The Son of God, and the King of Israel

A study of John 1:45–51

“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.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.””
‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭45‬-‭51‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-Nathanael: “Nathanaēl”, “Ναθαναήλ”; proper masculine noun — Nathanael = “gift of God”; an intimate disciple of Jesus Christ, he is commonly thought to be the same person as Bartholomew.

-Nazareth: “Nazara”, “Ναζαρά”; proper locative noun — Nazareth = “the guarded one”, the ordinary residence and home town of Christ.

-Joseph: “Iōsēph”, “Ἰωσήφ”; proper masculine noun — Joseph = “let him add”, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

-Indeed: “alēthōs”, “ἀληθῶς”; adverb — truly, of a truth, in reality; most certainly.

-Deceit: “dolos”, “δόλος”; masculine noun — craft, deceit, guile.

-Do You Know: “ginōskō”, “γινώσκω”; verb — denotes a discriminating apprehension of external impressions, a knowledge grounded in personal experience.

-Rabbi: “Rabbi”, “ῥαββί”; masculine noun — my great one, my honorable sir; a title used by the Jews. To address their teachers (and also honor them when not addressing them).

-The King: “basileus”, “βασιλεύς”; masculine noun — leader of the people, prince, commander, lord of the land, king.

-Truly: “amēn”, “ἀμήν”; participle indeclinable — at the beginning of a discourse, surely, of a truth, truly; the repetition of the word employed has the force of a superlative, most assuredly.

-Angels: “angelos”, “ἄγγελος”; masculine noun — angels are employed, by a beautiful image borrowed from Genesis 28:12, to represent the divine power that will aid Jesus in the discharge of his Messianic office, and the signal proofs to appear in his history of a divine superintendence.

-Son of Man: “Huios ho Anthrōpos”, “υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου”; — used by Christ himself, doubtless in order that he might intimate his Messiahship and also that he might designate himself as the head of the human family, the man, the one who both furnished the pattern of the perfect man and acted on behalf of all mankind. Christ seems to have preferred this to the other Messianic titles, because by its lowliness it was least suited to foster the expectation of an earthly Messiah in royal splendor.

Observation/Summary(short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

After being found by Jesus and invited to follow Him, Philip found his friend Nathanael and told him they had found the one prophesied of by Moses and the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael asked if anything good could come from Nazareth and Philip invited him to “come and see”. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, He spoke as if He knew Nathanael, saying that Nathanael was an Israelite in whom there was no deceit. Nathanael asked Jesus how He knew him, and Jesus told him of an event that happened under a fig tree of which He could not have known if He were merely a man. Whatever it was that happened under the fig tree, Jesus’ knowledge of this was enough to convince Nathanael that He was the Son of God and the King of Israel foretold of long ago by Moses and the prophets. Jesus then told Nathanael he would see even greater things such as the angles of heaven ascending and descending on the “Son of Man.”

Implication (what does this mean to us):

After having been personally invited by Jesus to follow Him, Philip found his friend Nathanael and told him about Jesus. Many Biblical scholars today believe Nathanael, meaning “God’s gift,” is the same person as “Bartholomew” who is mentioned in the other gospels as one of the original 12 disciples. Nathanael was his personal name, and Bartholomew was his name derived from the name of his father.

The invitation from Philip follows the same pattern as Andrew bringing his brother Simon Peter to Jesus. After meeting Jesus and beginning to follow him, both Andrew and Philip went and told a friend. Philip told Nathanael “we”, meaning he and the others who had begun to follow Jesus, had found “him” of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote of, and his name is Jesus of Nazareth. In saying this Philip was saying they had found the Messiah and Savior of Israel that had been prophesied of throughout the Old Testament. This was quite a fantastic claim.

Nathanael responded with skepticism and prejudice. Nathanael did not simply ask if the Messiah would come from Nazareth, he asked if “anything good” could come from Nazareth at all. This tells us something of the opinion of the people concerning Nazareth and of the humble place our Savior chose to be raised in. Nazareth was evidently a “backwater”, rural town, and the people from the surrounding towns had a low opinion of Nazareth and the people from there. Rather than argue with him, scold him for prejudice, or defend the reputation and identity of Jesus, Philip simply invited Nathanael to “come and see” Jesus for himself. In our own witnessing of Jesus, this example provides some help. We do not need to argue people into the Kingdom. Only Jesus can grant someone repentance and faith in Him. Oftentimes the best way we can witness to people about Jesus is to listen to their doubts and questions and invite them to meet Jesus themselves through prayer and wrestling with the Word and what at first seems unbelievable.

Nathanael agreed to accompany Philip to see Jesus and when Jesus saw him coming He said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanel had some prejudice and preconceived notions about people from Nazareth, but he did not allow that to stop his earnest quest for truth. And he did not have any deceit or guile in him. He spoke plainly and his intentions were sincere. This is what Jesus complimented him for. The word used for “deceit” is also used to signify “any cunning contrivance for deceiving or catching,” and it is the exact word used in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) for “Jacob” before his heart and name change to “Israel” (Genesis 27:35). In a sense, Jesus is calling Nathanael a true “Israel(ite)” in whom there is no Jacob (deceit).” In his plain, true speech, Nathanael lacked any deceit, guile or ulterior motives. He was honest about what he believed, and sincere in his search for truth.

We should never employ any deceit or guile in any part of life, especially not in witnessing for Christ. We must never use worldly means to accomplish God’s purposes. We must present the gospel plainly and graciously, without any Jacob (deceit) or craftiness. As Psalm 32:2 says, “Blessed is the man in whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

Next, after asking how Jesus knew him, Jesus answers that He saw him under the fig tree before Philip called him. We do not know what happened under the fig tree, but whatever it was must have been profound for Nathanael. It was a common practice in this day for people to spend time in prayer and meditation under a tree, and “under the fig tree” was also a phrase commonly used by Jewish Rabbis for meditating on the Word of God. So it is possible Nathanael had his own Jacob-like wrestling match with God in his heart there and came to some profound spiritual conclusions or at least presented some profound spiritual questions.

Now, coming upon Jesus and hearing “I saw you,” and having just been told Jesus was the Messiah, Nathanael was convinced Jesus is the Son of God, and he, being a man without deceit, testifies to this fact without hesitation. Prejudice and skepticism are thrown aside and the truth is embraced and boldly proclaimed, as whatever profound spiritual experience he had with God is acknowledged now by a man who should not be able to know about it unless He were God Himself. Nathanael is thoroughly convinced of the Messiahship of Jesus. He also says Jesus is the King of Israel. This is the identity of the Messiah. Jesus, being the Messiah, is the Son of God and the eternal King of Israel and the entire universe.

As amazed as Nathanael was to hear Jesus speak to him of an incident that occurred only between him and God Almighty, Jesus tells him he will see “even greater things than these.” In saying this Jesus both commends the faith of Nathanael as well as gives him a small hint about what is to come. This is also a pattern of experience for all Christians. When we come to faith we rightly marvel at the glory of God, but there is so much more to come.

We have so much to rejoice in and be grateful for now, but we will also see “even greater things than these” as we grow in our faith and march towards our glorious eternity with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth. What we first come to understand about Christ is marvelous, but He is infinitely marvelous and beautiful. We know Him now through the fellowship of his sufferings, but we will also know Him one day in the glory of His heavenly throne room. We know Him now by faith and not by sight, but one day we will know Him by sight and place our hand in His. We know Him as the worthy Lamb slain for the sin of the world, but one day we will know Him as the conquering Lion of Judah when He returns to judge the earth, rid it of sin and evil, and establish His glorious eternal Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The best is yet to come and we will never run out of new and glorious things to praise our loving God for.

When Jesus says, “Truly, truly…” think of the repetition as a sort of exclamation mark. The repetition of the word “truly” indicates emphasis. Before making His next statement about the heavens opening and angels ascending and descending Jesus is saying this really will happen. And His statement about angles ascending and descending is likely a reference to the dream Jacob had in Genesis 28:12 where, in a dream, Jacob saw a ladder set up between earth and heaven and angels of God were ascending and descending. By saying the angels were ascending and descending “on” the Son of Man, Jesus is saying He is the ladder. He is the bridge between fallen mankind on earth and God in heaven. Jesus is our great High Priest who humbly came to earth to mediate between God and mankind. He is the means by which we can be reconciled to God, and He is the only “ladder” or way to God. There is no other. This is what Jesus is communicating to Nathanael and the others who were there. Nathanael was amazed that Jesus saw him “under the fig tree,” but Jesus is telling him that once he realized He came to mediate between sinful man and Holy God, Nathanael would see the coming of Christ as an “even greater” thing than His seeing him under the fig tree.

Lastly, while Nathanael rightly called Jesus the “Son of God” and the “King of Israel,” Jesus calls Himself the “Son of Man” here. This title points to the full humanity of Jesus. He is fully God as the Messiah and Son of God, but He is also fully man. This points back to verse 14 of this passage where we learned Jesus is the eternally preexistent, all creating “Word;” the “Word Who became flesh and dwelt among us.” This title presents His heavenly supremacy and glory, but also His humility in willingly condescending to become fully human, suffer and die for mankind. The Jews expected a conquering general King to come and save them, but Jesus’ first coming was as a sacrificial Lamb, and as a frail man who would be mocked, beaten and crucified. The Jews were not expecting this of the Messiah and for this reason John spent the first chapter of this gospel explaining both the fullness of the Deity of Christ and the fullness of His humanity. “Son of Man” indicates both the heavenly majesty of Jesus and His humble, lowly humanity.

In this first chapter John provided four examples of people coming to Jesus and four examples of people witnessing about Jesus. Andrew came to faith by John the Baptist’s preaching, Peter came to faith through the witness of Andrew, Philip came to faith when Jesus directly called Him and Nathanael came to faith as the result of Philip’s witness, and a personal experience with Jesus. As far as witnessing, John the Baptist bore witness that Jesus is the eternal Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the Son of God who has been anointed by the Holy Spirit. Andrew proclaimed Jesus is the Messiah. Philip testified that Jesus is the One prophesied of by Moses in the Law and the prophets in the Old Testament. And Nathanael bore witness that Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel. Every instance of someone coming to faith in Jesus in this chapter led to them bearing witness about Jesus to others, and those people then coming to faith themselves, and so on. This should tell us something about our mission after having come to faith in Jesus ourselves.

Application (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to think about the claims of Christ, His deity, humanity, and work of redemption, and respond in faith, accepting His gracious gift of salvation. This should cause us to think of the humility and love of Jesus in leaving the splendor of heaven to become fully human, live perfectly, and then die horrifically to save all of mankind. This should cause a response in us of one kind or another. This Man, this King of glory, was not just a nice teacher. He made many clear claims to be Divine. He was not just a good teacher. He claimed to be God and the only path to eternal life. He is either the Son of God, insane, or a liar. There are no other options.

If we believe the testimony of Jesus and these other eyewitnesses, we must by grace through faith accept His free gift of salvation and worship Him as Lord and the one true God of all creation. Having so believed, we must now bear witness to others, just like the believers we read about in this chapter. We must invite others to “come and see” the “Son of God” and “King of Israel” who descended from heaven to mediate between God and man, and to be the one and only means of reconciliation between us. This should cause us to take action in witnessing to those around us, and to prayerfully consider how we can best witness about Jesus in our cities, towns, villages and homes, as well as support the spread of the gospel around the world. The King has come, and His free gift of forgiveness of sin and eternal life is freely available to all, but it must be accepted by faith.

Self Reflection:

Is there any prejudice in my heart that could prevent me from seeing things clearly or loving people in my community or abroad rightly?

Am I willing to witness faithfully for Christ even if that means facing the cynicism and skepticism of my peers?

How does the “greater things” I will see one day affect my eternal perspective and living hope in Christ, and how does that affect how I live today?