Like Philip, we often forget how great Jesus is. We forget how powerful He is, how loving He is, and truths about Him in Scripture. May we often remind ourselves about His power, love, and person and know Him as the Bible reveals Him to be.

Philip illustrates two lessons for us today from a handful of passages in John. These lessons may not be the primary points of the passages that we will consider, but they are nonetheless good reminders for us today.

Those Who Seek the Lord Will Find Him 

Jeremiah 29:13 promises, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” When telling Nathanael about Jesus, Philip claimed, “We have found Him” (John 1:45). He must have been searching for Jesus to say he had found Him.

Perhaps we could say that Philip found Jesus in multiple ways.

First, Philip found Jesus through the message of John the Baptist. Philip was from the same city as Andrew (John 1:44), a disciple of John the Baptist. Philip likely heard John the Baptist preach and was waiting for the Messiah as a result.

Second, Philip found Jesus in the Scriptures. When Philip went to bring Nathanael to Jesus, he motivated him to come by identifying Jesus as “Him of who Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote―Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45). Philip knew what the Old Testament said about the coming Messiah. Whether from the synagogue, John the Baptist, personal study, or all of the above, he believed truths and was waiting for the Messiah.

Third, Philip found Jesus in person. Jesus first “found Philip,” and when He did, Philip later said, “We have found Him” (John 1:43, 45). Philip’s wait was over. Now He followed Jesus who he found and followed Him in person.

Like Philip, we find Jesus in the Scriptures and biblical sermons. Though we do not presently see Him with our eyes, we love Him and will see His face one day (1 Peter 1:8–9; Revelation 22:4). May God help us to see Jesus now in the Word, and may we persevere until we see Him in person in time to come.

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