Nathaniel

Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, 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. John 1:45-51

Steps: 3, 11, 12

One of the earliest disciples, Philip, found his friend Nathaniel under a fig tree in his favorite worship spot, meditating about the Messiah. Philip told Nathaniel that the Person that Nathaniel was meditating about had been found by Philip. Nathaniel almost gave up hope for Philip told him that the Messiah came from the city of Nazareth. Nathaniel’s prejudices almost blocked him from finding the One who He wanted to see more than anything. Rather than fighting with Nathaniel, Philip invited him to come and see for himself. When Nathaniel came into the presence of Jesus, Jesus conducted an inventory on Nathaniel and pronounced him an Israelite in whom was no guile. Nathaniel asked how Jesus could know him and yet Nathaniel did not know Jesus. Jesus told Nathaniel that while he was mediating under the fig tree Jesus saw him. Nathaniel’s faith took hold of this statement and his faith said that this was indeed the Lamb of God – the King of Israel. Jesus commended Nathaniel’s faith and told him that he would see many wonderful things in his walk with Jesus.

Prayer for Today: God, we don’t know what it will take for us to believe in You, but You already know for You are God. We pray that when our turn comes we will have the child like faith of Nathaniel. We also hope that when You tell us something we will recognize that what You are telling us is the truth. Nathaniel accepted that God could do more than Nathaniel thought was possible and when Jesus told him that He saw him, Nathaniel’s faith grasped the fact that Jesus knew something about Him that He could not know naturally. Based on the evidence that He had, He accepted Jesus as Messiah. We too can do the same because we have more evidence than even Nathaniel had, we have the whole Bible to tell us this truth. We must believe on the evidence that God has chosen to reveal to us. Based on that evidence we believe, and we ask You God to help our unbelief.