The next day while two men named John and Andrew were talking with John the Baptist, Jesus passed by, and again John said, "Behold the Lamb of God." These two men had been priests and disciples of John, but they turned and followed Jesus, and John was content to have them do so, for he sought no honor for himself. Jesus when he saw them following said,

"What seek ye?"

And they, hardly knowing what to say, and wishing very much to know Him, said,

"Rabbi, where dwellest thou?"

He did not reprove them for giving Him the honored name of Master, but said,

"Come and see."

How gladly they went! No one knows where or how He lived, but whether in a house, or in such a little tent as the people of that region now carry with them when they travel, it was a quiet place where these two men who were looking eagerly for the Kingdom of God could sit at the feet of Jesus and talk with Him. He was a young man like themselves, but there was a wonderful spirit in Him that made them feel like worshipping Him.

The first thing that Andrew did was to go and find his brother, Simon Peter. They were both fishermen from Bethsaida on Lake Galilee, and had come down to hear the new prophet John.

"We have found the Messiah!" said Andrew, and they both went back to Jesus.

When the Lord -- for this He had been always -- saw Simon Peter He saw his heart, and knew that he would be one of the founders of the kingdom with Him, and so He, looking straight through him, said,

"Thou art Simon, the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation Peter." (A stone.)

So John, the loving; Andrew, the obedient, and Peter, the believing began to follow Jesus. And Peter's strong faith was like a foundation of stone in the beginning of the building of the kingdom.

There was another man from Bethsaida who had come down to hear John. His name was Philip. Jesus found him and said, "Follow Me." And he not only followed Jesus, but he went joyfully to find his friend, Nathanael, and tell him that they had found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Nathanael could not believe that the Messiah would be a man of Nazareth, because the prophets had said that He would come from Bethlehem.

So he said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

"Come and see," said Philip, urgently, and he went.

As he came to Jesus he met the deep, kind look that had searched Peter's heart and heard Jesus say,

"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!" He saw innocence in the heart of Nathanael, but Nathanael wondered how Jesus could know him.

"Before that Philip called thee when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee," said Jesus.

Then Nathanael's whole heart went over to Jesus, and he cried, "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel!"

He needed nothing more to prove that Jesus was the Christ, but Jesus told him that he should see greater things, angels out of the open heaven ascending and descending upon Him.

Nathanael became the fifth disciple. His name was afterward called Bartholomew.