THE WITNESSES
FIRST SIGN
81
AND
`And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that
disciple was known unto the high priest' (18:15).
`When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing
by, whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy
son! Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from
that hour that disciple took her unto his own home' (19:26,27).
Again, in John 20:2,3,4,8 and 21:7,20,23,24, we have references to
`that disciple'. The last reference, however, leaves no room for doubt:
`This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these
things'.
The statement in verse 41, `He first findeth his own brother
Simon', seems to demand the sequel, `and John then found his own
brother James'. However, it is to Andrew's testimony that attention
must now be given. `We have found the Messias, which is, being
interpreted, the Christ' (1:41).
The express object of John's Gospel is that we may believe that
`Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have
life through His name' (20:31). Andrew's testimony, therefore, is
timely, and if we need to be informed on the point, we may learn from
the parenthesis that `the Christ' is the Greek interpretation of the
Hebrew `Messiah'. We may then discover that the `Messiah' is `the
Anointed', Mashiach (Psa. 2:2), and that this anointing applies to the
Prophet (1 Kings 19:16), the Priest (Exod. 29:7), and the King (2 Sam.
2:4). The choice of every theme in John's Gospel, the production of
every witness, and the omission of much that is found in other Gospels
is made with the view of demonstrating this glorious fact. Andrew's
testimony therefore is directly to the point. Jesus Christ is the
Messiah, the Son of God. The Lord confirms the faith of the disciples
in His Messiahship, by the renaming of Simon. The name Cephas
means `a stone', and renaming proved to be prophetic (Matt.
16:16-18).
We must now turn to Philip's testimony. We do not know how
Philip became acquainted with the Lord; whether he also had heard
John the Baptist; or whether his was a personal call, but we are
informed that Philip was of the same city as Andrew and Peter, a
circumstance of itself likely to form a bond between them. However
that may be, the Lord would go into Galilee, and He wanted disciples,
and Philip was called. Before leaving for Galilee, Philip emulates