When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”

48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”

Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”

49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”

50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.” (The Message)

Genesis 16:13, in the King James Version, says this about Hagar: ”And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me”

Certainly, in days gone by, it was not unusual to see these words on plaques in the homes of elderly Christians.

I believe it is intrinsic to our human nature, for the most part, that we want to be deeply known by others. We don’t want to feel lost and anonymous in the world, just another cog in an impersonal machine. We would like someone, somewhere, to know who we are, what we’ve done, what we’ve come through, and so on.

Nathanael was surprised that Jesus knew him, But He did. He knows you too. All about you, and He loves you. What is more, He wants you to know Him, and He desires to reveal more and more of the wonder of Himself to you.

F.B.Meyer writes beautifully about this passage: ‘Still others were brought by the call and ties of previous friendship, following on a long course of previous preparation. Philip had often crossed the hills that separated the lake from Cana, where Nathanael dwelt, and the two would earnestly discuss the signs of the time: the desperate straits of their country, the preaching of the Baptist, and the Messiah’s advent. The guileless Israelite would sit beneath his favourite fig tree, pondering over the things which Moses and the prophets had written. It was not difficult to win such a man when Philip broke in on him with the news of their discovery.

Jesus is always showing us ”greater things,” v.50. He leads his disciples onward and upward, for he is himself the ladder of ascent to God.’

For further thought: read Psalm 139