Biblical Logos Blog

Let’s look at one of the most declarative statements about Jesus as the long awaited Messiah in the New Testament.

Joh 1:43-51  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 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.” 

ESV

Have you ever wondered how Nathanael was so convinced that Jesus was the “Son of God” just by Jesus saying one sentence to Nathanael? Yes, Philip had told him just before that they had found the one whom “Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote”, but Nathanael had doubts about what Philip had told him before he met Jesus because Philip said that Jesus was from Nazareth. Nathanael couldn’t believe “anything good”, could come from that area. What then convinced him so quickly?

It starts with the miracle of Jesus knowing about Nathanael’s character and his whereabouts just before Philip found him. There are two important points to note here:

• Jesus’ first comment to Nathanael was “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
• “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Jesus said Nathanael had no deceit. He was truthful in his nature and obviously Godly to some degree as he understood what Philip meant when he said Jesus was the one referenced by Moses and also the Prophets (references to the Old Testament teaching of the Messiah). Sitting under the fig tree adds to this picture of Nathanael. Consider the Prophet Micah 4:3-4.

He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

Micah 4:3-4 ESV

All of Micah 4 is about the righteous rule of the coming Messiah. He will judge the people (Jesus declared Nathanael righteous in his first comment to him), and he promised in Micah 4 that everyone at that time will “sit under his own vine and fig tree,,,, “. Essentially, Jesus miracle of seeing Nathanael sitting under a fig tree, before Nathanael had even met Jesus was a supernatural situation to begin with, but looking at Micah, we can also see the dots Nathanael was connecting for himself. Jesus is the coming Messiah, Jesus will judge between the peoples. God’s promise was each Jewish person who makes it into the Kingdom, will sit under their own vine and fig tree. Nathanael saw the coincidence in Jesus’ comment to the promise the Messiah had made recorded in Micah. It was essentially; mind-blown for Nathanael. Nathanael believed Jesus to be that righteous judge. Jesus comment that he already saw Nathanael sitting under his own fig tree was a supernatural event now and a parallel to the future promise made by the Messiah, the Son of God.