John 1.47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48 Nathanael said to Jesus, “How do You know me?”Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter[o] you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
You see, if you had known Old Testament scripture and if you had heard what John the Baptist said, that “here comes the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”, you would’ve been able to associate that saying with the promise God made to the prophet Zechariah, that “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day”, as being their day with “The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
But you say, how can you conclude that? Well for Jesus to say “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? In order for Jesus to have said that, both Him and Nathaniel had to be at the same function, and they were. How was it then that Nathaniel did not recognize Him? Could it be because Nathaniel saw Jesus, but not as a human? And that Nathaniel was some place in the spirit? I mean Jesus looked different then and scripture says “and The Word of God became flesh and dwelled among us. Could Nathaniel have known The Christ in His original composition of Spirit and Truth? We need to go no further than back to the text in Zechariah.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘If you will walk in My ways,
And if you will keep My command,
Then you shall also judge My house, And likewise have charge of My courts; (as being the one in heaven the carnal ones were pattered after. As God told Moses “see that you make all things according to the pattern you saw at Sinai”.
The Lord of Hosts goes on to say,
I will give you places to walk
Among these who stand here. (As being “the kingdom prepared from the foundations of the world)
8 ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest,
You and your companions who sit before you,
For they are a[b] wondrous sign;
For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.
9 For behold, the stone
That I have laid before Joshua:
Upon the stone are seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’
Says the Lord of hosts,
‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. (Yes with the lamb of God)
10 In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts,
‘Everyone will invite his neighbor
Under his vine and under his fig tree. ”
This is the fig tree the Lord of Hosts was talking about. The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world, and Nathaniel was invited under that fig tree indicating that he was one of the companions the Lord told Joshua about, who it was said, “I will give you places to walk
Among these who stand here.
You see that is thr connection to be made to qualify Nathaniel to have extra priveledges as being among those who are “a wonderous sign” and the special access point is “from now on you shall see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man” as the account in John said.
Nathaniel had access to the throne of God and all the delicousies and priveledges associated with it.
The writer of the book of Hebrews put it like this, “ But you have come to Mount Zion (a current reality) and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the [j]general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect”. And this is the perfection Paul talked about as being the purpose of The Gospel in Ephesians 4.13.
For you see there is a place we are invited to that is “at hand” of something that is just out of reach to the senses of the human body, but completely within reach to the renewed mind of faith.
So Nathaniel was under the fig tree as being among the trees in The Garden of God. Didn’t God promise this to the overcomers in The Revelation of Christ?
“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
And you thought that was later. Surprise! The Kingdom of God is at hand!!!