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All four gospels highlight the
life of Jesus Christ by placing emphasis on His miracles. These
miracles were special signs designed by God to shock the senses
of those watching and to focus their attention on the true
identity of this Carpenter from Nazareth. As the God-Man, Jesus
Christ demonstrated immediate power over nature, angels,
disease, demons and death.
The Apostle John was Impressed
Seven specific signs performed by
Jesus as recorded in the Book of John leave no doubt as to His
true identity. These signs prove that He was God manifest in the
flesh (Jn. 1:14). Here's the apostle's self-proclaimed reason
for recording these miracles:
"And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in
this book; but these are written that you might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, and believing, you might have life through
his name." (John 20:30-31)
His first miracle of turning
water into wine was performed at the wedding in Cana (Jn.
2:1-11). It was not mere chance that Jesus chose a wedding as
the place to begin to reveal His identity. A wedding is a
picture of the relationship between the Lord Jesus (described in
the Bible as the bridegroom), with His bride, which is the
church (Eph. 5:32). The attendants were instructed to fill the
pots with water, and then simply to "draw some out now and take
to the governor of the feast." Indeed, the water had been turned
into a choice wine.
Psalms 33:9 says, "He spoke, and
it was done." Most of the miracle-signs were accomplished by
Christ's spoken word.
Jesus had earlier told Nathanael
that he would see God coming down to man (Jn. 1:51). That
promise was now fulfilled, because now the God-Man was in
action. Only God could have such power over nature. This was
just the beginning of His miracles designed to shed light upon
his identity, and to provoke belief in Him.
"This beginning of signs Jesus
did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and His
disciples believed in Him." (Jn. 2:11)
If the Lord Jesus were the
God-Man, an ideal way for Him to reveal this would be for Him to
heal diseases. This is exactly what happened. This second
miracle is the healing of the official's son in Capernaum (Jn.
4:46-54). The official had probably spent much money and tried
every local medical means to heal his son, all with no success.
His frustration had led him to
the little village of Cana, hoping against hope that this One
whom He had heard about could indeed save His son from death.
The Lord Jesus quietly and calmly announced to the officer, "You
may go. Your son will live" (Jn. 4:50). At the moment that
Jesus spoke these words the disease left the boy. The officer
later verified this when he returned home and inquired about the
exact time that the boy made his comeback. The result was new
believers in Jesus Christ.
"And he himself believed, and his
whole household." (Jn. 4:53b)
In every case of healing, there
was an emphasis on the hopelessness of the various situations.
This was certainly the case when Jesus healed the crippled man
at the pool of Bethesda (Jn. 5:1-16). This man had been crippled
for 38 years. Jesus healed with His spoken word, just as He did
when He changed the water into wine and when He healed the
nobleman's son. "And immediately he was made well" (vs. 9).
This was the work of Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals.
The next miracle-sign must have
been very important, because it is the only miracle to merit
discussion in all four gospels. Unlike the first three miracles,
this miracle was performed in the midst of a large audience.
This miracle is, of course, the feeding of the multitude (Jn.
6:5-14). Jesus' question to Philip, “Where are we going to buy
enough bread to feed all of these people?” did not mean that
Jesus needed the information. It was a question designed to
teach, because it underlined the fact of the hopeless situation
to the disciples. There was no human way to get the amount of
food needed, even if money were no object.
It was a test designed to
strengthen the faith of the disciples. God sometimes tests us in
similar ways (James 1:2;I Peter 1:7). He puts us into humanly
impossible situations that only He can take care of.
All Andrew could come up with
after surveying the crowd was a boy's lunch of five barley
loaves and two fish. As the Good Shepherd made the sheep to lie
down in green pastures in the Twenty-third Psalm, Jesus made the
people sit down on the grass. He then blessed the food and began
to distribute it.
The disciples suddenly became
waiters. Back and forth they went, filling up the baskets over
and over again. Here was proof positive that they were in the
presence of God Himself. This was another part of the disciple’s
education. These twelve baskets of leftovers were visible proof
that Jesus Christ is God and that He is more than adequate to
meet their needs (Jn. 6:12-14).
The miracle-sign that John next
writes about took place on the Sea of Galilee, where the Lord
Jesus demonstrated His power over nature. It was three o’clock
in the morning and the disciples were on a perilous fishing
trip. They were caught in the middle of a huge lake in a storm.
The wind blew with such fury that they made no progress rowing
against it. They were trapped, and they were scared. They were
in for a much greater shock, however, when they caught sight of
the Lord Jesus walking near them on the water. Jesus
spoke to them: "I am, be not afraid." Remember that it was with
this phrase "I am" that Jesus described Himself in John 8:58.
Here is the Eternal One, the Son of the Living God, walking on
the water. When they welcomed Him into the boat, instantly,
miraculously, they were on the shore.
The sixth miracle that John chose
to include is the healing of a man who had been blind from
birth. With this miracle-sign, the Lord Jesus provided insight
into God's purpose for recording special acts of healing in the
Word.
A question from a disciple and
the answer from Jesus provide insight into why Jesus chose to
heal the blind man.
"Master, has this man sinned or
his parents that he should be born blind? Neither has this man
sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be
revealed in Him." (Jn. 9:2-3)
God raised this blind man up in
order that the identity of the One who was going to heal him
might be revealed. Thus the miracle of God that day, verified by
the eyesight given to the blind man along with his testimony to
those who witnessed it, exposed the true identity of the One
doing the healing.
It was never God's intent just to
bring attention to the act of healing itself, nor on the person
who was healed. Instead, it appears that God did this to bring
favorable attention to the Healer. It obviously wasn't God's
ultimate purpose to alleviate suffering, but simply to focus the
attention of human beings onto the identity and message of His
Son. If God had wished to end suffering, then Jesus Christ could
and would have healed everyone in Israel. While on the subject
of suffering, note this: the Bible reveals that God often uses
suffering to reveal qualities about Himself to Hi s children (1
Peter 1:3-9). The believer in Christ is not called from
suffering but to suffer for His name.
The last of the seven
miracle-signs recorded by John is the revealing illustration of
the miraculous power of the God-Man in the raising of His friend
Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 11:1-53). Jesus first gave the reason
for the sickness and ultimate death of his friend, Lazarus.
"He said, 'This sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be
glorified through it." (Jn. 11:4)
"These things He said, and after
that He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that
I may wake him up." (Jn. 11:11)
"Then Jesus said to them plainly,
'Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not
there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him."
(Jn. 11:15)
John took great care to reveal
the utter hopelessness of the situation.
“So when Jesus came, He found
that he had already been in the tomb four days." (Jn. 11:17)
Once again, the miracle was
accomplished by the spoken word of Jesus Christ. The God-Man
said to the one who was dead, "Lazarus, come forth!" (Jn.
11:43).
Lazarus only needed to hear it
once, and at the instant he heard it, he gained new physical
life.
"And he who had died came out
bound hand and foot with grave-cloths, and his face was wrapped
with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Loose him, and let him go."
(Jn.11:44)
He immediately lived, and only
God can give life. But, had it been the Lord's desire to give
life to the dead, He could have given life to every person in
the cemetery that day.
The grand result of these signs
was faith in Christ by a portion of the witnesses. The results
were that many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen
the things Jesus did, believed in Him (Jn. 11:45).
He is the God-Man
Jesus Christ is the God-Man. He
performed miracle after miracle, doing things that no man had
ever done. His goodness exposed the evil of that generation.
When it was time for Him to ascend into heaven to take His place
at the right hand of the father (Acts 1:9; Heb. 10:12), God the
Holy Spirit took up the task of revealing to man God's righteous
standard necessary for life (Jn. 16:5-15).
God, today, has chosen not to use
graphic, heart-stopping miraculous powers over nature, disease,
demons and death to reveal the identity of His Son. Instead, He
uses the power of His written Word, the Bible (Heb. 4:12; I Pet.
1:23) and the gentle, relentless, convicting ministry of the
Holy Spirit to open blind eyes to the gospel.
The Holy Spirit is busy
convincing those whom God has set apart that the Word of God is
true, and that in order to have life they need righteousness
before God. This righteousness will come to those who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). All four gospels
highlight the life of Jesus Christ by placing emphasis on His
miracles.
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