43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
46"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see," said Philip.
47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."
49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
50Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
Jesus characteristics who would have been divine, charismatic, a curious One, someone most of us would want to be around (I think)...As man we would not have understood Him at first and would need time to "figure out" who He was...
Jesus meets Philip here, who was from Bethsaida, like Peter and Andrew...Philip friend of Nathanael tells him that they have found the One who Moses wrote about (Deuteronomy 18:14-22)...Philip also knows that the carpenter Joseph is the father of Jesus of Nazareth...Nazareth was a small obscure town was being said to be where the Messiah was from...Nathaniel ask "Nazareth, could anything good come from there?"...Philip told him to come and see...
Nathanael had doubts and it included Jesus being from Nazareth and his father being Joseph (in these doubts)...Do these doubts or any doubts have to do with Nazareth or his father?...Would have Nathanael believed Jesus was the Messiah if He were from Jerusalem?...Would he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, if His Father were a king or from royalty?...When we doubt, just to doubt we need to examine that doubt...We need to take sincere time to study these doubts or any doubts to make a decision...Peter does not tell us Jesus is the Messiah until after a period of time (Matthew 16:16 and Mark 8:29 and Luke 9:20)...The disciples would have knew that Jesus was something special after being around Him, even at first, but it would take days of being with Him and self examination to determine He was the One to come...Different disciples (and people) take different amounts of time to discover Jesus is the Son of God...
Jesus unlike any other meets Nathanael and tells him he is a true Israelite, in whom nothing is false...Nathanael wonders how Jesus knows him, and Jesus tells him, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree, before Philip called you...This was where he was before Jesus even met him...How did He know?...Nathanael, the true Israelite and nothing false in him, immediately declares that Jesus is a Rabbi and the Son of God...
Jesus tells Nathanael that he will see greater things than this one thing (Jesus knowing where he was, and what he was doing, before He even met him)...The disciples and people who wanted to get to heaven and see the Father and Son, now have God sending us the Son...Heaven, in a sense is here and was here when Jesus came to Israel...God had opened heaven and sent Him to us...Later after His resurrection, God would take Jesus back to heaven through His ascension (Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:10-11)...
Jesus teaches us all things all possible through the Holy Spirit when we see God as the Living God, with us and helping us as a Creating Father would...Things on earth are brought together by the Father and reconciled with the Son...