Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”
He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

-Parallel verses:
Genesis‬ ‭28:12-15‬
[speaking of Jacob]
He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

When I was younger, my parents believed they were called to something greater than their ordinary lives. My Dad was a successful and “rising-star” as an electrical engineer and executive in Silicon Valley in the 1970’s. He was primed for much of the wealth and greatness this world has to offer. My Mom was serving at our church, one of the singers on Sunday, and managing a household of 6 and sometimes 8 (if my brother and sister from my Dad’s first marriage were in town). But God was calling them to something greater. So they sold their house, packed up their belongings and family and went to Bible school. After graduation, my Dad took a position at the San Jose Rescue Mission. It’s hard to get more on the front lines than a Rescue Mission. We saw the hungry, the hurting, the refugee, the broken, and the poor from society. My parents were rewarded and their faith grew as they raised support and paid bills on faith. Then, they saw a lot of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia coming in as they fled from the “Killing Fields”. They heard their stories of horror, and my parents knew they needed to know the God of Hope. So they stepped out in faith and started a Bible Study in our home. Little did they know, this Cambodian Bible Study would grow to over 100 Cambodian men, women, and children. Again, their faith was rewarded.
When Nathaniel exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God”, after only just meeting Jesus (and Jesus’ telling of seeing him under the fig tree), he exhibited a ton of faith. And Jesus rewarded this faith with a promise and the fulfillment of a well-known prophesy. He would see: 1) heaven open, 2) the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. This was a well known promise of God to Jacob. In the Genesis passage many, many years earlier, God had promised Jacob: 1) The land he slept on, 2) that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand by the sea, 3) the whole world would be blessed by him and his descendants, and 4) he would watch over him and protect him and he would not leave him. What Jesus was saying to Nathaniel was that he would see the angels ascending and descending on him, yes. But, more importantly, he was telling him he was the person who was the fulfillment of this promise in all of its points. Jesus was the fulfillment to Jacob’s promise! And Nathaniel would experience the fulfillment of the promise God made with Jacob, and see how the world would be blessed through Jesus.
Just like Jacob, my parents stepped out in faith. And they were rewarded. Nine years later, at my Mom’s memorial service (she died of cancer), there were over 2,000 people there, and more than half were Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees they had told about Jesus. What a great reward! God ALWAYS REWARDS people who step out in ACTIVE FAITH … with promises. And HIS PROMISES ARE ALWAYS TRUE. He is trustworthy and deserves my faith today. And I am confident he will reward this faith with his promises!