Based upon the same principle, let us look at the case of Nathanael in John 1. Philip found Jesus and came to Nathanael and told him that he had found Christ, that he had found the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (John 1:45). You may say that Philip gave the right information, and you may also say that it was wrong. Philip called Him “the son of Joseph”—is this right? If you say that Jesus is the son of Joseph, I will say that He is not the son of Joseph—He was born of Mary. However, if you say He is not the son of Joseph, I will say that He is. What would you say? Thank the Lord for Philip. Philip was really good and so simple. He did not argue. He simply answered, “Come and see.” In other words, he could have said, “I do not know if I gave you the right information or not—simply come and see! I do not know what to say; I do not know what is right or wrong. Come and see!”
Nathanael was a godly person. He asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” In a sense, Nathanael was right. He learned from the Bible that Christ should come from Bethlehem, not out of Nazareth. God told His people in His holy writings that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, and all His people received this knowledge. Here, however, may the Lord allow me to use a word which is not inherently good; in this matter God did something in what we may call a somewhat “sneaky” way. Christ was conceived not in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth. During Mary’s pregnancy He was brought to Bethlehem for a short time, not in an ordinary way, but in an extraordinary way. God sovereignly worked: He used Caesar Augustus of the Roman Empire to issue an order for a census, an order requiring that Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem. Immediately upon their arrival in Bethlehem, Jesus was born. A short time later He was brought away from Bethlehem to Egypt, and then brought out of Egypt to settle in Nazareth and grow up there. Therefore, Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures by being born in Bethlehem, but we may say that it was done somewhat in a “sneaky” way. If you knew only the letter of the Scriptures, you could miss His birth altogether. God has a way of circumventing clever people. Jesus was truly born in Bethlehem, but He was also Jesus of Nazareth.
We should not simply trust in the letter of the Word as something apart from the Lord Himself. If we do, we will miss something. We need the Word, but we also need God’s presence. God is not so simple. Not only was there the prophecy in the Old Testament; there was also the sovereignty of God, and the sovereignty of God in a sense may seem to be rather “sneaky.” God is not so open, so public, so greatly advertised. It was in a hidden way that the little child Jesus was brought in. If we are so legal, so scripturally legal, God in our case may be rather “sneaky.” We need to be on the alert. We should not say, “I know the Bible; I know what the Bible says in this matter and in that.” If we say this, we may be fooled by our knowledge.
The scribes knew the Scriptures in a thorough way, but their knowledge profited them nothing. We need to be in the presence of God all the time. Surely I am not one who despises the Scriptures; I honor and respect them to the uttermost. However, we need to be careful because the Scriptures are the Scriptures, but they are not God Himself. The Scriptures are God’s holy writings, but we nevertheless need God’s holy presence. If we have His presence, we will know when He is in Bethlehem, when He goes away, when He comes back, and where He is raised up. We need to follow the Lord in this way.
What the Lord has been doing throughout history, toward the worldly and religious people, has been hidden and “sneaky.” It is really difficult to explain it to people. If you ask who Jesus is, outwardly speaking, He is simply a man; He is Jesus of Nazareth. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” It is really so. There is no glory, no boast, no display. Philip really gave Nathanael the best answer: “Come and see!”