John 1:50-51 50Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51And 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.”
Jesus’ response was a form of test Nathanael’s new faith. What did he see in Jesus? He was evidently looking for God’s intervention and rescue of Israel. Was his faith based on a brief encounter with someone who knew where he was sitting? Jesus wanted to get down to the deepest level and experience of Nathanael’s faith. Jesus had greater things prepared for him that would grow this new faith. It is possible that Nathaniel was reflecting on or even reading from Genesis 28 about the dream Jacob had of a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. The ancient story recounts how Jacob did not realize God’s presence with him. Nathanael also did not realize God’s presence with him in the person of Jesus. Someone even greater than the ancient revelation Jacob received was present. God gave the same promise to Jacob as he gave to Abraham (Genesis 28:13-15), that he would be with Jacob. The “I am” had come to Nathanael in the person of Jesus.
Another significant description of Jesus is recorded in this chapter: the Son of Man. John does not use this term as much as the other Gospel writers (13 times). Its usage is similar to how the Synoptic Gospels record it. Jesus often used this description uniquely for himself. The most likely background comes from Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7:13-14 of someone with great authority over all peoples, nations, and languages. In this opening chapter of the Gospel of John, the term also has the connotation of incarnation. The Word became one with humanity and lived among people as one of them. The term is used later in John in the context of Jesus’ suffering and death (3:14; 8:28), the offer of new life and revelation (6:27, 53), and his authority to judge at the end of time (5:27; 9:39).
The Son of God and King of kings came to earth to suffer and die as the Lamb of God in order to solve the problem of human sin and open the way to eternal life. Nathanael did not know the full gospel message about this yet, but he had the start. The reader of this Gospel has all of this information already in just a few verses. Every description of Jesus in this chapter leads us to consider what to do with Jesus. Will we believe what John wrote and thereby join those who first encountered Jesus?
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