December 27, 2025

Jesus calls out to Philip, saying, “Follow me.” He was still in Bethsaida, where he found Andrew and Peter. Philip then went to see Nathanael, telling him he had found the one whom Moses wrote about in the law and the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth, but Nathanael was skeptical because Philip said he was from Nazareth. Nathanael knew the scriptures and that they pointed to Jesus coming out of Bethlehem. When Nathanael met Jesus, Jesus clarified the truth about who he was, and that he had found them, not the other way around, as Philip had said, when he pointed out this:

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. John 1:47-48

Nathanael knew that what Philip had said was true when he said: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.” 

And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. John 1:51

This verse points to what Jacob saw when he slept with his head on the rock, but what he saw was a ladder. Jesus is that ladder.  I believe that Nathanael was at Jesus’s ascension and that Jesus is pointing out what he would see. Scripture is so on-point, especially when Jesus brings the Old and New Testament scriptures together to prove that he is who he says he is, even without saying it directly.