The Lord's Miracles

by L.A. Hickling, Derby | Category: The Days Of His Flesh | Apr 1974

In the accounts given in the New Testament of the miracles which formed such a prominent part of the work of the Lord Jesus, three words are used: mighty works, signifying that the actions described are beyond the power of man to perform; wonders, describing their effect upon those who witnessed them; signs, because they gave evidence of the working of divine power. Never at any other time has God's power been manifested to such an extent as it was during the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of the Gospels gives accounts of the miracles performed by Him. Some of the incidents are recorded three times over; some are related by only one of the Gospel writers, and one (the feeding of the five thousand) is told by all four. All the miracles except one are works bringing blessing to mankind. In addition to those which are related to us, John testifies:

"Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book" (John 20:30).

and,

"There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25).

In performing these mighty works the Incarnate Son of God demonstrated His power over the physical elements when He stilled the waves and the wind during the storm on the lake (Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25); He showed His authority over the animal and plant creation when He directed His disciple to find the tribute money in the mouth of the fish (Matt. 17:24-27) and when He spoke to the unproductive fig tree by the wayside (Matt. 21:1822). He did what only God can do when He took the meagre food available and turned it into an ample provision for more than five thousand people, and when, in the first of His miracles, He turned water into wine and brought joy to the marriage feast (John 2:1-11). Above all, He showed His infinite love and compassion to men and His power over their bodies as He healed their sicknesses and diseases and even, when He willed, restored their loved ones to life again.

Varied were the methods the Lord used in His ministry of healing. The man "full of leprosy" felt the touch of His compassionate hand; the man who had been dead four days heard His voice when he could hear the voice of none other and he lived. And without even being in His presence the centurion's servant felt His power to heal. Generally, an element of faith was involved. The four men who carried their palsied friend to the roof top to let him down before the Lord (Luke 5:17-26), believed that the Lord had power to heal; the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34) believed that if she could but touch His garments she would be cured. The Lord spoke reprovingly to the man who came with his request "if Thou canst do anything, giving him the assurance that "all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:22,23), and the man found his desire fulfilled as he acknowledged his belief in the Lord. The Lord's mighty works were never done merely to satisfy idle curiosity. Herod hoped to see some miracle done by Him, but he saw nothing.

What then was the purpose of the Lord's miracles? When Lazarus was sick and died and the Lord raised him again He plainly stated that his sickness was "for the glory of God". This was true of all the other mighty works that He did. They were all for the glory of God.

That His works also brought blessing to men in a world of sorrow, pain, sickness and discontent is evident when we consider the joy that must have filled the heart of the widow at Nain when her son sat up and began to speak (Luke 7:15), or the intense happiness of Bartimaeus when he realized his great desire "that I may receive my sight". Many others also had cause to thank God for the day they met Jesus and found the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in Him,

"Surely He hath borne our griefs (or sicknesses), and carried

our sorrows" (Isa. 53:4).

John tells of another purpose of the Lord's miracles, "That ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God", and Peter spoke of Jesus of Nazareth as "a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know" (Acts 2:22). So that the mighty acts were a testimony to the fact that the One who did them was the Son of God. Moses, speaking to Israel, said,

"The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto me" (Deut. 18:15).

Moses had been empowered to do mighty works as evidence that God had sent him, and so, too, the greater than Moses showed to those around Him by the works that He did that He was from God. Nicodemus was forced to recognize this as he confessed, "We know that Thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these signs that Thou doest, except God be with him" (John 3:2).

When John sent messengers to Jesus to ask, "Art Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?" the reply was

"Tell John what things ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good tidings preached to them" (Luke 7:22).

Testimony enough that John had not to look for another but that He who did these things was the promised Messiah.

Some of those who witnessed His mighty works tried to evade their evident import by arguing, "By Beelzebub the prince of demons casteth He out demons". Their arguments were confounded by His wisdom and again He made it clear to them that these things were evidence of His Messiahship (see Luke 11:20). It was a sad fact that the people of those cities where most of His mighty works were done failed to be brought to repentance by them and so brought the Lord's condemnation upon themselves: "It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgement, than for you" (Matt. 11:22). What a solemn responsibility to have seen such acts performed (or, in these days, to have read the true account of them) and to turn away in unbelief!

There is no doubt, too, that for the disciples in those days, and for ourselves in these days, there are spiritual lessons to be learned from the miracles and it is a profitable exercise to consider these mighty acts of the Lord with a view to learning what He might have to teach us from them. We may take as an example the miracle recorded in all of the Gospels - the feeding of the five thousand As the Lord taught the disciples to recognize the need of the multitude He taught them also their responsibility to meet that need. They conjectured how much would be required to satisfy the hunger of all those people and surveyed their own pitifully inadequate provisions. But then they learned that such small resources, given into His hands, could be so taken and blessed by Him as to be ample provision for the needs of the multitude. So they gave it to Him and had the joy of knowing that they could be used in the working out of His purpose. Then, having given what they had, and having seen the blessing it brought to others, they gathered up the broken pieces left over - bread and fish not wasted, but used, no doubt, for the satisfaction of the disciples themselves. What a parable for modern disciples who live and work amongst the hungry multitudes!

So the mighty works that He did provide a fruitful field of meditation for those who would follow Him.

"Go, labour on, spend and be spent; Thy joy to do the Father's will,

It is the way the Master went;

Should not the servant tread it still?"

L.A. Hickling, Derby | Apr 1974
The Days Of His Flesh