Follow Me! The Lord's call. Part 2

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Follow Me!

Ten times we hear this call of the Lord in the four gospels. Ten times a call to follow Him! This is the second article in a series on this call.

Last time we saw how the Lord called Matthew from behind the tax gatherer’s table. In this we saw a picture of the conversion of an unbeliever. Matthew had set the wrong priorities in his life, but with this encounter with the Lord Jesus everything changed! He left everything behind and followed Him. He also was one of those who later testified of the Lord’s life by writing one of the gospels.

This time I’d like to draw our attention to Philip. In the first three gospels (the synoptic gospels, remember?) we ‘only’ find him in the lists of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:14), but in the gospel of John he is mentioned twelve times! You can look up these verses yourself with your Bible app (or do it the old-fashioned way with a concordance).

By the way, it is always right and good to check what you hear and read about the Bible. That is what the Bereans did (see Acts 17:11). Everything they heard from Paul, they checked with the Scriptures. They did this on a daily basis! We can learn at least two things about them (and that just from one verse):

1. They received the Word with all readiness. This means they weren’t critical listeners trying to catch the speaker (or author) in a fault. 
2. They read and searched the scriptures daily (in their case this was the Old Testament as the New had not yet been written and completed), in order to check whether what they had heard was really true indeed.

Because of what they did they were called “more fair-minded”. The Lord praised their attitude by putting this statement in Scripture!

Back to Philip.

The first time we read about him is in John 1:43: “The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow Me’”. Just as with Matthew in Luke 5:27 we only read that He said: “Follow Me”.

Maybe Philip had heard about the Lord already, as he was from the same city as Andrew and Peter (John 1:44) and the day before they had had an encounter with the Lord Jesus and (at least) Andrew had been with the Lord all day (John 1:39). That must have been a very special day for the two brothers, about which they – no doubt – spoke with others.

We don’t read what Philip was doing when the Lord found him. But from what we read next we can conclude that he answered the Lord’s call. And he immediately followed the Lord’s example! The Lord found Philip (verse 43) and Philip found Nathanael (verse 45) and told him about his encounter with the Lord. Nathanael had great difficulty in believing that the Messiah would come from the despised town of Nazareth, but Philip simply says: “Come and see”. Perhaps this is also an indication there had been contact between Andrew (and Peter) and Philip (see verse 39).

In John 12:20-22 we read about some Greeks who wanted to see the Lord and approached Philip with their desire. Philip, together with Andrew, passed on this request to the Lord.

So we can say that the consequence of Philip’s encounter with the Lord in John 1 was that he pointed others to the Lord Jesus and brought them into contact with Him. From the context we can conclude that both Nathanael and the Greeks were believers. The Lord testified of Nathanael: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” (John 1:47). He would not have said that about an unbeliever. Moreover, from Nathanael’s response we can see that he expected the Messiah, the King of Israel. The Greeks had come to worship at the feast (John 12:20). Only believers can truly worship. 

So Philip brought believers to Christ.

Nathanael could hardly believe Messiah had come. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Maybe he was sad about the general condition of the people of Israel, the Roman rule and the miserable spiritual state of the nation (see also footnote). The Greeks had no direct access to the Lord, as He had come – in the first place – for His own people (see John 1:11). We see this clearly when the Lord meets this Greek woman in Mark 7:24–30. The Lord refers to the Jews as “children” and to the Greeks as “little dogs”. Dogs were unclean animals for the Jews.

So we can say that Philip brought believers to the Lord who had been discouraged or needed help in some way or another. Full of conviction he could testify of the Lord (John 1:45).

We too, you and I, can tell our fellow believers about the Lord Jesus, about who He is and what He has done for us. If we have had this encounter with the Lord, if He really is great to us, if we love Him, should we not tell others about Him?

Questions from Camp: The Devil

Is he real? 

There is a memorable line from the 1995 movie “The Usual Suspects” where one of the characters says "The Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled Was Convincing the World He Didn’t Exist". For many of us it can be hard to believe that the Devil  is real. Especially when our only reference point is the red-horned, trident-raising cartoon villain we see in films.

 

However, the Bible is very clear that he is real and whether we call him the Devil, Satan or Lucifer, he is not just a cartoon character! The Devil appears throughout the Bible from the garden of Eden (Genesis 3) to trying to tempt the Lord Jesus is the wilderness (Matthew 4). 

So the next question might be...

Where did he come from?

The history of Satan is described in the Bible in Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19. These two biblical passages show that it was Satan's pride and desire to be higher than God that resulted in him being thrown out of heaven. He fell because of his desire to be God instead of a servant of God.

Satan was the highest of all the angels, but he wasn’t happy. He desired to be God and rule the universe. God cast Satan out of heaven as a fallen angel.

What powers do Satan and his demons have? 

Demons possess the great power of angels (Rom. 8:38), greater than us humans but far less than our Creator; God.

The Bible records they have the power to carry out the following actions:

1. Indwell humans and animals (Mark 5:1–16)
2. Physically afflict people (Mark 9:17, 22)
3. Terrorise humans (1 Sam. 16:14–15 Acts 19:13–16;)
4. Begin false worship (1 Cor. 10:20–21)
5. Promote false doctrines (1 Tim. 4:1)
6. Perform false signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 16:13–14)
7. Deceive prophets (1 Kings 22:19–23)
8. Encourage idolatry (Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37)

So, should we worry about the Devil?

Ultimately no, because the Lord Jesus is far more powerful and has been victorious over all evil. However strong demons might be, they also have serious weaknesses and vulnerabilities:

1. Even demons unwittingly serve God’s purposes (Judg. 9:23).
2. They were terrified of the Lord Jesus and the gospel (Matt. 8:29; Mark 1:24; James 2:19).
3. They obeyed the Lord Jesus (Matt. 8:32).
4. They obeyed the Twelve disciples (Matt. 10:1–8) and the Seventy-Two disciples (Luke 10:17–20).
5. They cannot separate believers in Christ from the love of God (Rom. 8:38).
6. They can be restrained by the Holy Spirit (2 Thess. 2:6; 1 John 4:4).
7. They have been judged already by God (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6) and will be again in the future (Rev. 20:10).

As strong and powerful as Satan and his demons are, they have been defeated. 

The apostle John tells christians that we are God's children and that "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) The He in that verse is the Holy Spirit. As Christians we have God living inside us and where God is, Satan can not be!

As long as we realise the truth of Romans 8:38 "If God is for us, who can be against us?" We have no need to fear the Devil.