The First Followers of Jesus

³⁵The next day John was there again. John had two of his followers with him. ³⁶John saw Jesus walking by. John said, "Look, the Lamb of God*!" ³⁷The two followers heard John say this, so they followed Jesus. ³⁸Jesus turned and saw the two men following him. Jesus asked, "What do you want?" The two men said, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" ("Rabbi" means "Teacher.") ³⁹Jesus answered, "Come with me and you will see." So the two men went with Jesus. They saw the place where Jesus stayed. They stayed there with Jesus that day. It was about four o'clock. ⁴⁰These two men followed Jesus after they heard about Jesus from John. One of these two men was named Andrew. Andrew was Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to go find his brother, Simon. Andrew said to Simon, "We have found the Messiah." ("Messiah" means "Christ.*") ⁴²Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, "You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas." ("Cephas" means "Peter.*") ⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. Jesus found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." ⁴⁴Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, "Remember what Moses wrote in the law. Moses wrote about a man that was coming. The prophets* wrote about him too. We have found him. His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth." ⁴⁶But Nathanael said to Philip, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip answered, "Come and see." ⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. Jesus said, "This man coming is truly one of God's people.* There is nothing false in him." ⁴⁸Nathanael asked, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree. That was before Philip told you about me." ⁴⁹Then Nathanael said to Jesus, "Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel (God's people)." ⁵⁰Jesus said to Nathanael, "I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. That is why you believe in me. But you will see much greater things than that!" ⁵¹Jesus also said, "I tell you the truth. You will all see heaven open. You will see 'angels of God going up and coming down'* on the Son of Man.*"

Lamb of God Name for Jesus. It means that Jesus is like the lambs that were offered for a sacrifice to God. Christ The "anointed one" (Messiah) or chosen one of God. Peter The Greek name "Peter," like the Aramaic name "Cephas," means "rock." prophets People that spoke for God. Some of them wrote books that are part of the Old Testament. one of God's people Literally, "an Israelite." 'angels ... coming down' Quote from Gen. 28:12. Son of Man A name Jesus used for himself. In Dan. 7:13-14, this is the name for the Messiah, the one God chose to save his people.