The last seven verses of John chapter 1 record the story of Nathaniel becoming a follower of Christ. If you remember, Nathaniel’s friend Philip is the one who told him about Jesus and invited him to come and see Jesus for himself. When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching Him, Jesus gave Nathaniel a word of knowledge concerning Nathaniel’s heart’s desire. When Nathaniel asked Jesus how He could know him in such an intimate way, Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” In response, Nathaniel declared, “Rabbi, You are the Of God; You are the King of Israel.”
I love the response of Jesus to Nathaniel’s declaration; “Jesus answered and said to him, because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” Basically, Jesus was saying to Nathaniel, “If seeing you under a fig tree caused you to believe, if you will join Me, your believing is going to go through the roof.” Jesus then gave Nathaniel an idea of what joining Jesus was going to be like saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jesus is the open heaven. It is in Christ that heaven and humanity are joined, and when we join Him, we participate in the life that He lives and the open heaven that He is. Jesus doesn’t live a life of disappointment because He always believes. Grafted into His life, we are lifted out of the quagmire of disappointment and hopelessness and into the “deeper magic” of His faith. Christians are called Believers because that is what we are supposed to be. The life that you have been grafted into is truly a holy magical one. Angels are continually ascending and descending on your life in Christ. Everything about the Christian life is supernatural and fascinating. Stop trying so hard to believe and simply abide in the One who is the true Believer. He, and what He believes is the truth about everything. Living from Him, not for Him.