People often ask:
"If The Son of God is a ‘mere man’, how is it that he was able to work
such great miracles?"
"How can he have power to
raise the dead and authority to judge the world and forgive sin?"
Some go as far as to say that Jesus has to be God to have performed so many great works.
Such statements stem from a misunderstanding of the two key issues at stake here:
1
How Jesus was able to perform miraculous works
2
Why Jesus did them.
1 First of all let’s look at how Jesus was able to walk in such
extraordinary supernatural power.
I have heard it said:
"As a man Jesus slept, but as God he rebuked the storm,
as a man he hungered and as God he fed the 5,000 etc. etc. etc."
Wrong.
Such statements are based on the
assumption that a person has to be God in order to work great miracles.
Instead when accused of making
himself equal with God Jesus was at pains to point out that he did nothing by
his own power or authority:
John 5:19
Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the Father do:
for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
Notice his emphatic use of the word
'can do nothing of himself'.
He did not say 'will do nothing of
himself' as though he were choosing to rely on the Father, but was also able to
perform works by his own power.
Outside of the Father's
empowerment Jesus would have been unable to perform a single supernatural act.
Jesus worked his miracles the same
way every other man in the Bible did.
By the gifting of the Holy Spirit:
1 Corinthians 12:7
But the manifestation of the Spirit is
given to every man to profit withal.
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Jesus rebuked the stormMark 4:38-41 |
Moses parted the Red SeaExodus 14:21And Joshua even stopped the sun! Joshua 10:12-13 |
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Jesus turned water into wineJohn 2:11 |
Moses turned all
Egypt's waters into blood Exodus 7:20 |
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Jesus walked on waterMatthew 14:25 |
So did Peter. Matthew 14:29Also Elisha made an
inanimate iron axe-head float 2 Kings 6:6 |
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Jesus raised the deadLuke 7:14 Luke 8:54-55 |
So did Elijah and Elisha after he himself had died! 2 Kings 13:21 |
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Jesus multiplied loaves and fishesMatthew 14:19 Matthew 15:36 |
Elijah multiplied oil and flour1 Kings 17:15-16Elisha multiplied
oil 2 Kings 4:2-7 |
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Jesus possessed supernatural wisdomWhat to do with the woman taken
in adultery? John 8:5 Whether it was lawful to pay
taxes to Caesar? Matthew 22:17 |
So did Solomon 1 Kings 3:16-28 |
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Jesus knew people's
thoughts: Luke 7.39-40 |
Ezekiel even predicted what someone would
think before they thought it: Ezekiel
38:10-11 |
For an explanation of how a man can
know someone's thoughts without being either omniscient or God, hear Daniel:
Daniel 2:28
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be
in the latter days.
Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
29 As for thee, O king, thy
thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter:
and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I
have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the
interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
Other examples of word of knowledge
Elisha- 2 Kings 6.12 & 2 Kings 6.32
It was the same in every case.
When Jesus operated in the
supernatural he did so by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit which God had
anointed him with:
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power:
who went about doing good, and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil;
for God was with him.
Note- Not 'for he was God', but 'for God was
with him'.
A man being anointed by the power of God neither stops him
being a man
nor makes him God.
It simply means that God is working
through that person.
Acts 2:22
Ye men of Israel, hear these words;
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God
among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know:
John 14:10
Believest thou not that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me?
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
He healed through the gifts of
healings, prophesied by the same Spirit that inspired Moses and Isaiah, and
discerned spirits and rebuked them with the ‘finger of God’ (Luke 11:20)
But never lose sight of this fact:
1 Corinthians 12:11
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as
he will.
Jesus’ power source was not his own
godhood, but his Father's anointing.
What’s more, it is the will of God
that the church also work great miracles in Jesus’ name exactly the same way
Jesus did, and for the same reason.
To bear witness to the fact that we
are authentic messengers of Jesus, and that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ,
the Son of God and the only way to the Father.
John 14:12
¶Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater
works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall
ask in my name, that will I do,
that the Father may be glorified in the
Son.
2 Now
that we have established how Jesus did all of them,
let us turn our attention to the question why?
Some go so far as to say that Jesus
performed miracles in order to prove his divinity.
Not according to
Jesus.
According to Jesus, the source of his power was the Father
and the Father had given him that power in order to bear witness of the fact not that he was God,
but that he was the Christ, therefore the one anointed (sent) by the
Father,
thus making the Father, God.
John 10:24
Then came the Jews round about him, and
said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not:
the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me.
He deliberately drew attention to
this before he raised Lazarus:
John 11:41
Then they took away the stone from the
place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard
me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always: but
because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Jesus never asked us to interpret his works as evidence that
he was God.
Instead they were another's witness of him:
John 5:31
¶If I bear witness of myself, my witness
is not true.
32 There is another that beareth witness of me;
and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
Jesus says here there is someone
else who bears witness of him apart
from himself!
Who can he mean?
John the Baptist?
33 Ye sent unto John, and
he bare witness unto the truth.
34 But I receive
not testimony from man: but these things
I say, that ye might be saved.
It isn't John
36 But I have greater witness than that of John:
for the works which the Father hath given me to finish,
the same works that I do,
bear witness of me, that the Father hath
sent me.
The Father bears witness by means
of the works he does through his Son.
For Jesus to be God makes a
nonsense of his entire discourse in these verses.
The point he is making is that:
1. he does not bear witness of
himself
2. that the Father was another witness
In another place Jesus reiterates
this point:
John 8:16
And yet if I judge, my judgment is true:
for I am not alone, but I and the
Father that sent me.
17 It is also written in
your law, that the testimony of two men
is true.
18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
The testimony of how many?
Jesus and the Father are two!
This
raises another important question:
How can
Jesus say:
John 10:30
I and my Father are one.
Answer:
The same
way we are supposed to be one with the Father:
John 17:20
¶Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21
That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them;
that they may be one, even as we are
one:
And
not just one with Jesus and the Father, but with each other!
Moreover, Jesus made it very clear
that not only his power, but his message was not his own, either:
John 7:16
Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent
me.
17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak
of myself.
18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory:
but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no
unrighteousness is in him.
The implication being that if Jesus
were speaking 'of himself'
we would not be obligated to pay him any mind. As the Bible states:
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie;
neither the son of man, that he should repent.
Romans 3:4
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but
every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy
sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Jesus himself went as far as to
say:
John 5:31
¶If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the
witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
Jesus never even claimed to speak
his own word, or move under his own authority.
Strange thing for God to do.
Instead, he claims his witness to
be entirely reliable based upon the fact that the word he spoke was not his own.
This was the fulfilment of:
Deuteronomy 18:18
I will raise them up a Prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee,
and will put my words in his mouth; and
he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
The underlying rationale implicit
in Jesus' teaching is this:
The Father endorses the Son with
his power
because the Son is faithful to the Father's message.
If the Son's message were his own,
he would be limited to his own human power
and unable to perform the works of God.
Many of Jesus’ contemporaries
certainly got the message:
John 9:29
We know that God spake unto Moses: as for
this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
30 The man answered and
said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence
he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a
worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
33
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
John 10:20
And many of them said, He hath a devil,
and is mad; why hear ye him?
21 Others said, These are
not the words of him that hath a devil.
Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
Another example of Jesus' works
being done to bear witness is in the issue of his authority to forgive of sins.
When he told a paralysed man that
his sins were forgiven
some individuals in the crowd immediately objected:
Luke 5:21
And the scribes and the Pharisees began
to reason, saying,
Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who
can forgive sins, but God alone?
Jesus said to them
Mark 2:8
Why reason ye these things in your
hearts?
9 Whether is it easier to
say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and
take up thy bed, and walk?
(My paraphrase)
"You think it's easy for me to say 'Your sins be forgiven you'
because there is no external evidence whether this has actually happened or
not.
If, however I say to this man 'Rise
up and walk', this can only be done by the power of God- and he won't back me
with his power if what I just said about me having power to forgive people's
sins is a lie."
Jesus explained that this work was
done
not to show that he was God…
…But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon
earth to forgive sins,
(he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I
say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
And immediately he rose up before them,
and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
Luke 5:24-25
The crowd certainly got the
message!
Matthew 9:8
But when the multitudes saw it, they
marvelled, and glorified God,
which had given such power unto men.
Perhaps Jesus' greatest claim is
linked to his greatest miracles.
His discourse in John 5 sheds much
light on this subject:
John 5:17
¶But Jesus answered them, My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work.
Here Jesus explains that his
miracles are done by the Father's power working through him.
The Jews misunderstand thinking him
to mean that he is working alongside the Father with equal
power:
18 Therefore the Jews
sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but
said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus denies this accusation and
clarifies his point- that it is not his power but the Father's:
19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father
do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
He then explains that 'they ain't
seen nothing yet':
20 For the Father loveth
the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth:
and he will shew him greater works than
these, that ye may marvel.
What can he mean?
Jesus explains:
21 For as the Father
raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them;
even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
The Son will raise the dead!
22 For the Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
…and, just as the other miracles
were evidence that Jesus was sent by the Father and had authority to forgive
sins
his power to raise the dead was the Father's witness that he had also committed
authority for all judgement to the
Son!
23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour
the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath
sent him.
…and that it is impossible to
honour God without honouring God's delegated authority, his beloved Son
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Because of this belief in God and
obedience to Jesus' word secures eternal life!
This is a stiff claim indeed!
He then recaps:
25 Verily, verily, I say
unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath
life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him
authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for
the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his
voice,
29 And shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
So to summarise Jesus' teaching
here.
Because he has authority to raise
the dead now, we know that he will have authority to judge them on the last
day. Jesus has been given authority both do condemn and to give eternal life.
In Matthew 25.31-32 he explains that
"When the Son of man shall come in his
glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats"
He will have authority to say to
one group
"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" (Matthew 25:34)
And to the other "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels:" (Matthew 25:41)
Because of this it impossible to
honour God without honouring Christ and those he sends:
And the reason he has such
authority is not because he is God, but that he has been given such great
authority because he is faithful to the Father's will and not his own:
30 I can of mine own self
do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not
mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
To attribute Jesus' power to him,
even in order to assert his divinity or Godhood
is to fly in the face of all that he claimed and taught about himself.
Jesus' power and message both had their origin in God.
John 14:10
Believest thou not that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me?
the words that I speak unto you I speak
not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else
believe me for the very works' sake.
Jesus worked every one of his
miracles as a man anointed by the Spirit of God and he clearly taught that
these works were given by the Father to bear witness to the fact that:
No more, no less.
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1. Introduction |
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10. Seen! |
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17. Jesus- a Godsend |
18. 1 Creator |
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20. The firstborn |
21. The name of God |
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