MEDITATION

The Great, the Greater, the Greatest Things for the Church of Christ

1. Great Things.

Nathanael belonged to the circle of friends in Galilee, who, having heard the rumor about the preaching of John the Baptist, hurried to hear this preacher of the wilderness. Like Andrew, John and Peter, his heart is deeply impressed by the word which was spoken by this bold servant of God, and he has learned to see himself as a great sinner who needs a Savior.

Therefore, he cannot find this salvation by John, although John the Baptist has shown him and many others the way of salvation. Thus it will go with all those who have been quickened. They are thankful for the discovering light which has shone by word and Spirit into their heart, but thereby a hunger after righteousness had been awakened in them. And considering that no one can live from hunger, so Nathanael, with the heavy burden of his sins, leaves John to look for Jesus of Whom he has heard.

On his way to the Savior he passes a fig tree with low hanging branches. With his soul greatly bowed down he creeps under that tree, hidden from the eyes of people who perhaps might pass by. And there under that fig tree he kneels and pours out his heart before the Lord, begging Him for light and peace and to save his distressed soul.

Scarcely does he arise and continue on his way there when he meets Philip, who walks towards him as a messenger of heaven with the glad exclamation, “We have found the Messiah!” That was already the beginning of the answer to his prayer. This was already “a great thing” which he received. The Lord concerns Himself about Nathanael, a poor sinner; the Lord remembers him in his troubles. Oh, what a great blessing is this for the sorrowful Nathanael!

And then Philip invites him to come along and takes him to Jesus. This is another one of those great things which he experiences. He may meet the Savior, the Messiah, face to face. And before Nathanael can utter a word, the Lord speaks and says, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”

Now Nathanael would never dare to say that of himself. He who has somewhat discovered his own deceitfulness by the operations of the Holy Spirit finds such an abyss of unrighteousness and falseness in his heart that he will never dare to call himself an “upright” man.

Jesus, however, gives him that honorable name thereby alluding to father Jacob, the true Israel, who saw himself so guilty before God at the brook Jabbok and there laid down before the Angel of the Covenant all his unrighteousness and his deceitful self. There a great deliverance and change took place. And does not God look at His own good work in the heart, and are not all His elect perfect in Christ?

Uprightness was the beginning of that new life which was planted in Jacob’s heart by the Holy Ghost. And although Satan would now say a thousand times, “Is Jacob an upright man? It does not appear so at all”; the Lord nevertheless looked upon him as an upright man because the Lord saw in Jacob His own divine work.

And thus it is now with Nathanael. Jesus calls him upright because Nathanael has come to the place where the Lord wanted him to be; namely, a poor penitent on the market of sovereign grace.

Because he cannot understand how Jesus can have any knowledge of his person and the inward stirrings of his heart, Nathanael in holy wonder now asks, “Whence knowest Thou me?” Thereupon Jesus makes His statement clear by adding, “Before Philip called you, yes, in those moments when you were under the fig tree, then already I saw you, and there you have given an evidence of your uprightness.”

This is the third great thing that Nathanael experiences. A Lord Jesus, Who looks into the depths of his soul — Oh, how marvelous is that!

Friends, do you also know something of these great things? A striking answer to your prayer, when your heart cried out to be saved? The meeting of a friend, an instructor, who pointed out to you the simple and clear way to the Savior? The realization that this heavenly Lord looks down to the bottom of your heart and knows and fathoms all the inward movements of your soul? These are great things — things which are experienced on the way to heaven. Do you know them? If you seek them fervently, then you shall not remain ignorant of them but shall experience them savingly.

2. Greater Things.

And then the Savior promises Nathanael, “Thou shalt see greater things than these.”

When Jesus had answered and said unto him, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee,” then Nathanael in faith freely confesses Him to be the true Messiah, Who was long expected by the fathers. “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” As soon as this simple and childlike faith manifests itself, it is followed by a splendid promise and, as it were, rewarded therewith. “Thou shalt see greater things than these.”

In the last verse of the chapter we are told what those greater things shall be. “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.”

Nathanael, whose conduct is that of an upright Jacob, shall also experience the same blessing of Jacob; as his ancestor, he shall see a Ladder and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. In very plain words we are told what that Ladder is — it is the Son of man, Christ Himself. And those angels are not only heavenly spirits (angel signifies “messenger”), but everything that maintains the communication between heaven and earth. The Ladder reaches from heaven to earth, thus making possible a connection between the two. Well then, this is Christ’s lofty position. He is the connection and union between a holy and righteous God on the one side and a guilty sinner on the other side.

Now mark the greater things which Nathanael shall see and experience. He shall gradually learn to understand more clearly that all spiritual blessings shall come to him by way of Christ, all through Him, the Fountain of all salvation. He shall advance more and more in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, to be ministered unto by Him and to draw all the sap of life out of Him. Nathanael shall know Christ in His full and glorious mediatorial ministration.

Reader, do you also know something about these greater things? Has Christ ever not only become precious unto you, but has He become your ALL? Can you already say, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”? Many children of God, who have never with a full consciousness for their own heart and life known these deeper mediatorial ministrations, shall yet one day enter the blessed tabernacles above. The halt and the maimed and the blind, the little ones and those tossed with tempest will also on God’s time enter into eternal glory. But it is a more blessed life upon earth, however, if you by faith are found in Christ Jesus and can say, “He is mine, and I am His,” and if He has become the Life of your life. These are certainly those greater things.

3. The Greatest Things.

Nathanael has also seen them. That happened when, according to God’s eternal council, he had finished his course here and was taken up into everlasting glory. Then he himself ascended upon that Ladder into the heavenly temple. Then he was forever perfectly united with his Savior and Immanuel. Then he could go to his Father and enjoy the bliss of his Lord and God. Then it became an undisturbed salvation for the man, who here in the distress of his soul had crept under a fig tree. Then his happiness became perfect, his salvation is perfect forever. These are surely the greatest things, and they are stored in heaven for all those who fear God.

These spiritual things also form a ladder, as it were, upon which we step from one blessing unto another, from one joy unto another. First the great things when we are called and drawn, and out of the depth of our troubles and fears we flee to the Lord. Then the greater things, if we learn to see with an eye of faith that all salvation is in Christ Jesus: justification, sanctification and all the treasures of salvation alone in Him; to then henceforth live through Him and be served by this precious Jesus. And finally the greatest things, if the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

My fellow Christian and traveler on life’s pathway, are your steps also directed towards that house? Do you understand something of that homesickness of the soul, which is expressed in that hymn of heavenly longing: “Oh, to be there, where tears will never flow; where the heart will never more know distress, nor troubles, nor pain”? Do then be assured that the Lord Himself shall take care of His work; He shall make small things great and yet greater continually, as the psalmist did sing:

All ye that fear Him and adore,
The Lord increase you more and more;
Both great and small who Him confess,
You and your children He will bless;
Yea, blest are ye of Him Who made
The heav’ns, and earth’s foundations laid.

-Psalm 115

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