Nathanael's heart ....

43 ¶ The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

(my comments)

Jesus saw Nathanel's heart. Even though he was skeptical, Jesus saw his heart, wherein Jesus saw there was no guile (pretense, hypocrisy). Yes there was skepticism, which I like the way that Phillip just said basically, come and see for yourself! He did not try to convince Nathanel, but instead invited him to come to know Jesus for himself.

Jesus saw that he was an honest seeker of the Lord and that he wanted truth, and the rest of the verses show that he was not just saying that, he truly wanted to agree with the truth as it would be spoken to his heart.

The fig tree could symbolize a place of rest, or a place of meditating. Which again points back to the fact that Jesus saw his heart. As soon as he turned toward Jesus, with this heart, willing to overcome his skepticism , (which he didn't hide, but acknowledged, again .. that is part of keeping our hearts ) All this showed that he was seeking a type of a genuine relationship with the Lord. He did not want pretense. He wanted the real thing ~ Jesus knew that ! It was a great reward, for Jesus immediately spoke to him. Because his heart was open to Jesus, he quickly and immediately was able to receive Him and declare Him Lord and King of Israel.

Our relationship with the Lord is one that must touch our heart constantly. It is all about the heart. We must be willing to sweep away all of the pretense, all of the pretending and hidden motives, attitudes, and self assertions that deny us of the relationship where we could come to acknowledge His greatness and He can become all in all, in us and through us. Where we could come to know Him more as He truly is. We will look away from those things that set us off in a different direction. WE will recognize "wrong directions" as misguided impulses, even though it may appear as religious, godly, upright, or a good thing to do, it will not move or impact our heart. We will search our heart in the day to day experiences that come our way and be quick to keep our hearts right, recognize that if we take any wrong directions, we will end up exalting ourselves and not Christ alone in our lives.

We will discern the way to a relationship with the Lord which causes Him to be glorified in us and through us in the day to day simple realities of life. Which is what we want, we want Him each and every day, His life flowing into each circumstance, no matter how trivial it may seem, Jesus has come that we would have life and have it more abundantly!! This life is in His Son !!