![\"come-and-see\"](\"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/\/07\/come-and-see1.png\")
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by Reverend Hubermann Larose<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Si vous voulez lire ce texte en fran\u00e7ais cliquez ici<\/a>!<\/p>\n This advice was given by an \u201cevangelist\u201d short of arguments before the objections of a friend he wanted to lead to Jesus. The \u201cevangelist\u201d is Philip, and the friend Nathanael. The section of the Gospel of John that introduces Jesus\u2019 first disciples (John 1:33-50) discloses how differently they responded to Jesus\u2019 call to become his disciples. Andrew and Simon followed Jesus on this simple testimony John the Baptist bore to him: \u201cBehold the Lamb of God that takes way the sin of the world.\u201d For Philip, a blunt \u201cFollow me\u201d call from Jesus sufficed to decide him to become one of his disciples. But, because of the prejudices he harbored in his heart, Nathanael was not the kind of man in whom a simple testimony or a direct call to join the ranks could elicit faith.<\/p>\n Filled with enthusiasm by his encounter with the Messiah he just discovered, Philip said to Nathanael, \u201cWe have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote\u2014Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.\u201d But Nathanael was unmoved by his friend\u2019s excitement. \u201cCan anything good come out of Nazareth?\u201d he scornfully said to Philip.<\/p>\n Instead of embarking in an all-out discussion with his friend, Philip considered it more advisable to invite Nathanael to come personally, to make his own experience with him whom he believed to be the Messiah the Law and the Prophets predicted. \u201cCome and see!\u201d he told him. Come and see for yourself, do your own research, come to the source itself, and make your own observations\u2026All of that is included in Philip\u2019s \u201cCome and see!\u201d Nathanael was too upright a man to escape such a nudging. He went, he saw, and he believed.<\/p>\n This story has much to say to two kinds of people represented by Philip, the evangelist, and Nathanael, the evangelized one.<\/p>\n Paul, in his second letter to Timothy (4:5), exhorts each and every one of us to do the work of an evangelist\u2014thus to play the Philip\u2019s role towards the Nathanaels of this world. The Philips must challenge the Nathanaels to do their own research and investigations concerning Jesus Christ and the reliability of the Christian faith. There is no risk in encouraging the critics of Christianity to examine the evidence and draw their own conclusions.<\/p>\n Truth has no fear of scrutiny; it always passes it with flying colors, often converting the challenger into a worshipper. That was the case with Frank Morison, the British lawyer who set out to discredit Christianity, but who, to his great surprise, came to be convinced of the veracity of the gospel accounts and ended up being converted to Jesus Christ. That was also the case with Simon Greenleaf, the celebrated expert in Evidence of the 19th century, who was challenged by one of his students to examine the evidence concerning Jesus and the Christian faith. Greenleaf took up the challenge, but only to discover the solidity of the facts reported in the gospels. He gave his heart to Christ and became one of the greatest apologists of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n The Nathanaels also have a great deal to learn from that story. So many people, though sincere and honest, oppose Jesus Christ on account of generally accepted ideas, of cut-and-dried opinions that circulate in the milieus in which they move\u2014whether it be familial, social, intellectual, scientific, academic, professional, so on and so forth. Half-truths or absolute falsehoods that don\u2019t stand up to analysis if ever one goes to the trouble of following Philip\u2019s advice to Nathanael: “Come and see!”<\/p>\n Could it be that you are like Nathanael\u2014a sincere man or woman who would give up the quest of truth because of so many shortcomings, flaws, so many scandals found among the followers of him who declare, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). Maybe you have wondered, “What good can come out of these people?”<\/p>\n I can but give you the advice Nathanael gave to Philip: “Come and see!” or the invitation given by the author of Psalm 34:9: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” Dare to make a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, and I guarantee you that you will discover His unsurpassable beauty, His never-ending compassion, His unfathomable love\u2014and more than that, you will discover in Him the ultimate object of the quest you have embarked on for so long. And then you will be able to sing:<\/p>\n All my life I had a longing Hubermann Larose<\/a> Si vous voulez lire ce texte en fran\u00e7ais cliquez ici<\/a>!<\/p>\n Reverend Hubermann Larose
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\nCome and See – (John 1:45-46)<\/h2>\n
\nFor a drink from some clear spring,
\nThat I hoped would quench the burning
\nOf the thirst I felt within.
\nHallelujah! I have found Him
\nWhom my soul so long has craved!
\nJesus satisfies my longings,
\nThrough His blood I now am saved.<\/p>\n
\nAssociate Pastor<\/p>\n
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\nAssociate Pastor<\/p>\n