“Nathanael, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet”
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesAs the first-century religious elite was spending their lives arguing the finer points of the Law, we meet a refreshing man by the name of Nathanael in John 1:43-51. This man didn’t need to sift through Jesus’ pedigree or speculate regarding the latest Messianic prophecies in order to arrive at a proper perspective of Jesus (see commentary).
All he needed was a pair of supernatural observances from Jesus (John 1:47-48) before being able to declare emphatically:
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49).
With a limited knowledge of Christ, i.e., faith — Romans 10:17, Nathanael correctly reasoned (Isaiah 1:18) and recognized the deity of Christ just as Peter did in Matthew 16:16.
When I read Jesus’ response to Nathanael’s great faith response in John 1:50, “You will see greater things than these” — His supernatural knowledge of being able to see into the heart of Nathanael — John 1:47, as well as His supernatural ability to see Nathaniel “before” Philip called him) — John 1:45-46, I can only imagine what Jesus would have said had He used Texas English:
“Nathanael, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
—Adapted from a “Power for today” [April-June, 2011] article by Drew Baker, Abilene, Texas.