What would it take to make you believe something? What would you have to see? In this intellectual age of skepticism, we can always find reasons to doubt, whether good reasons or bad. It’ll take more than a magician’s clever trick to convince us that he has divine power. But what if you saw someone examine the deepest core of your soul that no one could possibly know about? What if they proved that they knew you in a way only your Creator could?
Nathanael was no fool. He seems to have been a skeptic too. And the last thing he expected was to see some random backwater hillbilly from Nazareth turn out to be the king of the universe! But then this Nazarene showed that he truly knew Nathanael, and even saw him when he was under the fig tree. We don’t know what that means. John probably didn’t either. But somehow, this was so personal and private a matter for Jesus to know about that Nathanael immediately recognized that he was dealing with the Messiah. Only Yahweh himself could know a man’s soul like that.
This is the beauty of faith! We demand proof for things we’re not sure about; we want to see a dramatic, extravagant show of God’s glory in order to be sure he’s really there. But more often God works subtly and quietly but impossibly. Faith recognizes the whisper of the Lord, knowing us and watching over us, and recognizes that it can only be the Lord himself with us. But for those that believe when they see the Lord’s work in their souls, Jesus promises that they will one day see his glory in full as well. The ladder of God’s glory reaching Earth in Jacob’s dream, the radiant Son of Man given dominion in Daniel’s vision—these, Jesus says, will soon be fulfilled, and we will get to see it all!
But for now, God has invited us to believe based on what we have already seen. Each of us has a story of God undeniably showing his knowledge of us and affection for us, and what we have seen is all we need in order to believe that he is Lord. Philip’s invitation is open to us as well: come and see! Come and see what Christ has done, and know beyond all doubt that he is the Son of God and the king of the world.
