Soul Searching

What made Nathanael believe Jesus was the Son of God?

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 about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." - John 1:43-51

What is interesting here is that John does not say that Nathanael was sitting under a fig tree when Philip called him.  Jesus says that.

I would think the one who would believe would be Philip, but he already believed that Jesus was the one Moses and the Prophets talked about.  

But it could be that one of the reasons Nathanael came to see who Jesus truly was is what Jesus said as Nathanael approached.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!"

Jesus is saying that Nathanael is a descendant of Jacob, renamed Israel.  Jacob was the deceiver, so when Jesus says there is no deceit in Nathanael, he praises him for his character, something he would have no way of knowing without being able to see into his soul.

So, Nathanael is dually impressed.  First, that Jesus knows about his honesty, and second, that Jesus saw him under the tree.  He could only do that by divine means.

So, perhaps one day when we encounter Jesus we, too, will be impressed at how much he knows about us, from deep within our souls.

We should give that some thought.

More to come...