Jesus to Nathanael; 'You ain't seen nothin' yet'

  It is the beginning of the New Testament story that would rock the world when a few motley fishermen, would become close friends and disciples with the one-and-only Jesus of Nazareth. The first introductions to Jesus as more that just the carpenter's son, would begin with an eye-opening introduction from John the Baptist, Jesus' earthly cousin and fulfiller of the prophetic writings of Isaiah.

      "The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36  and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37  The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus."   John 1:35-37

  The excitement begins to build when one of the disciples, Andrew who had followed Jesus stayed with him the whole day. He couldn't wait to find his brother Simon and announce "We have found the Messiah!" Simon, being a curious guy goes with Andrew to meet Jesus who greets him with a nickname Cephas which means Peter, which translated means "a small stone." Jesus goes on to call Phillip and Nathaniel. When Jesus meets Nathanael they have an interesting exchange.

     "Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!' 48  Nathanael said to him,'How do you know me?' Jesus answered him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.' 49  Nathanael answered him,  'Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!' 50  Jesus answered him, 'Because I said to you, "I saw you under the fig tree," do you believe? You will see greater things than these.'  John 1:47-50

     Put aside the fact that Nathanael has been declared an honest man by none other that the King of Kings, and honor on par with God singling out Job as a model believer, and look at what Jesus says to him; "Nathanael, if you were amazed by that, just wait for what comes next. Friend, you ain't seen nothin' yet."

     Jesus would continue to astound and amaze His disciples and others by healing the extremely sick, raising the dead and forgiving sin, not to mention his culinary miracles such as feeding the dinner rush with one child's lunch and creating a fine vintage in an eye blink. He would preach the fulfillment of prophecy in the temple and be run up to the edge of a cliff. He would be the  target of plots and intrigue, and he would warm the hearts of the lost and forsaken parts of the culture, up until then shunned by the righteous elite. He would even be accused of using the power of Satan to cast out demons. No, Jesus had far better in store for His people. They indeed had not seen anything close to the full power of His purpose. What they would witness would be the completion of God's plan for a generation doomed to an eternity of loss.

    A lost and dying generation turned away from God and as such had no hope of ever being with Him in a heaven built and lighted with his perfection. Jesus had already begun the earthly portion of His greatest work long before Jesus was named Jesus.

   When a favored young girl was visited by an angel and informed that she would give birth as a virgin, she had seen only a spark of the flames that would burn down everything everyone thought they knew about the Messiah.

    When Jesus waded out into the Jordan and John proclaimed Him to be God's lamb and God Himself proclaim
ed Him his beloved son, they still had not seen the greatest He would do.

   When Jesus called Lazarus forth from the gloomy death of his tomb, all all who heard Jesus pray watched in wonder as their dead friend came out, still wrapped in grave clothes. They could not even conceive that pulling one brother back from death would not match the salvation of a generation who would be saved from an eternal second death because of His work at the cross.

   The story goes on and as John wrote, "Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written" John 21:25. Relax and trust God. We know that Jesus has done more than any of us can imagine, but God's plan will reveal itself soon enough and we will see much greater than we have already seen or can imagine. Until then,

   "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25  the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26  the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Num. 6:24-26
                                                                                                                                         -Greg Mosley