October 19 2025, Sunday School Lesson

God Sees Nathanael

Lesson Text: John 1:43-51

Related Scriptures: Genesis 28:10-17; Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 24:44-48; John 2:23-25; 7:40-52

TIME: A.D. 26 AND 30

PLACE: east of Jordan

Golden Text “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 1:48).

Introduction

Have you ever heard someone call Jesus “just a good teacher”? Many of us struggle to reach out to the lost or respond to objections to the faith. This story might surprise us, as we find Jesus going to an unexpected place and talking to unexpected people. Jesus did not go where he could have found the best-educated and most promising candidates to be His disciples. He went to uneducated Galilee.

We also see a disciple who does not answer questions but still leads a friend to Christ (literally). Additionally, there are Old Testament allusions hiding just below the surface of the text that provide great depth and meaning to this story of a random event early in the ministry of Jesus. It provides powerful insight into who Jesus claims to be and how we should respond.

LESSON OUTLINE

1. JESUS CALLS PHILIP - John 1:43-44

2. PHILIP INVITESE NATHANAEL - John 1:45-46

3. JESUS AND NATHANAEL - John 1:47-51

QUESTIONS

1. Where was Jesus when He called Philip?

2. What was Philip’s immediate reaction?

3. What ever the two ways Jews sometimes divided the Old Testament?

4. Why was Nathanael initially skeptical?

5. How did Philip respond to Nathanael’s skepticism?

6. How did Jesus first display supernatural knowledge of Nathanael?

7. What convinced Nathanael of Jesus’ identity?

8. What Old Testament story did Jesus refer to?

9. What did it mean that Nathanael would see angels ascending and descending on Jesus?

10. What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of Man?

ANSWERS

1. Jesus did not seek the most educated candidates to be His disciples. He was in Galilee, hardly the center of Jewish culture or learning. He was likely near Bethsaida along the Sea of Galilee (cf. vs 43-44).

2. After meeting Jesus, Philip was excited. The first thing he did was find Nathanael and share the news that they had found the one of whom Moses and the prophets wrote.

3. When talking about the Old Testament, Jews often spoke of the Law, the Writing, and the Prophets. This threefold distinction encompassed the entire Old Testament, and sometimes they used further subdivisions, such as the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. However, sometimes they used a twofold distinction: the Law and the Prophets.

4. Whether that was because he knew that the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2) or because he was prejudiced against Nazareth is not entirely certain. His question, however, seems more likely to indicate that he looked down on Nazareth, not that he was contemplating messianic prophecies from the Old Testament.

5. Philip did not try to explain that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies because He had actually been born in Bethlehem (cf. Matt. 2:1; Luke 2:1-7), and perhaps he did not even know that Jesus was from Bethlehem. He did not try to argue with Nathanael about the likelihood of the Messiah coming from Nazareth. Instead, he simply invited him to come and see Jesus for himself.

6. When Nathanael approached, Jesus declared that there was no deceit in him. By commenting on Nathanael’s character, Jesus suggested that He knew this man who had never seen Him before.

7. Regardless of one’s interpretation of John 1:48, the detail about the fig tree revealed that Jesus is no ordinary man. He possesses supernatural knowledge. Nathanael immediately dropped his preconceptions about what a man from Nazareth could or would not be.

8. The promise about heaven opening and angels ascending and descending seems to be a clear reference to Jacob’s ladder (Gen. 28:12-16). In that story, Jacob was on the run from his brother, Esau and slept. He had a vision of a ladder (or stairway) coming down from heaven and angels ascending and descending on it. There God renewed His covenant with Abraham’s line. After Jacob awoke, he named the place Bethel, which means “house of God.”

9. In other words, Jesus is the ladder of Jacob’s vision. Jesus connects heaven and earth. Through His perfect life and death, Jesus opened a way for fallen humanity to reach God (cf. John 14:6; Heb. 10:19-20). On the cross, Jesus reconciled the relationship between God and man. Man had been separated from God by sin, but Jesus died for sin and metaphorically bridged the gap.

10. Jesus fulfills both meanings for “Son of man.” He is fully human and shared in our weaknesses (Heb. 2:14-18). This correlates with Ezekiel’s usage of the title. But He is also the glorious One, who comes on the clouds and rules the nations (Matt. 26:64). This correlates with Daniel’s use of the title.