Truly, Truly! – The Ladder of Jesus

Truly, Truly! – The Ladder of Jesus.

“The next day, after Jesus had decided to leave for Galilee, He met Philip and said, ‘Follow me.’ Philip came from the same town, Bethsaida, as Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses said in the Law and the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth!’ Nathaniel said to him, ‘From Nazareth? Can anything good come from that place?’ Philip replied, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathaniel coming, He said of him, ‘There, truly, is an Israelite in whom there is no deception.’ Nathaniel asked, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus replied, ‘Before Philip came to call you, I saw you under the fig tree.’ Nathaniel answered, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel!’ Jesus replied, ‘You believe that just because I said I saw you under the fig tree. You are going to see greater things than that!’ And then Jesus added, ‘Amen, Amen, I tell you. Truly, Truly, I say to you. You will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending over the Son of Man.’” (John 1:43-51).

There is a much-used Hebrew word in the Hebrew Bible that points to its root word “truth.” The Greek in the New Testament also picked it up and used it for “truth” as well. That common Hebrew word is “amen.”

Amen. This biblical word basically means: This is truth! I agree that this is true! Yes! We heartily accept and approve of what was said! We are assured that this is certainly true! So be it! We believe this is trustworthy and we take it to heart!

Amen! Amen! is often translated as Truly, Truly, or Verily, Verily in the New Testament. This double Amen is only recorded in the gospel of John, and is said by Jesus before He offers a statement, not after.  He is the only Person to say this, because He is the only Person who has the authority to say this before He says it. This must be an important distinction for Jesus, because He felt compelled to use this preface twenty-five times in John.  When Jesus begins a statement with that double “Truly,” He is intending to be doubly intense when He says it, and so He wants the listener to be doubly attentive. He wants to emphasize the importance of His words. He is saying, In all truth I tell you. He wants the listener to focus, and He is serious about preparing the listener to be receptive. When Jesus says Truly, Truly, He is saying: Most assuredly, what I am about to tell you is absolutely true and trustworthy. So listen up, because an eternal truth is coming to you now. In all sincerity, says Jesus, this is the solemn truth. Take these words in, says Jesus, and have them go into your mind and then straight to your heart. For these words of mine are double truth, they are doubly true. Jesus might as well have been saying… And you readers out there centuries from now, get ready to apply your hot pink highlighter, get ready to do some double underlining! Truly, Truly, what you are about to hear is the honest to goodness truth.

Jesus reminded us once again with His simple statement in John 1:51 how vital it is for Christians to be familiar with the Hebrew Bible… Otherwise known as the Old Testament. The “Old” in the Old Testament is misnamed and terribly misleading. The Old in the O.T. tends to be understood as outdated, hobbled by age, past its prime, having an expired usage date. The O. T. is of course none of these things. The O. T. is not merely ancient history, from a whole different world and thus irrelevant to the Faith today. The mere name O. T. suggests it’s not worth knowing or delving into seriously. So in one quick statement early in His ministry, even before His first miracle in Cana, Jesus makes two allusions to the Hebrew Bible, implying its importance. Just in John 1:50-51 alone, Jesus makes two references that are vital to thinking about the Messiah… Daniel 7 and Genesis 28. The Old Testament could actually be called the First Testament that prepared the world for the Messiah in the Second Testament. Through the centuries, the Hebrew Bible has proven to be the root of the Gospel tree, which brought forth the “Branch,” Jesus Messiah. Without the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish Messiah would not make sense. So then, “Out with the old and in with the new”? Try telling that to the homebuilder, who is wondering why you want to tear out the foundation now that the rest of the house is finished. There are countless images of Christ in the Hebrew Bible, hints and shadows and previews and prophecies. Right off the bat in His ministry, Jesus wanted to remind us of that.

And now we come to Nathaniel, also known as the apostle Bartholomew, who was sitting under the shade of a fig tree one day in the region of Galilee. He was someone who was earnestly expecting and looking for the Messiah as prophesied in the Scripture. Nathaniel may have been in his special place of prayer under that tree. He may have been studying Scripture and meditating on the coming of Messiah. Sitting under a fig tree was an expression from the Hebrew prophets that was connected to waiting for the Messiah, as mentioned in Micah 4:4 and Zechariah 3:10. “Gathering figs” was also an expression that meant the act of studying Scripture. So we can only speculate what Nathaniel was doing under the fig tree, but that tree was no doubt his private place where he could be alone in his thoughts and meditations. We know Nathaniel was anxiously looking for Messiah, or else why would his friend Philip rush to tell him about Jesus? Philip knew that this would be welcome news to Nathaniel. And sure enough, after Philip told Nathaniel to come and see for himself, Nathaniel did just that. Nathaniel had no hesitation to meet Jesus and find out if this man might be who he is looking for.

Nathaniel gladly accepted the truth about Jesus seemingly immediately. He did not hesitate to call Jesus “the Son of God and the king of Israel.” We are not sure why Nathaniel was so ready to welcome Jesus into his life. Was it because Jesus told Nathaniel a piece of supernatural knowledge, that Jesus had somehow seen Nathaniel studying and praying under a fig tree? Was it because Jesus seemed to know Nathaniel before they ever met, that Jesus read his heart and said that Nathaniel was a fellow Jew in whom there is no guile, no hidden motive, honest and sincere? Jesus saw Nathaniel and instantly knew he had no falsehood within him. Jesus seemed to overlook Nathaniel’s straightforward comment about Nazareth, that nothing much good can come out of that place. Nathaniel betrayed a bit of prejudice if not outright bias, and was skeptical that someone worthy of notice could come out of Nazareth. Jesus ignored that comment and perhaps saw it as something that can easily be changed.

Jesus seemed surprised that a simple miracle like seeing Nathaniel in a distant place under a fig tree would impress him so much. It has been speculated that Nathaniel was meditating on Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28 while under the fig tree. Do you think that’s a big deal, that I saw you and knew what you were reading, asks Jesus. You haven’t seen anything yet! You will soon be given the spiritual sight to see an open heaven, and I will join heaven and earth as the Son of Man. I will be just like Jacob’s ladder, Jesus is saying, when I am lifted up. You will see angels going up and down on this stairway, Nathaniel! You will see me join two worlds, heaven where God resides and earth where man dwells! I will turn Jacob’s ladder into my ladder, Nathaniel! I will become Jacob’s ladder myself!  Imagine that!

Jacob’s Ladder. In Genesis 28 we find an exhausted Jacob on the run from his angry brother Esau who he had cheated. Jacob finally finds a place where he can lay his head and rest for a while. He finds a suitable stone that would serve as his pillow, and immediately falls asleep. And then something monumental happened.

“Then Jacob dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord Yahweh stood above it, and said, ‘I am Yahweh, God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants… Behold I am with  you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.’ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’ (Genesis 28:12-17).

So Jacob named that place Bethel, the House of God. Then he took the stone pillow and anointed it, thus establishing a memorial that enabled Bethel to remain an important religious site until well after Solomon. Little did Jacob know at that time that his dream was a picture of the messiah, and that it would be fulfilled by the Messiah Himself!

Jesus presents Himself in John 1:50 as that ladder of Jacob reaching to heaven. He is the One who brings heaven to earth, and earth to heaven. As that ladder, Jesus is able to be in heaven and earth at the same time. In Him, God and man are united, so it is He that connects heaven and earth, God and man. It is Jesus who opens heaven to see God at the top of the ladder. The ultimate fulfillment is when Jesus is lifted up on the Cross (John 3:14), Jesus and the Cross together forming the ladder of salvation being lifted up to God’s presence in heaven. In Jesus, heaven opened, whether at His birth, His baptism, the Transfiguration, or even His Ascension. As with Jacob’s ladder, heaven tends to open when Jesus is around.

Angels. Only the angels are going up and down on this ladder. We don’t have to exert human effort, we aren’t the ones climbing Jacob’s ladder to heaven. Our pursuit of God doesn’t depend on how many rungs of the ladder we are able to climb. We actually climb Jesus as the only way to God. The angels are the climbers, not us, and they have been with and around Jesus whenever He needed them. Angels protected and served Jesus from birth to death to Ascension. They spoke personally and powerfully to Mary, to Joseph, and to the wise men in order to protect Him in His vulnerable state. They announced Him to the shepherds in a mind-boggling way. They ministered to Him at critical times, including during the wilderness temptations (Matthew 4:11) and the agony of Gethsemane (Luke 22:43). It is implied in Scripture that they were always with Him during His life and ministry, ready to serve. And there is no doubt that those who were given spiritual sight during His crucifixion were able to see angels ascending and descending on Him. They would have seen a host of angels ministering to Jesus, comforting Him in His misery.

“I kept watching the night visions, when I saw, coming with the clouds of heaven, One like a Son of Man. He approached the Ancient One, the Ancient of Days, and was led into His presence. To Him was given rulership, glory and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him. His authority is an eternal authority that will not pass away; and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14). 

Son of Man. Jesus gave Himself the title Son of Man throughout His ministry as recorded in the gospels, more than seventy times. Son of Man was His favorite way of describing Himself, even though He never once heard that term applied to Him by His disciples. Practically all biblical scholars believe that Jesus, at least in part, took that title from a well-known vision of Daniel’s and turned it into a title for Himself. There is much controversy, though, about what exactly this title Son of Man means.

There were times in the gospels in which Jesus called Himself Son of Man in reference to His humanity. Jesus used the title in order to remind everyone of His humble condition as a flesh and blood, generic human being, in complete solidarity with all of humanity. Matthew 8:20 probably falls in line with that thought, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 

But then again, when Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, He was most likely declaring Himself to be the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Son of Man vision in Daniel 7. Many scholars claim that during Jesus’ time the Son of Man was the “highest term used in Jewish thought for the Messiah,” and “it was the most exalted view of the coming Redeemer.” (Brad Young, Jesus, the Jewish Theologian). So when Jesus used that title, it was commonly understood by those who heard it that He certainly intended to suggest Messiah. Although not having taken the time to certify this number, one biblical scholar claims that Jesus directly referenced the vision of Daniel as many as fifty times when using the term Son of Man.

Isn’t it fascinating that Daniel’s vision reveals the “One like the Son of Man” to be in human form, but was also divine, given the sovereignty over all the earth. This majestic person in the vision is “like” the Son of Man, but then again it is obvious here that He is much more than that. When Jesus claims to be the Son of Man, He is referring to both His humanity and His divinity. Jesus claimed to be both aspects of the prophesied Son of Man in Daniel, completely human and completely divine. He claimed to be the glorious fulfillment of Daniel 7, coming in the clouds of heaven to approach God in His eternal presence. Yes, He was born of a human being, mother Mary. And yes, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, God Himself. He was a Person, yet He received from God the kingdom of the earth. The Messiah, both human and divine. Jesus the Messiah. He wasn’t merely “like the Son of man,” He was as He repeatedly said during His ministry, “the” Son of Man.

Historically, the vision in Daniel 7 has been understood as a vivid description of the Second Coming of Christ in glory. It is the momentous time in history when the Messiah, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, returns and receives from the Father “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.” (Daniel 7:14). John’s revelation dovetails with Daniel’s prophecy as he said in his Revelation 14:14, “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown.”

You!  In John 1:51, Jesus says, “I say to you…” Isn’t it interesting that the “you” is plural? At first glance in that verse, we’re thinking that Jesus was talking straight to Nathaniel, and conversing with him alone. Then we see the “ya’ll” of Jesus, and we find that He is directing His important prophecy to more than one person. Is it Philip who joined the conversation? Was it to other disciples who wanted to hear what Jesus had to say? Or was He thinking of us, His future followers, who He wanted included? Praise God, the words of Jesus are meant for all of us for all time.