John 1:50-51 Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, believe you?… I. THE NARRATIVE IN EVERY LINE THROWS US BACK ON NATHANAEL'S GREAT ANCESTOR 1. We may learn how hard it is for a life to get rid of moral stain. Jacob's life was purified by hard afflictions ere it was changed to Israel, the prince that prevailed with God. 2. A character may be so cleansed from moral stain that opposite virtues may be associated with the life. Jacob the supplanter was recovered from his guile. 3. The reflection cast upon the old patriarchal life is full of grace when one is welcomed to the love of Christ by the words, "Behold an Israelite indeed." II. NATHANAEL. 1. His requirements. We are apt to have no great thoughts of a simple guileless life. We associate it with a kind of weakness, and think of it as likely to be imposed upon and led astray. No doubt there is danger. This, like every other grace, wants cultivating; pruning as well as developing. And Christ expects cultivating in this disciple just as in the zealous Peter, the ambitious James, the thoughtful Andrew and Philip. 2. The promise that met that requirement. How helpful the vision was to Jacob! The reality was still more helpful to Nathanael. (1) Literally it was fulfilled at the baptism, after the temptation, in the agony, and at the resurrection and ascension. (2) Morally it was fulfilled in the establishment of relations with heaven through the Lamb of God. 3. Circumstantially it was fulfilled in the fruits of Nathanael's missionary life. (T. Gasquoine, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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