Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 8 Study # 5
May 28, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
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Thesis: Nathanael's response to the omniscience of Jesus was accurate, but undeveloped, so that Jesus promised him that he was in for a profound revelation of "great things".
Introduction: In our last study we considered Nathanael's reaction to Jesus' declaration of His full awareness of "all-things-Nathanael" -- in actual fact, Jesus' identity as the omniscient God. Author-John wanted for his readers to be exposed very early to the reality that "every creature of God is wide open to the eyes of the One with Whom we have to do". Nothing escapes His eyes, and nothing does not have His evaluation of what He sees attached to what He sees.
Nathanael's response is a confession of faith, but Jesus makes sure that he knows that he has only just begun his life-long trip into the knowledge and the Life that Jesus has planned for him.
- I. Nathanael's Responses To Jesus' Declaration.
- A. He calls Him "Rabbi", which is a reversion by Author-John to 1:38 wherein Jesus is recorded as asking the two disciples of John, "What are you seeking?"
- 1. Their answer was, "Where are you abiding?"
- 2. Jesus responded, "Come and you will see": this doubles down on Author-John's deliberate link of these two texts ("Rabbi" plus "Come and see").
- a) Thus, "teacher" is Author-John's most basic identity-focus for "disciples" who wish to see Who/What Jesus is: the delivery of "Truth" is the beginning of "disciple-development" (John 8:31): this goes all the way back to 1:1.
- b) But, Nathanael's additional identity statements take "Teacher" into the highest realm of "identity".
- 1) He declares Jesus to be "The Son of The God", a phrase interpreted for us by 5:18.
- 2) He then goes further by saying that Jesus is "The King of Israel", a phrase already rooted in 1:41.
- c) So, Author-John is, here, doubling down on Jesus' identity (Teacher, Son, King) by using the words of Nathanael, the depths of which Nathanael, himself, did not actually grasp.
- B. His "responses" are "Truth" that Author-John wants his readers to have to deal with as they move into this Gospel.
- II. Jesus' Response To Nathanael.
- A. He questions Nathanael's "degree of belief".
- 1. This is not the only place in John's record where Jesus asks "Do you believe?" (16:31). The setting is the disciples' claim that they "now believe" and Jesus' response that they are all about to be scattered (in unbelief).
- 2. He is not asking if Nathanael's faith is "real"; He is asking how "deep" does it go? What is its actual content, given the profound reaches into infinity that the content goes?
- 3. "Faith", rooted in reason alone, is tenuous.
- B. He declares that Nathanael will have far greater foundations for his budding "faith" as time goes on.
- 1. He alludes to the fact that Nathanael will see "greater things" than a mere indicator of His omniscience, though that indicator is a sufficient beginning place.
- 2. His allusion is to Genesis 28:12-22 where we are told of Jacob's dream of "angels ascending and descending" upon a ladder with "Yahweh" above it.
- a. Jacob's response to his dream is remarkable on many fronts, but the naming of the place as "Bethel" indicates that he was "in the house of God".
- b. This is a direct link to the "Where are you abiding?" question because they are meaning, in the most physical meaning of the term, "Where is the house where You are abiding?"
- 1) This translates into "Where is the House of God?" in terms of the link of this text to Genesis 28.
- 2) And this is a direct theme-connection to John 2:19-21, so that what Jesus is promising Nathanael is a "front row seat to the demonstration of the meaning of God in the body of The Son of The Man".
- 3. Jesus' promise is that Nathanael will be treated to the personal impact of seeing, day in and day out, Who and What God in a body of flesh looks like.
- a. This will make his "rational faith" into something far greater; a "knowing" faith.
- b. That "The Teacher" is "Bethel" means His "Truth" is absolute and perfect in detail.
