Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
This verse takes place at the very beginning of Jesus's public ministry, when he was gathering his first followers — the disciples. Philip had just met Jesus and immediately ran to find his friend Nathanael to share the news. Moses was the great liberator and lawgiver of Israel who wrote about a coming deliverer, and the prophets were messengers who had written for centuries about a promised savior called the Messiah. Philip's excited claim — "we found him" — is the announcement everyone had been waiting generations to hear. But he identifies this long-awaited figure in the most ordinary way possible: as someone from Nazareth, a small, unremarkable town with a poor reputation.
Jesus, you drew Philip in and he couldn't help but run and tell someone. Give me that same unself-conscious excitement about you — the kind that doesn't need perfect words, just an honest invitation. Help me say "come and see" to someone this week. Amen.
"We have found him." Philip had known Jesus for maybe a few hours, but already he's running to find his friend. There's something almost embarrassingly enthusiastic about it — the way you can't stop talking about a book that wrecked you, or a person who changed how you see everything. And notice that Philip doesn't lead with a carefully constructed argument. He doesn't deliver a sermon or cite chapter and verse at length. He just says: the one everyone has been waiting for — the one Moses wrote about, the one the prophets described — I found him. He's from Nazareth. Come see. Nathanael's response, just one verse later, is famously skeptical: "Nazareth? Can anything good come from *there*?" He heard the pitch and dismissed it before he even met Jesus. Philip's answer is worth memorizing: "Come and see." No argument. No pressure. Just an open door. This is how faith often begins — not with a perfect theological explanation, but with one person telling another person, "I met someone. You should meet him too." Who in your life are you running to tell? And who might be waiting for you to simply say: come and see?
Philip doesn't fully understand who Jesus is yet — he calls him "the son of Joseph." Why do you think he felt compelled to share before he had all the answers?
Think about how you came to faith, or how it deepened at a key moment. Was there a "Philip" in your life — someone who first pointed you toward Jesus? What did they do or say?
Does sharing your faith feel uncomfortable or unnatural? What makes it feel that way — and is Philip's simple "come and see" approach something you could actually imagine doing?
Philip went first to someone he already had a close relationship with. How does genuine, existing friendship create space for honest spiritual conversations?
Who is one specific person in your life you could invite to "come and see" — to a church, a conversation, or even just to read something together — and what is stopping you?
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luke 11:9
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy 18:22
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting .
Micah 5:2
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deuteronomy 18:18
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luke 24:44
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deuteronomy 18:15
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
Matthew 2:23
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:27
Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the One Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote about—Jesus from Nazareth, the son of Joseph [according to public record]."
AMP
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.”
ESV
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.'
NASB
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.”
NIV
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.”
NKJV
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.”
NLT
Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, "We've found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It's Jesus, Joseph's son, the one from Nazareth!"
MSG