Under The Fig

Nathanael under the fig tree, as expounded in the first chapter of John’s gospel, is a picture that fits many today, and indeed, every day of these, the last days. And the last days, I am persuaded, are not well understood by the institutionalized assemblies. The Lord, by His Spirit, spoke and defined the last days:

[Act 2:17 KJV] 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Peter spoke these things in the outer court of the temple, on the day that Pentecost was fulfilled. The Holy Spirit came, and the last days began. The Spirit of God and of Christ, is God…is Christ. I will not dispute and debate with the prognosticators regarding the Lord’s coming and going. In many gatherings, I have heard the invocation to the Spirit of God, to “come” and be manifest in the gathering. This is an impossibility in the last days. He is already come, and dose not come and go. He lives and abides. I will emphasize that everything that is requisite to fulfill the promise of Christ coming again, was fulfilled on the day that Peter expounded, as it was happening. In the last days, days in which you and I were born, the Spirit of Christ is poured out upon all flesh. To what effect, is in the hands of every individual, as He stands at the door and knocks.I do not know the day or the hour in which, according to His Power, the Father will end these last days, but I do know that, from the moment that the Spirit of Christ came, until this very moment, and until the last soul is added by faith and the way is closed, are the last days…the last age of dealing with flesh. And the earmark of the last days will be seen in all who shall have called upon the name of the Lord. All who shall have been saved, will have done in the Spirit.

Conclusion: Do not look anymore for the last days to come. You were altogether born in them.

The sun turning into darkness and the moon to blood are based in the dreams of Joseph. When Joseph saw the sun and moon subjugated to Joseph’s vision, and told it to his family, Jacob did not look up at the sky to interpret the dreams. Jacob said, “Will I and your mother indeed come and bow to you?”. Jacob did not understand the word, but knew not to dismiss it out of hand. When Joseph was thrown by his brothers into a pit to die, was raised up out of the pit, and went into Egypt , he became the figure of resurrection. He went on to be glorified above Egypt, while sojourning there. He proclaimed in the naming of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, that, “God has caused me to forget my father’s house, and all of my troubles”. Jacob himself would later comprehend the vision, when on his last day, addressing his sons, he proclaimed that the God of Jacob’s household fathers, somehow had come to be Joseph’s father. Thus acknowledging that all would be fulfilled in the man of Resurrection, not in Abraham’s flesh and blood. When Jacob acknowledged this, in his own mind, sun and moon diminished, and gave place to Christ. Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the tomb: “Go and tell my disciples that I go to My God and to your God, To My Father and to your Father. What was foreshown in Joseph in a shadow, is fulfilled in Christ, and all who shall, in the last days, call upon Him in faith. Thus are fulfilled the words of the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of the prophet, “I and the children my Father hath given me…”

Conclusion: The consummation of the age is not to be fulfilled in flesh and blood, but in a people begotten to God, in the Man of Resurrection.

[Jhn 11:25 KJV] 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

[Jhn 14:6 KJV] 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.


Nathanael sat under a fig tree in a time very similar to our own. He would be proclaimed to be an Israelite indeed, in who’s heart was no guile. Jesus proclaimed him to be a true Jew, one that is inward, who’s circumcision was in his heart. Nathanael, living in the midst of political turmoil, in a corrupted failing nation, and amidst religious turmoil and corruption. Both institutions were on life support. All flesh was looking for consolation, for an easing of the heavy burden of these Nebuchadnezzar-like-images, bearing down upon the very soul. Every soul desired fulfillment, but desired it amiss. For the Kingdom of God would not be fulfilled in flesh and blood, but in a people begotten of God by His Spirit. To this very day, the souls of men and women sit in discontented nonfulfillment, wherever they look to flesh and blood for it. Nathanael knew scripture and searched it in his mind frequently. He knew that according to the scripture, Messiah was near to come. He knew also that many had already come, letting themselves out to be something they were not, and leading themselves, and many with them, to destruction. All expectation rooted in flesh ends this way. As Nathanael sat under the fig (frequently used in the scripture to signify The Father), he wondered how he would know messiah when He came, how he would find him. His mind lead him to Jacob’s vision of Christ, as the stone and ladder to heaven. Upon the ladder was the Lord. As he pondered this, Nathanael was touched by the Holy Spirit. He was caused to understand that The Lord, from the top of the descent, was seeing Jacob, and at that very moment, was seeing him, Nathanael. In an instant of glorious revelation by the Spirit, in The Father, Nathanael had his answer. Christ was seeing him, and would in h His descent to flesh, find Nathanael. Christ was sent to seek and to save, that which was lost. The seeking that Christ directed us to, is not one sided. It is also His seeking.

What things did the prophets say of Messiah?

He is the fullness of the godhead bodily:

[Isa 9:6 KJV] 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

He is a new kind of King:

[Psa 2:6-8 KJV] 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give [thee] the heathen [for] thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth [for] thy possession.

He is a new kind of priest:

[Psa 110:4 KJV] 4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou [art] a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

This Melchizedek was a priest forever, and a king forever. Both institutions eternally fulfilled in one individual. Once fulfilled, there is no looking for another. Looking for the fulfillment of this in flesh, is futile and leads to emptiness. If one does not find this in Christ, already fulfilled, one will never find it.

The gospel of John begins by proclaiming all of the fulfillment of all of the law and prophets, and oracles, all of it, became flesh and blood and walked among us. The first chapter of John’s gospel announces this, how that as many as would receive Him, would not be born of blood, or of the will of man, or of the will of flesh, but of God. The interlude of John 1 shows the last legitimate Levitical priest, John the baptist, declaring the lamb of God to be Christ. This John declared that “I must decrease, He must increase”. The conclusion of John 1 is about revelation, by the Father, in you, of who Christ is.

Nathanael is under the fig. He ponders Jacob’s vision, and by the revelation of the Father, is cause to know that Messiah was seeing him there. At this moment, Philip finds Nathanael under the tree, fresh in these experiences, and proclaims, “We have found Him, Jesus of Nazareth”. Nathanael is a true Jew. He has no guile in him, but thinking out loud asks, “Does any good thing come out of Nazareth?”. Nathanael was thinking about the scriptures. And indeed, the scriptures proclaim, “He shall be called a Nazarene”. Now comes Jesus, hailing Nathanael, as an Israelite in deed! (If you search the scriptures, do it desiring the truth, not the reinforcement of religion, because as often as not, the truth will lead you to dismiss religion). Nathanael asks, “Sir where do you know me from?” Jesus said, “Before Philip came to you, you knew Messiah was seeing you; that was me”. Nathanael’s reply should be the reply of every one of us. “You are the son of God, you are the King of Israel”. Jesus said, “Because I said I saw you under the fig tree, you believe? (Knowing what Nathanael had been pondering Jacob’s dream) hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the messengers of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man!”.

Conclusion: Nathanael knew by revelation of the Father, that both King and Priest were fulfilled in the man he was talking to, and would never be fulfilled in the institutions Nathanael found himself surrounded by, as a flesh and blood Hebrew. For to be a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, was the proclamation of the Father, concerning the Son. The Son of God, would be king and priest forever. And this being fulfilled in Christ, will never be fulfilled in any else, only in Him, and them who receive Him in faith, in the Spirit. Nathanael was translated out of the darkness of politics and religion, into the Kingdom of the Dear Son.