The Watchtower: Standing Guard in Prayer and Word

TUESDAY, 5 AUGUST 2025

TEXT: JOHN 1:43-51

43: The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

44: Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.

45: Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

47: When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

48: “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

49: Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

50: Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”

51: He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: GO AFTER YOUR OWN NATHANAEL

This is the formative stage of Jesus' ministry in Galilee, where He continued harvesting teams of people that would later become His disciples.

In Galilee, Jesus found Philip and called him to follow Him. We can tell with certainty that Philip left everything and followed Jesus without hesitation.

Philip acted in a truly African way. His plan of activities was flexible enough to accommodate Christ's invitation to follow Him. Not only that, but Philip, having discovered that Jesus is the Messiah, found the discovery too important to keep to himself.

Therefore, he went after Nathanael, who was initially reluctant to accept the Messiahship of Jesus as explained by Philip. But when Nathanael met with Jesus face to face, he turned from being a skeptic into a firebrand believer.

Nathanael then made one of the key and central declarations about Jesus in the Gospel of John. He said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel" (vs. 49). Nathanael became a believer because Philip went after him with the gospel.

QUESTION: Are there Nathanaels within your circle of influence that need to hear about Jesus?

PRAYER: Father, forgive me for ignoring many Nathanaels that could have been believers today.