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Response to: Who Is Jesus

Interesting passage in John.
A couple of observations.

1. Nazareth - "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
   JOHN 1:46
   The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Beth-sa′ida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathan′a-el, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Notice that last part of this verse: “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Moses wrote at Deuteronomy 18:15 that “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him you shall heed." Interesting side note: what was the name of the leader of the Israelites who immediately followed Moses? Joshua. Guess what the name Joshua translates to in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke! "Joshua" translated to Yeshua or "Jesus."

This "prophet like unto Moses" is what Philip is referencing by historical context and cross referencing to the Old Testament.
Philip here is referring to the arrival of the long-prophesied, and long-awaited "New Moses", the Messiah, who will lead a "New Exodus" to a "New Promised Land" via a "New Passover" through the death and sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God, shedding his blood for the remission of their sins.

Nathaniel though does not appear at first glance to be too excited about this truth.
JOHN 1: 43-39
Nathan′a-el said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathan′a-el coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathan′a-el 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.” Nathan′a-el answered him ...

Witness Nathaniel's response in JOHN 1: 49- 51 “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

It seems that Nathaniel as a well schooled and trained Judean, trained in the Scriptures, and well versed in the Old Testament, and this response above points directly to his understanding of the Old Testament prophetic Scriptures which point to a "Messiah" for Israel, from the lips of Moses, throughout the Pentateuch, the law and the prophets, all the way to the Messianic texts found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and all the Messianic names and titles in these texts, from the Son of David and the "Son of God", the "King of Israel" and the "King of Kings,"

At first glance when looking at this text I could not help but wonder where on earth did Nathaniel get this kind of understanding. But the Hebraic mind always connects to what has been given before. That kind of mind, and to a measure we have it today in how we apply hermenuetics and historical context and word translations and meanings when we are trying to see the theme of Scripture from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Luther was a disciple of letting Scripture interpret Scripture and as a friend of mine said to me years ago, "Let the other Scriptures from the Bible put clothing on your 'naked text'," which I find to be a pretty accurate understanding of the application of other Scriptures used to explain the text you are studying and examining.

Here you have Nathaniel essentially mocking "Nazareth" moving on declaring this "Messianic proclamation!" That is quite a "leap of faith" we might add!

So let us let the Scriptures interpret Scripture. The prophet Jeremiah says:
JEREMIAH 23: 5-6
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’"
According to ROMANS 1: 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, which is a confirmation and affirmation of the Gospel announcement of the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew.
When Jeremiah speaks of the "righteous branch" he is echoing the words of Isaiah in chapter 11:
1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
We know again by studying the life of David, that his father was Jesse and this "stump of Jesse" would produce the lineage of not only David but the "Son of David," Jesus himself. This is why the study of the genealogy of Jesus is important in the field of apologetics, in making a case for Jesus of Nazareth being the promised Messiah of Israel, and the only One to meet all the criteria listed in the Old Testament for the Promised Messiah.
The lineage of the kings to flow from the stump of Jesse produced David and the lines of kings from his seed. When the line of kings was broken, the tree was reduced to a stump. The kings were cut off and only a "tender shoot" was there to come out of that stump. This new tender shoot is the "new king" the "Messiah" who will restore the Kingdom to Israel.
This leads us to "what good thing can come from Nazareth?"

ZECHARIAH 3: 8-10
Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men of good omen: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the guile of this land in a single day. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.”

This should be familiar to us, now reading John chapter 1. Here is Nathaniel, invited by his neighbor and sitting under the fig tree, and Jesus declares it plainly to him.
JOHN 1:
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 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.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,] you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

This is NOT coincidence. This was a fulfilment of what Zechariah had prophesied.

NAZARETH at the time of Christ was several hundred years old.
Matthew's Gospel says, "And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, 'He shall be called a Nazarene (MATTHEW 2:23)."
If none of the Old Testament prophets mention Nazareth in the Old Testament, how can this verse in Matthew be fulfilled?
What if the prophetic proclamations in the Old Testament were addressing "Nazareth" how could it be so?
In the study of the Scriptures, one studies history, geography, context and the meaning of words in the original languages.
What if Nazareth has more meaning to it?
We looked at the beginning of this at the Scripture referring to the "branch" and in Hebrew the word for "branch" is netzer, which is spelled NZR, same as "Nazareth." "Nazareth" means "branch" in Hebrew! Jesus shall be called the "Righteous Branch" - "He shall be called a Nazarene."
Look at the context of that chapter in John's Gospel, of Nathaniel coming to his neighbor's house, sitting under a fig tree, and Jesus addressing him directly, and prophetically. Without question Nathaniel knew and understood Jesus to be the promised Messiah and declared it out loud, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus is the Branch, the Netzer, shooting up from the Stump of Jesse. He is the New David, the New King of the New Kingdom of the New Israel.
What an incredible prophetic fulfilment of the promises of God in the Old Testament, brought alive in the New Testament and as a testimony to those of us in the Body of Christ today.