Notes
Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people!
Psalm 66:5
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation...
Colossians 1:15
On Easter, we celebrate not only the great love God showed to us by sending Jesus, His only Son, to the cross to die for our sins, but we also celebrate the power of God that was displayed through Jesus’ resurrection. God sent His best so we can see His heart and walk in a relationship with Him forever; our job is to respond to His invitation.
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created,[a] and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
John 1:1-5
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son... No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
John 1:14, 18
To magnify something means to intensify or enlarge it so we can see it better and experience it. When you use a magnifying glass, the object doesn’t actually get bigger, but your perspective of it changes to see the details more clearly. Or, a magnifying glass could be used to focus sunlight into a small point that begins to heat up and start a fire.
In John 1, Jesus is described like a magnifying glass: He helps us understand who God is, and He lights a fire in our souls so that we live the life He came to give us. Jesus is the revelation of God’s heart; He reveals God to us so we can be with Him.
Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”
“How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”
John 1:45-51
God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:17
Jesus invited Nathanael into a life with God. He magnified God in Nathanael’s life by identifying who he was without God. Jesus sees us; He knows all of our actions and thoughts past, present, and future. Jesus knew Nathanael was striving to be right with God, but that he was trying to do so on his own, without God. When we come to Jesus, He shows us who we are without Him. It is only through Jesus that true salvation can be found. He convicts us of our sin, not to condemn us but to show us our need for Him.
Then, Jesus reveals and magnifies God by showing us who He is. We won’t fully understand everything about God, but when we walk with Jesus, He’ll begin to unveil more to us. We’ll learn to trust Him more with every step.
Many times we magnify the past, the pain, the hurt, the fear, the struggle, the anxiety. But God is bigger than anything we will ever see or experience. When we come and see what Jesus has done for us, and He begins to magnify God in our lives, we will see Him do great things in and through our lives.
Group Questions
- When has God magnified something to you?
- Why did Jesus need to come to Earth, die, and resurrect?
- What are some things in our lives we magnify besides God?
- What does it mean to “come and see”? How can we help others come and see what God has done?
Prayer
Thank you for coming to Earth, for living among us, for dying on the cross to cover the price of our sins, for resurrecting from the grave, and for inviting us into a personal relationship with you. Light a fire within us to help those around us come to know you.