The Gospel of John 1:43-50 (Nathaniel’s and Jacob’s Ladder) – Angelic Wars

The Gospel of John 1:43-50 (Nathaniel’s and Jacob’s Ladder)



 

Here is the next section (John 1:43-50) with questions below.

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathaniel asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

 When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

 “How do you know me?” Nathaniel asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

 Then Nathaniel declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”




Questions and discussion:

  1. Can you explain or give examples of Moses and the Prophets writing about Jesus, as stated by Philip?
  2. Why does Nathaniel disparage Nazareth?
  3. Don’t you think it is odd that Nathanael almost immediately identified Jesus as the Son of God?  Why do you think he did that?  (A clue is in Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:10-13)
  4. When you accepted Jesus, did you have a sudden revelation as to who he was?



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3 comments
van says May 19, 2023

1. Gen 3:5, Gen. 12:2–3; cf. 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). The Abrahamic promise of blessing of the nations is repeated in Ps. 72:17; Isa.19:24-25; Jer. 4:2; Zech 8:13.
2. Psalm 22:6–7 describes the Christ as being “scorned by everyone, despised by the people” as “they hurl insults, shaking their heads.” Isaiah 53:3 describes the Christ as “despised and rejected by mankind.” It is possible these passages are the prophecies to which Matthew alludes in his statement “He would be called a Nazarene.”
3. (NASB) 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
4. not then but many years after

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    Rick says May 20, 2023

    Hi Van,

    Thanks for your extensive answers. I think you meant Genesis 4 on the first answer. You seemed to dive into prophesies which are very telling.

    You will see I took a different approach on the other questions. I will post mine on Monday. I like your approach, very insightful.

    Reply
Rick says May 22, 2023

Rick’s thoughts:

1. Can you explain or give examples of Moses and the Prophets writing about Jesus as stated by Philip?

When we talk about proof of Jesus in the Old Testament, there have been over 500 discovered. But to answer this question, let’s start with Jesus’s words: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” (John 5:46-47). Jesus also said, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17).
Such things as the Abraham covenant point to Jesus, “…and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:18). Also, as mentioned in one of the comments, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers; he will crush[b] your head, and you will strike his heel.”(Genesis 3:15)

Comments have listed some of the prophecies in the books of Prophets like: A pure young woman will give birth to God’s Son (Isaiah 7:14), Jesus will come as a baby, (Isaiah 9:6), and he will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

2. Why does Nathaniel disparage Nazareth?

Nathaniel didn’t think Jesus would come from Nazareth because Nazareth was not a prominent city. I have been there. It is not in Judea, but Galilee (which was looked down by the elite.) It is in the foothills west of the Sea of Galilee. Even today it is relatively small compared to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

3. Don’t you think it is odd that Nathanael almost immediately identified Jesus as the Son of God? Why do you think he did that? (A clue is in Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:10-13)

In regard to the second part, when Jesus said, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree…” is a phrase that he saw Phillip studying or reading the Bible because there are many sources that state Rabbis study under fig trees for shade in those times.

The question is: What was Jacob studying? If you read Genesis 28:10-13, it is a story of Jacob’s ladder. The name Jacob means “deceiver.” When Jesus stated, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit,” it is a play on words with Nathaniel on the name of Jacob.

Also, when Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” Jesus knew Nathaniel was studying. To bring it home, Jesus then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Jesus was linking what Nathaniel was reading to this part in Genesis,” He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ”

In other words, Nathaniel was studying Genesis 28:10-13 and Jesus proved he was the Messiah by showing Nathaniel that he knew what Nathaniel was reading and/or thinking. We could validate this by Nathaniel’s response, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; the kind of Israel.

4. When you accepted Jesus, did you have a sudden revelation as to who he was?

I really didn’t have a sudden revelation when I was older because I had already developed some level of a relationship with Jesus since my childhood. However, his work in me always catches my attention and excites me.

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