'Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee
under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than
these. 51. 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 i. 50, 51.
Here we have the end of the narrative of the gathering together of the
first disciples, which has occupied several sermons. We have had
occasion to point out how each incident in the series has thrown some
fresh light upon two main subjects, namely, upon some phase or other of
the character and work of Jesus Christ, or upon the various ways by
which faith, which is the condition of discipleship, is kindled in
men's souls. These closing words may be taken as the crowning thoughts
on both these matters.
Our Lord recognises and accepts the faith of Nathanael and his fellows,
but, like a wise Teacher, lets His pupils at the very beginning get a
glimpse of how much lies ahead for them to learn; and in the act of
accepting the faith gives just one hint of the great tract of yet
uncomprehended knowledge of Him which lies before them; 'Because I said
unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt
see greater things than these.' He accepts Nathanael's confession and
the confession of his fellows. Human lips have given Him many great and
wonderful titles in this chapter. John called Him 'the Lamb of God';
the first disciples hailed Him as the 'Messias, which is the Christ';
Nathanael fell before Him with the rapturous exclamation, 'Thou art the
Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel!' All these crowns had been put
on His head by human hands, but here He crowns Himself. He makes a
mightier claim than any that they had dreamed of, and proclaims Himself
to be the medium of all communication and intercourse between heaven
and earth: 'Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'
So, then, there are two great principles that lie in these verses, and
are contained in, first, our Lord's mighty promise to His new
disciples, and second, in our Lord's witness to Himself. Let me say a
word or two about each of these.