SCRIPTURE: John 1:43-51
OBSERVATION:
Jesus is looking for followers, people who are willing to adapt their lives around Him, learn from Him, and leave their old lives behind.
Phillip tells his brother, a model for witnessing. His eagerness to tell Nathanael is not an obligation or duty, it is his natural excitement about having found the promised messiah.
Nathanael seems to speak critically, negatively (can anything good come out of Nazareth?), though Jesus says there is no guile (treacherous cunning, skillful deceit) in him.
Did Jesus know about Nathanael because of His divine nature, or because He learned about him from His Father. As a human being, He was not all-knowing (Matthew 24:36), He voluntarily limited Himself to a human body (Philippians 2:5-8).
The ascending and descending refers to Jacob’s dream (Genesis 28:10-17), at Bethel (which means ‘house of God’). Is there a connection to the idea that Word made His dwelling among us (John 1:14). It may also relate to Jacob’s words, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (28:17), and the reference to Jesus as the gate of heaven.
APPLICATION:
Jesus is the promised messiah, as unlikely as that may sound.
Jesus does not just want me to believe in Him, He is calling me (and all of us) to lay down our lives for Him, to adjust our lives in serving Him. It is not enough to be a believer, we must be believers who follow Jesus.
God is in Jesus, Jesus dwells with us (Bethel), and He is the gate of heaven – the way, the truth and the life (John 16:6)
If I follow Jesus, I will see greater things (John 5:20, 14:12), do I not see greater things because I have not fully surrendered myself to Jesus (ie follow me, see Mark 6:5)?
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, I sense You calling me to more than just believing in You, You are calling me to follow You, to walk with You. Help me to surrender myself fully so that I may see these greater things that You speak of. Amen.
Hey Jay, thanks for checking in. Good question. Every good Jew would have learned in Torah school that Jacob had the vision of God at Bethel. The Jews had a very high view of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), and for Jesus to claim that He would have this happen to Him was scandalous. JUST WHO DOES JESUS THINK HE IS. See also John 8:53. Not sure when Nathanael would see this happen – either Nathanael saw it in an unrecorded experience or it refers to the final judgment day when Jesus appears with His angels. These are just guesses. The point of what Jesus is saying (I think) is that He is greater than Jacob, Abraham, Moses, David, etc, that He has a special relationship with God.
This is just one example of an allusion to Old Testament stories or prophecies that point to Jesus being the promised Messiah.
Hope that helps. I’ll check some commentaries on this.
P.Norm
I’m a little confused about the “seeing the Heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man. When it was said that that was referring to Jacob’s dream or words, didn’t that occur before Jesus said this? Wasn’t Nathaneal around well after Jacob? If so, how could Nathaneal see it?
I do like when Jesus tells Nathanael he will see greater things. Today, if somebody was able to tell me where I was before I met them, I’d probably be blown away, or suspecting that they saw where I was before.