“A large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing …” (John 6:2) These “signs” were “the works” which the Lord had spoken of in the last chapter – the works that testified about Him, “that they Father” had sent Him (5:36). Nicodemus and his associates understood the significance of these works. For when he came to Jesus he said: (3:2) “… ‘Rabbi, we know that you have come from God sent as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
The man who was born blind but was given sight by the Lord also understood the significance of His works. In response to the Jews who said, even in the face of great miracles, that they did not know where Jesus was from, this man said: (9:30-34) “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
In John 10 the Jews asked the Lord: “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” In His response Jesus said: “I told you, and you do not believe the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me” (vss. 24-25). Further on in the chapter he said: “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (vss. 37-38). The works – the miracles – that Jesus performed were the Father’s testimony that Jesus was truly the Messiah. As Peter told the Jews on Pentecost: (Act 2:22) “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.” God worked these miracles through Jesus to demonstrate that He was truly sent by Him; through the miracles God exhibited to the people that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
To be sure, many who heard His message and saw His miracles were unwilling to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Does this mean, then, that God’s testimony is somehow deficient; that men are left with an excuse to remain in unbelief? Hardly! While preparing His apostles for the persecution that they would eventually face, Jesus said: (John 15:21-24) "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well." They would have an excuse for their unbelief if Jesus had not spoken to them and if He not “done among them the works which no one else did;” But as it is, Jesus did these things and so “they have no excuse for their sin!” They have no excuse for their unbelief and neither do we, when faced with the evidence. No, we have not seen these miracles with our eyes and neither have we heard the actual voice of the Lord, but His words and works have been recorded; and through what has been written can possess the faith that gives one the power – the right – to become a child of God (cf., John 1:12). For it is written: (John 20:30-31) “… many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”
Kieran Murphy
First Principles
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment