“James the son of Alphaeus” (Luke 6:15c)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/3/2026 9:56 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  “James the son of Alphaeus”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference: Luke 6:15c

            Message of the verse:  “James the son of Alphaeus.”

            This morning’s SD will be a very short one as there is not much to say about James the son of Alphaeus.”

            John MacArthur writes “Despite his supreme privilege as one of the twelve men chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ to be His personal representatives, virtually nothing is known about James.  All that the New Testament reveals about him is that his father’s name was Alphaeus, his mother’s name was Mary (Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40).”

(Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40)

“56  among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.”

“40  There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.”

“Since Matthew’s father was also named Alphaeus (Mark 2:14), it is possible that the two were brothers.”

(Mark 2:14)

14  And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”

            “In Mark 15:40, James is referred to by his nickname ‘James the Less’ Mikros (‘Less’) means, ‘little.’ The nickname may mean that James was small in stature.  It may also mean that he was young in age.  Most likely, however, it refers to his relative lack of importance and influence in comparison to the more famous James, the brother of John and member of the inner circle of the Twelve.

            “Where James ministered after Pentecost is not known.  He may have preached the gospel in Persia, or Egypt, of both.  According to some traditions, he was martyred by crucifixion in Egypt.  This humble servant’s only distinguishing mark is his obscurity.  He sought no recognition, displayed no great leadership skills, asked no critical questions, and demonstrated no unusual insights.  Only his name remains, and the honor due him as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is a far greater record of his life and ministry in heaven.”

Spiritual Meaning for my life today:  Being humble like this man was is certainly something that is needed more in my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trusting the Lord to giver great comfort to my wife as the cancer in her body grows worse.

7/3/2026 10:15 AM

 

PT-2 “Thomas” (Luke 6:15b)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2026 05:27 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus: PT-2 “Thomas”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 6:15b

            Message of the verse: “Thomas”

            “At this point Thomas took the lead.  Rallying his fellow disciples he said to them, ‘Let us also go, so that we may die with Him’ (v. 16).  His courageous statement was made all the more so by his pessimism—he fully expected that both they and Jesus would be killed.  Yet his love and devotion were so strong that he preferred to die rather than to face life without the Lord.

            “That aspect of his nature is reinforced in Thomas’s next appearance in John’s gospel.  In the upper room on the night before His death, Jesus told the apostles that He was going away to the Father’s house to prepare a place for them, and would return to take them there (John 14:1-3).”  “1 ¶  "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2  In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  “Because He had already told the disciples that He was returning to the Father (e.g., John 7:33; 13:1, 3), Jesus expected them to know where He was going (v. 4).  Dismayed at the thought of the Lord’s leaving, Thomas exclaimed, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?’  (v. 5).  His statement reflects both his intense love for Christ, and his extreme pessimism.

            “By now the disciples realized that Jesus was going to die, but they had no firsthand knowledge of what happens after death.  Further, Jesus had just told them that they could not at that time go where He was going (John 13:33,36).  Thomas’s plaintive question reflected their confusion and despair.  If they did not know where the Lord was going, how  could they follow Him there?  The thought of losing Jesus was unbearable to Thomas, and he was engulfed in heart broken despair.

            “By the time Thomas appears again in John’s narrative, his worst fear had been realized:  Jesus had died, and he had not.  When the Lord appeared to the disciples for the first time after He rose from the dead, Thomas was not there (John 20:24).  Where he was is not stated, but perhaps devastated by the death of the Lord whom he supremely loved, he preferred to be alone with his sorrow and despair. In any case, when he returned, the other ten apostles greeted him excitedly with the news that Jesus had risen from the dead and appeared to them.” (7/2/2026 5:40 PM)   (7/2/2026 7:44 PM)

            “It was then that Thomas uttered the statement for which he is famous:  ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe’ (v. 25).  Thomas was not about to get his hopes up, only to have them dashed again.  Although Thomas’s skepticism earned him the nickname ‘Doubting Thomas,’ the other apostles had fared no better.  They too, had scoffed at the initial reports of Christ’s resurrection (Luke 24:10-11), and only believed after He appeared to them (John 20:20).

            “Eight days later, Jesus once again appeared to the apostles.  This time Thomas’s grief had eased enough for him to be present with his companions. The Lord immediately confronted his lack of faith.  ‘Reach here with your finger,’ He commanded Thomas, ‘and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing’ (John 20:27).  Thomas’s simple, yet profound reply, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (v. 28) is perhaps the greatest statement ever made by and of the apostles, equaled only by Peter’s confession, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (Matt. 16:16). His melancholy pessimism vanished in the glorious light of the risen Savior, and Thomas was transformed into a power evangelist.  There is a strong tradition from the early centuries of the church that Thomas carried the gospel to India, where he was martyred.  Some accounts say that he was thrust through with a spear—a fitting form of martyrdom for the one whose doubts were forever banished when he saw the mark of the spear in the Savior’s side.”

7/2/2026 7:53 PM  

 

PT-1 “Thomas” (Luke 6:15b)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/2/2026 12:27 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                       Focus: PT-1 “Thomas”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 6:15b

            Message of the verse: “Thomas”

            There are a lot of things going on in my life today as things are changing due to the cancer that my wife is fighting in her body, and so my SD’s may be a little shorter than they have been, but hopefully the Lord will continue to use them to bring glory to my Savior’s name.

            “His skeptical reply to the other apostles’ claim to have seen the risen Lord Jesus Christ, ‘Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe’ (John 20:25), has earned Thomas the nickname, ‘Doubting Thomas.’  In fact, that phrase has come to label a skeptical, habitually doubting person.  While it is fair to say that Thomas tended to be a negative person, he was too good a man for such a one-dimensional appraisal of his character. 

            “According to John 11:16, 20:24, and 21:2, Thomas was also called Didymus, which means, ‘twin.’  Whether he actually had a twin brother or sister, however, is not recorded in Scripture. His name is given in the Synoptic Gospels only in the lists of the apostles.  But as he did with Philip and Bartholomew (Nathanael), the apostle John fleshes out some aspects of his character.

            “The first incident in which Thomas appears is recorded in John chapter 11.  After His unambiguous claim to deity and equality with the Father (10:30), the enraged Jewish leaders sought to kill Jesus (vv. 31, 39).  Because His time had not yet come (cf. John 7:30; 8:20), Jesus ‘went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there’ (John 10:40), along with the Twelve.

            “While they were there, Jesus received the news that His close friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, was seriously ill.  He may even had died by the time the messenger they sent reached Jesus and the disciples.  When He received the message, Jesus said, ‘This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it’ (11:4).  He did not mean that Lazarus was not going to die, but that death would not be the final outcome of his illness.  The apostles, who assumed that Lazarus was therefore going to recover, were no doubt relieved to hear Jesus’ words.  That the Lord remained where He was for two more days (11:6) must have further reassured them that Lazarus would recover.

            “But then the Lord dropped a bombshell on them: ‘Then aft er this He said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again’ (v. 7).  Shocked and appalled, the disciples protested incredulously, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?’  (v.8). Why leave a fruitful ministry (10:41-42), they reasoned, and travel to Bethany in the vicinity of Jerusalem (the town was only two miles from Jerusalem [John 11:18]) where they risked begin arrested and executed?  Jesus replied (vv. 9-10) that He and they were perfectly safe during the divinely-appointed duration of His earthly ministry…

            MacArthur goes into much more details in his commentary on the gospel of John written in 2006.

            “The Lord then explained why they had to return to Bethany. ‘Our friend  Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep’ (v. 11).  Still not grasping the situation, ‘the disciples then said to Him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover’’ (v. 12).  Since Lazarus was apparently on the road to recovery, there seemed to be no logical reason to risk everything by returning to Judea.  Finally, Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him (vv. 14-15).  At last, the disciples realized what had really happened and understood that it was futile to try to talk Jesus out of returning to Judea.  But they were still very hesitant and fearful about going.”  I have commented on this section about Lazarus on the following dates 8:26-8:31 2016 when I was studying the gospel of John, so if you want to you can look those dates up on my blogsite.

7/2/2026 1:05 PM

             

Matthew (Luke 6:15a)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2026 9:32 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                                 Focus:  Matthew

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 6:15a

            Message of the verse:  “Matthew”

            This evening I will begin looking at one of my favorite apostles, that is Matthew from the commentary of John MacArthur.

            “Luke’s introduction of Matthew marks the halfway point both in the second group of  four apostles (Phil, Bartholomew, Matthew, and Thomas) and in the list of Twelve.  Although he was the author of one of the four Gospels, little is revealed in the New Testament about him.  Matthew himself in his own gospel (9:9-10) and Luke (5:27-29) briefly describes his call by the Lord, and the reception for sinners he gave afterwards.  Those two incidents mark Matthew’s only appearance in the Gospels, apart from the lists of the apostles.  Matthew’s silence about himself in his gospel in particular reveals him to have been humble, self-effacing, and content to remain in the background.”  As I think about this last statement it comes to my mind that perhaps Matthew did not want to be recognized because of the fact that he was a tax collector, which made him hated by those in Israel.

            “Like several of the other apostles, he had two names:  Matthew (Matt. 9:9) and Levi (Luke 5:27).  He was a tax collector by profession, which makes his selection as an apostle all the more remarkable.  Tax collectors were despised outcasts in Jewish society.  They were traitors, who opportunistically collaborated with the Romans for their own financial gain.  Tax collectors purchased tax franchises from the Romans, and anything they collected beyond what was required of them (cf. Luke 3:12-13) went into their own pockets.  They practiced larceny, extortion, exploitation, and even loan sharking, loaning out money at exorbitant interest to those who were unable to pay their taxes.  Tax collectors also employed thugs to physically intimidate people into paying whatever they demanded, and to beat up those who refused.

            “All of that infuriated the Jewish people, who believed that God was the only one to whom they should pay taxes.  They scorned tax collectors, classified them as unclean, and banned them from the synagogues.  Since the Jews considered tax collectors to be habitual liars, they were not permitted to give testimony in a Jewish court.  Tax collectors came to symbolize the epitome of evil (cf. Matt. 18:17; 21:3-12; Luke 5:30; 7:34; 18:11).

            “There were two types of tax collectors, the gabbai, who collected the general taxes such as the land, poll, and income taxes, and the mokhes, who collected the more specific taxes, such as those on the transport of goods, letters, produce, using roads, crossing bridges, and almost anything else the greedy traitors could think of (cf. Alfred Edersheim,  The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah  [Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1974], 1:515-18).  There were in turn two kinds of mokhes, the great mokhes, and the little mokhes.  The great mokhes did not actually collect taxes, but hired others to do so for him.  The little mokhes would be employed by the great mokhes to actually collect taxes.  Because they were the ones who interacted with the people on a regular basis, they were the ones who bore the brunt of their anger and hatred.  Matthew was one such little mokhes (Luke 5:27), one of the most despised and reviled men in Capernaum.

            “Yet when Jesus called him, Matthew unhesitatingly ‘left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him’ (Luke 5:28).  Unlike some of the other apostles who had been fishermen (cf. John 21:1-3), Matthew could never go back to his profession.  The great mokhes for whom he had worked would have immediately replaced him.  Why was Matthew willing to walk away from his lucrative business and follow Jesus knowing what the future held?  Despite being an outcast from Judaism, Matthew was nonetheless very familiar with the Old Testament, more than any other gospel writer.  Matthew believed in the true God, and understood the Scriptures.  Like most of his countrymen, he was expecting the Messiah to come.  Apparently through his interaction with those from whom he collected taxes, he had heard all about Jesus’ miraculous works and powerful preaching.  His heart was ready when the Lord called him, and his faith was strong enough for him to drop everything and obey the call.

            “The genuineness of Matthew’s repentance and faith revealed itself in the banquet he gave in his home after Jesus called him (Matt. 9:10; Luke 5:29; with characteristic humility, Matthew did not mention that the reception was in his own house.) He invited his fellow tax collectors and other associated sinners—the riffraff of Jewish society.

            “After this reception, Matthew fades from the gospel record.  Neither is anything known for certain about his life and ministry after Pentecost. Most accounts agree that he preached the gospel to the Jewish people before ministering to the Gentiles, possibly in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, or in Persia, Macedonia, or Syria.  Nor do the traditions agree on the place or manner of his death.  According to some accounts, he was burned at the stake, while others state that he was beheaded or stoned to death.  But in any case this man, who freely abandoned a lucrative, if criminal., career to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, never looked back.  Matthew willingly gave his all for Him to the very end.”

7/1/2026 10:15 PM

 

“Intro to Chapter Seven” (Luke 6:15-16a)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/1/2026 8:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  “Intro to Chapter Seven”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 6:15-16a

            Message of the verses:  “Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas the son of James”

            This morning I want to quote the introduction to this seventh chapter of John MacArthur’s commentary “Common Men, Uncommon Calling—Part 6: Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot Judas the son of James.”

            “A seemingly paradoxical biblical truth, one that appears counter-intuitive to human wisdom, is that God exalts the humble but humbles the proud.  As the psalmist noted, ‘God is the judge; He puts down one and exalts another’ (Ps. 75:7).  Moses was perhaps Israel’s most honored leader.  Yet according to Numbers 12:3, ‘Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.’ ‘A man’s pride will bring him low,’ Solomon warned, ‘but a humble spirit will obtain honor’ (Prov. 29:23; cf. v. 25).  Ezekiel 17:24 expressed that truth in picturesque language:  ‘All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord; I bring down the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.  I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will perform it’ (cf. 21:26).

            “The New Testament also reveals God’s sovereign humbling of the proud and exalting of the humble.  In her Magnificat, Mary praised God because ‘He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble’ (Luke 1:52).  So significant is this principle that the Lord Jesus Christ repeated it on three different occasions (Matt. 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14).  James exhorted his readers, ‘Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you’ (James 4:10).

            “Jesus’ choice of the Twelve was consistent with God’s use of humble people (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-29).  None of them were members of Israel’s religious establishment; they included no scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, or priests.  Nor were they taken from the social elite, the literate, the educated, or the theologically astute.  None were from Jerusalem, the center of Jewish culture; except for the traitor Judas Iscariot, they were from Galilee, whose inhabitants were despised by the rest of the Jewish people.  The Gospels portray the Twelve as plain, common, and ordinary men.

            “In spite of the fact that they were empowered to do miracles, the apostles were by no means the stars of the gospel accounts; they were at best the supporting cast.  There are no records of the miracles they did (until the book of Acts) and very few instances of any significant act by any of them.  While Peter made a profound statement acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God (Matt. 16:16), he then brashly rebuked the Lord and was in turn sternly rebuked by Him (vv. 22-23).  Peter’s one impressive act, walking on the water, was spoiled when his faith failed (Matt. 15:15-17; 16:5-12), or lack of humility (Mark 9:33-34; Luke 9:46-48).

            “But despite their shortcomings, the Twelve willingly gave up everything to follow Jesus Christ (Matt. 19:27; Luke 5:11), and made a permanent break with their past.  That set them apart from many who temporarily followed Jesus, as an examination of John chapter 6 reveals.  A large crowd was attracted to Jesus because He healed the sick (v.2) and fed them (vv. 5-14).  The next day many of them crossed the Sea of Galilee in search of Jesus (vv. 22-25).  Knowing their hearts (cf. v. 64), the Lord rebuked them for following Him with improper motives (vv. 26-27).  He then taught them profound truths about Himself that many were not prepared to accept (vv. 28-65), and ‘as a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore’ (v. 66).  Turning to the Twelve, Jesus asked them, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ (v. 67).  Speaking for all of them, ‘Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have words of eternal life.  We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God’’(vv. 68-69).  Unlike the fickle crowds, the Twelve (with the exception of Judas; (vv. 70-71) were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah as well as the Son of God.”

Spiritual Meaning for my life today:  Pride is something that can get me into trouble, while being humble can exalt the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as I go through this great deal of trouble in dealing what is going on with my wife as she battles cancer, an awful foe.

7/1/2026 9:30 AM

PT-2 “Bartholomew (Nathanael) (Luke 6:14f)

 

EVENNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2026 6:01 PM

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “Bartholomew (Nathanael)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 6:14f

            Message of the verse:  “Bartholomew”

            I want to finish copying the rest of this section from John MacArthur’s commentary as we continue to look at Nathanael, one of Jesus’ apostles.

            “Unfazed by Nathanael’s cynical comment, Philip issued a simple challenge: ‘Come and see’ (v. 46).  To his credit, Nathanael’s seeking heart overcame his prejudice, and he went with Philip to meet Jesus.  To his utter amazement, the Lord greeted him as ‘an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’ (v. 47).  Jesus’ words were a powerful commendation of Nathanael’s character.  His characterization of him as ‘an Israelite indeed (alethos; ‘truly,’ ‘actually,’ ‘in reality’)’ means far more than that Nathanael was a physical descendant of Abraham.  Abrahamic descent alone does not make on a true Jew.  As the apostle Paul wrote, ‘They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel’ (Rom. 9:6), since ‘he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.  But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter’ (Rom. 2:28-29).  Jesus identified Nathanael as one of the believing remnants, who worshiped the true and living God.  Simeon and Anna were also examples of such (Luke 2:25-38).

            “Surprised that this man whom he had never met would greet him that way, Nathanael asked incredulously, ‘How do You know me?’  (v. 48).  How could Jesus know what was in his heart?  The Lord’s answer, which revealed His omniscience, shocked Nathanael.  ‘Before Philip called you,’ He replied, ‘when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’  But there is more to Jesus’ response than merely His supernatural knowledge of Nathanael’s location; He also knew the state of Nathanael’s heart (cf. John 2:24-25).”  “24  But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25  and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”  “To escape the noise and, in hot weather, the stuffy heat of their houses, people often sought solitude under the shade of a fig tree.  That was where Nathanael went to study, pray, and think.

            “The Lord’s knowledge of Nathanael’s heart removed all his doubts about Him and he exclaimed, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel’ (v. 49).  Nathanael affirmed his belief in Christ’s deity as the ‘Son of God’ (cf. Ps. 2:12) and that he was the Messiah, the ‘King of Israel’ (cf. Zech. 9:9).”

(cf. Ps. 2:12)

“12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

(cf. Zech. 9:9)

“9 ¶  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’

“Jesus in turn affirmed Nathanael’s faith ‘and said to him, ‘Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?’’ (v. 50).  The Lord’s reply should probably be taken as a statement, not a question.  His omniscient knowledge of Nathanael’s heart had convinced Nathanael of Jesus’ identity, but far more was to follow.  ‘You will see greater things than these,’ Jesus promised, ‘You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’ (v. 51).  The reference here is to Jacob’s dream in which he saw a ladder descending from heaven (Gen. 28:12).  Jesus is in reality what that ladder symbolized, the link between heaven and earth and thus the revealer of divine truth to mankind (cf. John 1:14, 17; 3:13; 6:33; 1 Tim. 2:5).”

(Gen. 28:12)

“12  And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!”

“(cf. John 1:14, 17; 3:13; 6:33; 1 Tim. 2:5).”

“14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

“17  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

“13  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”

“33  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’”

“5  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

            “As is the case with his close companion Philip, little is known about Nathanael’s life and ministry after Christ’s resurrection and ascension.  According to some accounts, he ministered in India.  Other traditions place his ministry in Persia, Egypt, Armenia, and Asia Minor.  Nor is there any agreement about how he died.  Some accounts claim that Nathanael was martyred in Armenia, but those accounts differ over the manner of his death.  Some say he  was beheaded, others that he was skinned alive and then crucified (thus some works of art portray him holding his skin in his hands).

            “What is clear is that Nathanael remained faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ to the end, as he had been in the beginning.  His life and ministry are testimony to God’s ability to use common, insignificant people to His glory.”

6/30/2026 6:37 PM

 

 

 

 

PT-1 “Bartholomew (Nathanael) (Luke 6:14f)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2026 11:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-1 “Bartholomew (Nathanael)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 6:14f

            Message of the verse:  “Bartholomew”

            This morning I begin the first part of what John MacArthur has to write about the apostle “Bartholomew.”  I believe that it will take this morning’s SD along with this evenings SD to complete it.

            “Philip’s close companion Bartholomew appears by that name in all four New Testament lists of the Twelve, but the apostle John calls him Nathanael. Both names refer to the same individual.  Bartholomew means ‘son of Tolmai’ in Hebrew; thus, his full name was Nathanael, son of Tolmai.  In the lists in the Synoptic Gospels, his name immediately follows Philip’s, indicating the close relationship between the two.  In fact, it was Philip who introduced Nathanael to the Savior.

            “The New Testament records even less information about Bartholomew than Philip.  His only recorded appearance, apart from the lists of the apostles, is in John’s account of his call by Christ (John 1:45-51).  That encounter reveals both the strengths and weakness of Nathanael’s personality.”

 “45  Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47  Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48  Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49  Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50  Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51  And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’” 

            “After the Lord called Philip (v. 43), he immediately ‘found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’’ (v. 45).  His use of the plural pronoun ‘we’ indicates that Philip already considered himself on of Jesus’ followers. His description of Him as the one of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote (i.e., the Messiah) indicates that Philip knew that Nathanael was a student of the Old Testament; a seeker after divine truth. It may be that Philip and Nathanael had spent hours together poring over the Scriptures.  Perhaps they had even come to the Jordan together to hear John the Baptist.

            “But Nathanael’s reaction to his friend’s excited claim reveals a different aspect of his personality.  Responding with skepticism, if not outright scorn, he asked rhetorically, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ (v. 46).  This was not a question based on the Old Testament’s prediction that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); it was an expression of prejudice.  The Galileans were despised by the Judeans as uncouth and unsophisticated.  Nathanael was himself a Galilean, from the village of Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine (John 21:2).  His remark indicates that Nazareth was despised even by other Galileans—hardly the place one would expect the Messiah to hail from.  So insignificant was Nazareth that it is not even mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, or the writings of Josephus.  It was inconceivable to Nathanael that the Messiah would come from such an obscure town.

            “Prejudice often blinds people to the truth.  It was in one sense prejudice that kept the nation of Israel from accepting Jesus as the Messiah.  Most of them shared Nathanael’s disdain for Nazareth, and rejected Jesus out of hand.  Had they taken the time to investigate, they would have discovered that He was born in Bethlehem, just as the Old Testament predicted the Messiah would be.  That most of the men in His inner circle were Galileans and that He Himself had not been trained in the rabbinic schools (John 7:15) also did not endear Jesus to the elitist religious establishment.  Nathanael’s reaction reveals that he had not escaped the prejudice that was rampant in Jewish society.”

Spiritual Meaning for My life today:  Think things through before you make unwise comments on different situations as did those who did not research the truth that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and thus kind of made a fool out of themselves.

My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord that he will guide my steps as I go through what is the most difficult time in my life dealing with the terrible cancer that has ravished the body of my wife.

6/30/2026 12:32 PM