Ascending and Descending the Son of Man

This past week I began studying John 1:47-51, which is the calling of Nathanael by Jesus.

“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael 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.’ Nathanael answered Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’ 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.’ 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.’"

There are a couple of interesting points to be made about this passage, specifically as it pertains to the story of Jacob in the book of Genesis, particularly the 28^th chapter.

When Jesus refers to Nathanael as a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit, the Greek word used for deceit (or guile) is dolos [δόλος]. This word was used by Isaac in the LXX translation of Genesis 27:35 to describe how Jacob deceitfully robbed Esau of his blessing. Indeed, Jacob was known as a trickster and his name was associated with deceitfulness. That the story of Jacob could be the reference on Jesus’ (and John’s) mind is strengthened by the reference to follow. Of course, Jacob’s other name was Israel. Therefore, Jesus’ words could be paraphrased as here is “one who is all Israel and no Jacob.”

Though Jesus had been speaking to Nathanael, the change from the 2^nd person singular to the plural in verse 51 indicates that Jesus is now speaking to a wider circle of people. He then makes the extraordinary claim that they will see “the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

The ascension and descension of angels is an obvious reference to the dream of Jacob in Genesis 28:10-22. Having deceitfully robbed his brother of the promised blessing, Jacob flees towards the land of Haran. At a certain place he stops for a night’s sleep and dreams of a ladder set up between heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending it. It is in this dream that Yahweh first appears to Jacob and restates the covenant made to Abraham [found in Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:5-5; 17:1-9, 19-21; 22:15-18] that through the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob “all the families of the earth be blessed” (vv. 13-14). It is in this covenant, explored throughout the Bible and extra-Biblical literature, that God makes his promise that he is going to use Israel, the family of Abraham, to redeem Creation from the curse of evil. It was this covenantal blessing that Jacob stole from Esau. Yahweh had indicated that the blessing belonged to Jacob (Gen 25:23), but instead of trusting God to work this out, Jacob chose to advance the plans of God on his own through deceit.

And it was this covenantal blessing that was the hope of Israel. Specifically in Jesus’ day there was the expectation that Yahweh would return to his people and put the world to rights through the Messiah. Nathanael’s declaration that Jesus is “the Son of God; the King of Israel” states his belief that Jesus was this Messiah and that God was acting through him.

So when Jesus alludes to the story of Jacob and specifically to the dream of Genesis 28, he is affirming that the covenantal promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is reaching fulfillment. What’s more, by replacing the ladder with his self-designation, the Son of Man, Jesus is asserting himself in an apocalyptic, eschatological context (Daniel 7; Revelation 1:13; 14:14; 1 Enoch 37-71; 4 Ezra 13). Here Jesus himself becomes the link between heaven and earth, the means of establishing communication between heaven and earth, the means by which the realities of heaven are brought down to earth, the pathway along which the Kingdom of God invades the world (John 18:36). It is through him that the covenantal blessing promised to Abraham to renew Creation is fulfilled (Galatians 3:29).

Coming at the beginning of John’s Gospel, this passage can be seen as the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry as portrayed in this book (see Luke 4:18-19). It establishes the continuity between his ministry and the promises made in the Old Testament concerning what God would do to redeem Creation from sin and death. That Jesus’ ministry and mission was seen by the early Christians as the fulfillment of these promises is well attested in the New Testament and can be seen here in John’s Gospel. And this fulfillment of the promised blessing will not come to fruition by deceitfulness but by the simple belief/trust of individuals who are true Israelites.