The Lamb with the dove attracted people to follow Him. When John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” two of his disciples were drawn to Him, and John was very happy about it. What were the names of these two disciples? The first was Andrew, and the second should be John, the writer of this gospel, although he was humble, not mentioning himself by name. Once Andrew had been attracted, he found his brother Simon and led him to Jesus (1:41-42). When the Lord looked upon Simon, He changed his name to Cephas, or Peter, which means a stone. The Lord referred to this word of His when He spoke to Peter in Matthew 16:18 about the building of the church. It must have been from this that Peter had obtained the concept of the living stones for the building of the spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5), which is the church. The significance of a stone is that it denotes a work of transformation to bring forth material for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:12).
In one chapter we have a Lamb, a dove, and the stone, all of which are figures. What is the meaning of these figures? The meaning is that the Lamb plus the dove produces stones. Redemption plus regeneration and transformation produces stones. Once again I say that we should not try to understand the Gospel of John merely according to the black and white letters. You must probe into the real significance of the allegories. What is a lamb? According to Exodus 12, the Passover lamb was slain for the people’s sins and eaten for their satisfaction. What is a dove? From the Old Testament we have seen that a dove is a creature full of the beauty of life. Thus, it represents the third Person of the Godhead reaching humanity and imparting life to man. This dove which descends upon man matches redemption and is for the producing of stones. It does not produce preachers, ministers, or doctors of theology; it produces stones. As we shall see, these stones are for the building of Bethel, the house of God.
Although Andrew found the Lord before Peter did, Jesus did not change Andrew’s name. What is the reason for this? If you and I had been the Lord Jesus, we probably would have changed Andrew’s name to stone and John’s to diamond. However, the Lord Jesus was unhurried and moved gradually, changing Simon’s name, not Andrew’s. If I had been Andrew, I would have said, “Lord, why didn’t You change my name? It’s not fair. I came to You first. Why do You give Simon a new name and not me? Lord, You have to give me a new name too.” But the Lord did not change Andrew’s name. This indicates that everything depends on Him. The Lord will never act in a rush.
Philip was the next one to be attracted to the Lord Jesus. However, the Lord did not do anything with Philip. Then Philip found Nathanael and said, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and prophets wrote, Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth” (v. 45). This information was inaccurate. Jesus was not born of Joseph, but of Mary (Matt. 1:16), and was not born in Nazareth, but in Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7). When Nathanael said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, Philip said, “Come and see.” Philip was right not to argue with Nathanael. He realized that he was lacking in understanding, so he simply said to Nathanael, “Come and see.” We all have a lesson to learn from these words. There are many young Philips among us, who, after seeing something of the Lord, have gone out and spoken to others in an improper way, giving them wrong information. Thus, we should not argue with people, but simply tell them to come and see. Nathanael came. Although the Lord did not do anything with Philip, He did something with Nathanael, speaking to him of Jacob’s dream (1:51).
Why did the Lord do something with Simon and Nathanael, but not with Andrew and Philip? There is a principle here and the principle is this: the Lord does not deal with the first, but always with the second. The first is of the old creation. During the Passover in Egypt all the firstborn were killed. Do not be the first, for if you desire to be the first, you are finished with the Lord. Although it may be good to be the first in school, it is not good in the church. Never try to be the first with the Lord Jesus. Learn to be the second. If you attempt to be the first, you will miss the mark. Everyone likes to be first. However, if you are willing to be second, the Lord will do something to you. Simon was second, and the Lord revealed to him the matter of being a stone. Nathanael also was second, and the Lord unveiled to him the house of God.