<TITLE>11. Par 43-46</TITLE>L-43 Now, we find that... Nathanael going along the bank with--with Philip. And, you know, Philip might've started a testimony like this. He said, "Do you remember that Simon, the fisherman, that man that doesn't have any education?"
"Yes, I--I knowed his father, Jonas. Yes. You remember you bought some fish from him one time and he couldn't sign the receipt?"
"Yes, I remember that well."
"Well, Andrew, his brother, was a believer on the Messiah and told him, like you and I have talked, that the Messiah will be a prophet like Moses. That's the Scriptural approach to Him. And now, if it is Him, then here's what happened. When he came up in the Presence of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus told him who he was: said, 'Your name is Simon, and you're the son of Jonas.' And you know what, Nathanael? It wouldn't surprise me if He didn't tell you who you were when you come. It wouldn't surprise me."

L-44 Nathanael said, "Well, Philip, I'm not going to be critical. I'm just going to find out."
"Well, when we arrived at the meeting, there might have been a prayer line; or they might have been setting out in the audience, or wherever it was, or standing up. Somehow, there was a group of Pharisees around there, and they knowed..."
Now, they were orthodox, but they didn't believe in the supernatural. So they--they, standing with their hands behind them, and they seen Jesus performing these signs, and they knowed they'd have to answer to their congregation. And they couldn't say it wasn't done, because it was right before the congregation. So they said, "He's Beelzebub. He is a prince of the devil." That's what He... In other words, a foul spirit doing that--a devil, a fortuneteller, or some other foul spirit... We all know that fortunetelling and that stuff is of the devil. And so they called the Spirit that was in Christ an unclean spirit.
And He told them, said, "I forgive you for that. But someday the Holy Ghost is coming. He will do the same thing. And to speak a word against that will never be forgiven in this world nor the world to come." So wonder if we could be living in that day?

L-45 Anyhow, we find out that when they come up into the--where the people were, Jesus looked straight around into the crowds, or maybe Nathanael might've stepped in the line somewhere, and Jesus looked at him and said, "Behold an Israelite, in whom there is no guile." He never told him who he was, but He said, "an Israelite, in whom there is no guile."
He said, "Rabbi (which means teacher, master), when did You ever know me? (Now, I'm a stranger to You, in other words.). When did You ever know me?"
And here come the--here it come back. He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree I saw you."
I can imagine old Nathanael raising up in the...?... the boat, and shaking his hands, and shouting a little bit, and dancing around the boat. And it might've been Matthew said, "Set still. You'll turn the boat over." Oh, they were getting up and having them a real jubilee then, you know, a real testimony meeting. Don't you like to get into those? Just having a glorious time, said, "Oh, set still, brother. You'll turn the boat over."

L-46 "Oh, well I remember. That sure took all the starch out of me, for Philip and I had just been discussing that Scripture, if there was one among us that was a prophet... And we hadn't had a prophet for four hundred years and since Malachi, four hundred years before, and the idea of a prophet had faded out. But when that strange Man told me where I was before I even come over there, that settled it with me. I knowed."
"And I looked around, and I seen the--my bishop, or whatever you might call him up there, a priest standing up there. And he give me a great frown, because, you know, I used to be deacon over there. And so, he give me a great frown, but I was convinced. I knew that was Him. So I just turned my back, and rushed over to Him, and fell down at His feet, and said, 'Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.'"


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