Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?

There are some facts which are difficult to accept if some one tells. You can imagine what your reaction will be to when some one is telling you early morning that sun is raising from the west this morning. This was not less surprise for Nathaniel that he heard the Messiah whom the Jews were waiting for centuries have came now, but the most discouraging thing was from Nazareth.

That’s why, Nathaniel immediately reacted that, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Nathaniel here didn’t deny completely that Messiah can’t come from Nazareth, but as a Jew he knew that Prophets have prophesied hundreds of years before that Messiah will born in the household of David in Bethlehem of Judah. Nathaniel was in a dilemma, to whom does he trust, the prophets or Philip who is boldly witnessing that he has found the Messiah whom they are waiting for centuries.

Simply delaying to accept the truth is not denial. Nathaniel here didn’t deny the fact, but he expressed some of his doubt, some of his surprise and said “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Here he is not saying good things can’t come through Nazareth, or it can come out of Nazareth too, but his doubt is can it really come from Nazareth. He indirectly came into half point of accepting, but his heart asks then why did our prophets prophesied that Messiah will come out of Bethlehem.

Today, we the Christians of modern day need to learn through the sincerity of Nathaniel. We need to understand the fact that Christian Theology is progressive revelation, and God reveals the truth as our intellectual capacity and knowledge is growing. Raising and fall of many Christian teaching and denominations is the reason of the God’s move down through the centuries. All the movement and Theology was good during the time they were started as movement of fire and cleaned the wickedness and promoted the Kingdom of God. But as days, months and years started to pass away, they gradually started to forget their initial zeal and latter it developed as the Church traditions. We the Christians need to understand that salvation is not belong to any particular denominations but Salvation belongs to God. And it is the plan of God to save entire humanity through the gospel of salvation that is preached by the Church of Living God. Our God is still yet work, and He is raising the men and women of God and movement of the people of God.

But many times we will be so much religious and honest Baptists, Brethren, Lutherans, Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and many more, but we can’t be Christians. Being Christian is to deny self and accept Christ in as Lord and Savior, to be open to the revelation of God, to be open to the move of God and to be open to the Spirit of God. But most of the time we will be so closed to move of God in our life and be loyal to the doctrines and teachings of our Denominations, and make our hearts hard to accept the truth of God.

The plan of God is bigger then the plan of man, the ways of God are wider then ours. We shouldn’t stop the way of God’s grace and blessing in our life by searching it in our own ways. God deals people with our own capacity and knowledge, but move of God doesn’t depend in our knowledge. God is moving even today in the lives of Church, He is revealing new things to us, restoring the new gifts and functions in the Church of God. We may be honest followers of our Church’s traditions, but our traditions are not bigger then God. If God Himself is working through the revelations, we need to accept the progressive theology and correct ourselves through the word of God.