The Day of New Beginnings

Nathaniel

 

John 1:
47* Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him, and *said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"
 48* Nathaniel *said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
 49* Nathaniel answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel."
 50* Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these."
 51* And He *said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
 
The Lord quickened these passages to us this morning while having Communion. Nathaniel is a type of the "One New Man" of Eph 2.  The Lord spoke that he was an Israelite indeed, with no deceit in him. This is what the Lord is currently creating in a hungry people. We are to be a people moving in a realm without leaven. There was no leaven in Nathaniel. Nathaniel means "Gift of God." Very interesting. 
 
The Lord is purifying our spirits. That does not mean He is purifying our old natures. The Holy Spirit continually emphasizes our weakness, the depravity of our old natures, so that a humble cry might arise deep within our spirits to be righteous before Him. As we repent, we appropriate. Appropriation IS repentance. John the Baptist said bring forth fruit in keeping with your repentance. The fruit is what is appropriated from the Lord.  We don't produce it ourselves. 
 
The humble state God brings us to in His dealings with us is what He considers a pure spirit before Him. Remember those children Jesus said we must become in order to see the Kingdom of God? Innocence is created within our spirits as we humbly submit to Him and respond to Him with appropriation. 
 
It's interesting that Nathaniel had a revelation of who the Lord was. Peter is the one always mentioned as getting the revelation when Jesus asked him, "Who do you say that I am?" Yet we see here Nathaniel saw it first. He also obtained the promise, "You will see the heavens opened." This is what the Lord is doing in a people.