him.

Jesus isn't there to fulfill some temporary need that they get to achieve, because when you see Jesus, when you see him, you go to him. You follow him. That's exactly what Andrew and Peter do. They go to Jesus. And that's exactly what Jesus invites them to do in the first place. And in John 1:39, he says, “Come and you’ll see.” That's exactly what the heart of Christ does towards all who go to him. When you ask Jesus, “Where are you staying?” Jesus invites you to come and to see.

If you're not a Christian, I wonder whether you're willing to come and look to see. And beyond just a passing glance, are you willing to stay with him, to spend unhurried, uninterrupted time with Jesus? It says that they stayed with him for the day, right, till 4 in the afternoon. The phrasing there is for “the tenth hour.” It's almost like they just cleared out their whole schedule and spent all day with him. I imagine they had other things they wanted to do with their day. None of that matters anymore because Jesus showed up.

It doesn't take long for Andrew on his way to go grab Peter to tell him about following Jesus. Because Jesus is utterly compelling. You don't need to dress Jesus up; you just need to look at him. That's my job as a preacher: is not to dress Jesus up with some fancy clothing or some extra jokes or stories. My job is to just show you Christ because Christ himself is compelling enough by himself.

Ben, your job when you go to CW is not to be a compelling pastor. It's not to be a compelling man. If you win them with yourself, you will lose them to yourself. Your job is to show them Jesus. The same Jesus that you look at, the same Jesus that you love. Because when you show them Christ, that's where you'll see real power. That's where you'll show them real peace. Don't tell them, “Follow me.” Tell them, “Come and see who I found.” Show them Christ.

It's no wonder Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter, because encountering Jesus changes everything about who you are. Because Jesus is the only thing that matters.

Believe: Jesus, the Stairway to Heaven

Which brings us to our last point here: Believe. Look at verse 43:

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.“Come and see,” Philip answered.

— John 1:43-46 (CSB)

Philip gets it. He understands that Jesus is the one that was prophesied about, and he runs to tell his brother Nathanael. He tells him exactly what Jesus says, “Come and see.” And Nathanael's response to come and see this guy from Nazareth is, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

You ever have bias like that? “Can anything good come out of Las Vegas? Can anything good come out of Fresno?” We all have biases. And let's be honest, they're probably accurate. I wonder if you have biases as well, not just against locations, maybe against people. If you're not a Christian, you're here. Maybe you've had interactions with people that have borne the name of Christ, that have so defiled his name by their behavior and their hurt that the thought of even engaging with Christianity is unthinkable to you. Maybe you've seen church leaders behave in a manner that's not Christlike, that repels us from thinking about following Jesus rather than drawing near to him. Wherever biases we may have, sometimes we're tempted to reject Jesus by association. And if that's you, I just want to say I'm sorry. Christ followers should look like Jesus, not speak against him with their behavior.

And Nathanael in a similar way seems willing to dismiss Philip's invitation by virtue of something that he never saw for himself, something that he never thought about. So, while I'm sympathetic and want to apologize on behalf of all Christians everywhere for being sinners—that's what we absolutely are—I also want to challenge you. Have you taken the time to actually look at Christ himself? Or are you rejecting him on the basis of something that someone else has done or someone else has said? If that's you, Jesus extends to you the same invitation that he gave to Nathanael: “Come and see.” See him for yourself. See whether or not it is possible for something good to come out of Nazareth. Because if you read the Gospels, I bet you'll realize that the only thing good came out of Nazareth.

Let's keep reading. Verse 47:

Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered. “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!” Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

— John 1:47-51 (CSB)

Jesus sees Nathanael, identifies him as a true Israelite. And what makes Nathanael a true Israelite in that sense? He's not talking about whether or not he comes from an Israelite background or whether or not he's pure-blooded. The idea is behind Nathanael's disposition. Nathanael came and saw Jesus. He did exactly what Jesus asked of the people that were asking him to follow him. He did exactly what Philip asked of him. He came and he saw for himself. And Jesus values that kind of heart. When we drop our biases, when we drop our preconceptions, and we're willing to go to Jesus himself, Jesus will not hit you with “whatabouts” or “well, look who decided to show up.” He looks at Nathanael's sincere search for truth and he allows for it.

And then there's a turn: Nathanael may have come with Philip to see Jesus, but Jesus responds to Nathanael by letting him know that he already saw him. And what did Jesus see? He saw Nathanael under the shadow of the fig tree. He already knew Nathanael before Nathanael even took a step to go towards Christ.

See, Jesus knows you. It's not just that Jesus knows you; he knows all of you. He knows your past. He knows about your sin. Jesus sees all of us. And sometimes we can be scared by that kind of thought. We want to hide. I think it's no hidden detail here that John deliberately describes Nathanael under the shade of the fig tree. Knowing that Adam and Eve hid themselves with fig leaves at the Fall, and where God asks, “Where are you in the garden?” Jesus looks at Nathanael and says, “I saw you under the shade of the fig tree.” He already knows Nathanael. He already knows his heart. Because when Jesus looks at you, he can see the whole you. And by seeing you, Jesus isn't repulsed by you. He invites you to come. He's even able to see imperfect, biased, stumbling approaches to him. And he welcomes you with open arms. Jesus isn't offended by Nathanael's approach; he's encouraged by it. You can go to him and he will see you for who you are.

And Nathanael, hearing Jesus's foresight, is utterly flabbergasted. You can see that in John 1:49, it says, “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel!” And Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus's single foresight, just predicting, already knowing that Nathanael sat under a fig tree, is enough to bring Nathanael to his knees. He says, “You are the Son of God and you are the King of Israel. It's the only way you would have known where I was geographically located.” And Jesus's response can be a little bit weird for us to understand: this idea of heaven being open, angels kind of going up and down Jesus's body. It's like a weird climbing up like a three-year-old trying to climb up their father. It's like, what is this picture? Here's Jesus's point. Nathanael is wowed by Jesus's foresight, his ability to see where he was before. And Jesus's point is that the greatest thing about himself isn't his abilities, isn't even what he saw in Nathanael, but in who he is. Who he is.

Nathanael calls Jesus the King of Israel. And Jesus says, “I'll tell you something greater than the King of Israel.” He says, “You will see heaven opened and angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” And if you know your Old Testament, you know Genesis—like we're going to jump into after John—you know exactly what Jesus is referring to. Jacob, Israel himself—he gets renamed to Israel—has a vision in Bethel and he sees a literal stairway to heaven. Listen to this vision here from Genesis 28:

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”

— Genesis 28:10-17 (CSB)

This is Jacob after lying to his father and deceiving his brother, after running for his life, running away from the promised land. He has this vision from God. And God's message could not be clearer: “I am going to be with you wherever you go.” He sees it in Bethel. He sees a stairway going up and down from heaven. And Jesus's point is if you're going to say I'm the King of Israel, let me go to the very source itself. Let me go to Israel. You know what Israel saw in this stairway? What Jacob saw? “I am.” He is the stairway. He is greater than Israel. He is the stairway to heaven.

With Jacob, God is present in a place in Bethel. That's why Jacob sets up this marker recognizing Bethel as this place where he saw this celestial stairway. And with Jesus, God is presented not in a vision but in a person, that these gates of heaven are open. This new place where heaven and earth meet, where man and God can be reunited in a way that they had not been since the Garden.

See, ever since the Garden of Eden, when we sinned, there's been permanent separation between us and God. And yet, with Christ, with this gate of heaven opened, heaven and earth reunite. That's the good news of the gospel for all of us. All of us are broken because of our sin. We are guilty before a holy and righteous God. We are permanently separated from him and destined for hell where God's judgment will be poured out on us for all of eternity. But the good news of the gospel is not that you just have to go to Jesus, but that Jesus came to you. That when you look at Christ, when you believe in the Lamb, when you see his blood covered for you, not only are you forgiven of your sin, not only are you made righteous before a holy God, you are literally reunited to him through this gate of heaven that is reopened for you: full reconciliation, full communion with a holy and righteous God in Christ.

Because of his penalty of sin that's paid through his death on the cross, through his victorious resurrection, we can reunite with Christ, with God in heaven forever. Hebrews 10 says that we enter this heavenly temple “through the curtain of his flesh.” That Jesus is this door, this gate by which we enter into heaven. That's the good news for Christians: not that we ascend, but that Christ descended. That we can go through him and enter into the holy presence of God covered by his righteousness.

That's who we are. That's who we are as a church. We are the body of Christ, sinners that are forgiven. A covenant people where God's covenant presence dwells amongst his people. That's the good news and hope that you and I have, that we don't have to point to ourselves, but like the disciples and like John the Baptist, we can see Christ and Christ will see you. And that's all that you will ever need. You can follow him because Christ sees you and he invites you to come and see. Enter through that gate. Enter through those gates with joy and trust in a Jesus that is stronger, kinder, more gracious than you.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this grace that we do have in Christ. Pray, Lord, that you would help us to trust in him and who he is and the finished work that he's done on the cross. We thank you for this grace that we have in him. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.