Personified

John 1:¹⁴ “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”

Please read John 1:^47-49 “As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”  “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Some symbols in scriptures are one to one; the fig tree is one of such symbols and it is a representation of the nation of Israel [Hab.3:17-18]. When Jews are not praying in Jerusalem, they usually would pray under a fig tree. That is how you differentiate the Jews that are living in the sematic region. The Jews will find a fig because it is representative of their nation and they will pray there.

Jesus teaches us to pray in the Lord’s prayer [Matt.6]. In Matt.6:¹⁰ “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (KJV].  As Christians, we are supposed to pray for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The nation of Israel every time they pray, they pray for the coming of the Messiah. When Jesus saw Nathanael and referred to him as a proper Israelite; what He was saying is, “I saw you under the tree, that is where we Jews pray.” If Nathanael was praying, part of his prayer was about the coming of the Messiah, right? And Philip said to him, “Come and see the Messiah…”. When he saw Jesus, he said, “You are the Messiah, the King of Israel.” John’s narrating takes us into the story, into what happened and how it happened.

John 1:^50-51 “Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” (emphasis added). Gen. 28:^12-13 “As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.”

Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel, had a dream and saw a ladder connecting earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. Jesus said to Nathanael, ‘You a proper Jew, a proper Israelite. Your father had a dream and I am the personification of his dream. I am the personification of what Jacob could only dream about.’ Jesus never minced words. When they said they were the children of Abraham, His response was, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus never minced words and such things can be very offensive to the Jews. Jesus is Jacob’s dream come true. Jesus is the stairway, the access to heaven, and the doorway to the kingdom of light.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the answer to every cry of my heart. I open my heart and my life to You; reveal Yourself to me, have Your way, in Jesus Name. Amen!