Bartholomew or Nathanael - a disciple of Christ

Good morning all. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.  TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED!  Jesu Jevu!

   Bartholomew Nathanael is a rather obscure disciple of Jesus.  We don't know a lot about him. Nathanael means a gift of God; Bartholomew means son of Talmai.  Who?  Talmai was the king of Geshur, and his daughter, Maacah, was the wife of David, mother of Absolom. He is the only one of the disciples to be believed that came from noble blood.

   He is thought to be a missionary in Armenia. Nathanael overcame his scoff where he said in John 1:46 "And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?  Philip saith unto him - Come and see."

  When Jesus saw Nathanael he said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"  Nathanael questioned Jesus and asked how he knew him.  Jesus replied (John 1:48) "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." At this Nathanael retorted: "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." Then Jesus said, "Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these."  Then Jesus says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

    The tradition passed on is that he was a great searcher of the Scripture and a scholar in the law and the prophets. He developed into a man of complete surrender to the Carpenter of Nazareth, and one of the Church's most adventurous missionaries. He is said to have preached with Philip in Phrygia and Hierapolis; also in Armenia. The Armenian Church claims him as its founder and martyr.

   Nathanael died as a martyr for Jesus Christ and how?  He was flayed alive with knives.  Another story is that he was crucified upside down. Yet another story believes he was in India at the time of his death.  If anyone has proof of his death please share.
     He came from Cana in Galilee.  It is believed that his first name is Nathanael and his second name is Bartholomew.

   He was there at Jesus' ascension when Jesus called the 11 disciples together.  Here he is referred to as Bartholomew.  He went to the mission field after the ascension of Jesus and spread the gospel.  Interesting, but hard to find out a lot about him.  Thank you for reading. Love you all.

Deo Soli Gloria

Johnny