Day 12 – Under the Fig Tree – I Saw You There

“I saw you while you were you still under the fig tree before Philip called you” (John 1:48).

Jesus saw Nathanael before Nathanael saw him.

This is a statement of a huge spiritual truth: Salvation is of the Lord.

Salvation always starts with God. It never starts with us. It is God’s work from start to finish. We need this truth because it is easy to fall into a man-centered way of thinking. We often talk about “finding” the Lord, and in a sense that is true. But it is equally true that if Jesus did not find us first, we would never find Him on our own.

Jesus was moving to call Nathanael before Nathanael knew who he was.

This should give us great confidence in our prayers and in our evangelism. We play a part because God has fixed it that way and both work together to execute His plan here on earth.

The reason we pray for the lost is because we fully expect that God will work in their hearts long before they come to faith in Christ. We do not know how God is exactly going to do it or when He is going to do it or where He is going to do it. And we don’t need to know that part. It is enough to know that salvation is a gift of God, and that every part of salvation is “not of ourselves” (see Ephesians 2:8-9).

Let us look at it this way: Philip still had to say to Nathanael, “Come and see” (v.46).

Nathanael still had to come.

What a wonderful discovery that when Nathanael got to Jesus, he discovered that Jesus had been watching him all along. This should be a source of encouragement that as we think of friend and family members who appear to be far away from the Lord. Jesus sees them as well. He is preparing them to respond so that when they are invited, at just the right moment, they will come to Christ.

Each one of us have friends or a family member standing “under the fig tree” right now. If they seem unreachable, remember Nathanael and do not lose heart. Jesus sees the lost, He knows where they are, and He calls them by the Holy Spirit.

Let us keep believing, and keep praying. We never know what He is going to do. And who is under the fig tree.

Let us continue to have faith, and believe in Your Word, and that we continue to pray for our friends and families who don’t know You. Amen.