Seven Miracles Recorded By John

by T. Rylance | Category: For Young Believers | Mar 1943

Seven miracles are recorded by John as having been performed by the Lord Jesus, prior to the resurrection. The selection of these seven, out of many more the Lord performed, recorded elsewhere, shews the over-ruling hand of God. They are all in keeping with the special character of the Gospel according to John, presenting the Lord Jesus as the Son of God in His omnipotence. John himself writes concerning them and a few more, performed after his resurrection, that "these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of

God: and that believing ye may have life in His name" (John 20.31).

"The beginning of His signs" took place at the marriage in Cana of Galilee (John 2.1-11) when He manifested His glory by turning the water into wine. Being the Creator He could pass by the wonderful process of nature, needful for the production of wine, and instantly produce wine of such quality that the ruler of the feast said to the bridegroom, "Every man setteth on first the good wine; and when men have drunk freely, then that which is worse: thou hast kept the good wine until now."

As they were at the end of their own resources at the marriage, and their need was so graciously and fully met by the Lord, surely this sets forth the greater need of all mankind which He alone can meet!

Wine "maketh glad the heart of man" (Psalm 104.15) and when men reach the end of their own resources for securing abiding joy, and avail themselves of the provision made by the Lord Jesus, the joy of knowing their sins to be forgiven becomes their own. "Blessed (or, Happy) is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Psalm 32.1). "By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves k it is the gift of God: not of works, that no man should glory" (Ephesians 2.8, 9).

The Holy Spirit uses the same word "glory" in connection with the last of these seven miracles as He does with the first. Compare John 2.11 with John 11.4, and the same might be written over all the Lord's miracles ; they were all performed for the glory of God and He Himself was glorified thereby.

"The second sign" is found in chapter 4.46-54. Tidings reached a nobleman in Capernaum that the Lord Jesus had come again to Cana and he came to Him there and "besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death." The Lord's answer, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe" but made the father more urgent in his appeal. " Sir," said he, "come down ere my child die." "Go thy way; thy son liveth," said the Lord, and the man believed His word and went his way. Reaching home he had the proof that his faith had not been misplaced. The glory of the Lord had again been shewn. His coming again to Cana suggests the happy event all who believe in Him will know when He comes again to raise the dead and change the living, as revealed in 1 Thessalonians 4.18-17. Many may then be at the point of death, but His coming will prevent their death, and they with others in the full vigour of life will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. How fully then shall it be realised that their faith in Him had not been misplaced! What a glad and glorious prospect 1 John 3. presents,-" We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is." May we give good heed to the word that follows, "Every one that hath this hope set on Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure " (verses 2, 3).

The case of the impotent man, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity, vainly seeking to be cured at Bethesda's pool, next comes before us (chapter 5.1-9). It provides another aspect of the Lord's work. The Lord said to him, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk." His command was accompanied with the power enabling the man to obey, and " straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked." To those whose sins are forgiven, who receive God's free gift of eternal life, the Lord gives the power to walk in newness of life. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked "(1 John 2.6). Further, when the Lord comes again, many of His loved ones whose bodies have suffered fearfully through sin and disease will the better know what it will mean to have their bodies fashioned anew, that they "may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself" (Philippians 3.21).

We come next to chapter 6. Here we have the account of the feeding of the five thousand men. When the five barley loaves and the two fishes were put into the hands of the Lord and He gave thanks and distributed to them that were set down, not only were they all filled, but in obedience to His command the disciples gathered up the broken pieces, sufficient to fill twelve small baskets. So convincing was this sign that the people said, -" This is of a truth the Prophet that cometh into the world" (verse 14, and see Deuteronomy 18. 15-19). In this chapter the Lord says of Himself,-" I am the Bread of life : he that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst " (verse 35). He also says, "I am the living Bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world" (verse 51). Blessed indeed are all who come to Him, they shall not hunger. Blessed are all who believe on Him, they shall never thirst. Blessed is he who eateth of this Bread, he shall live for ever. How definite is His word,-" Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life" (verse 47) ! Not only is the Lord Jesus the Giver of spiritual life, He is also the Sustainer of it as we feed upon Himself.

Following the feeding of the five thousand we have the narrative of the storm that overtook the disciples on their passage across the sea to go to Capernaum. It was dark and the sea was rising by reason of a, great wind. The Lord had not yet come to them. They had witnessed His omnipotent power just before they had embarked. Can they now trust their unseen Lord amidst the storm? Alas, as He walked upon the sea, and drew nigh to the boat, they failed to recognise Him and they were afraid. His words,-" It is I; be not afraid" gave them assurance. They received Him into the boat, "and straightway the boat was at the land whither they were going" (chapter 6.16-21). If we have trusted the Lord for our life we can safely trust Him with our life. The realisation of the Lord's presence will enable us to " smile at the storm." The Lord has said, "I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life "(John 8.12). We do well to take the Lord into every circumstance of our lives. This will save us from the sad experience expressed in the lines,

"Oh! what peace we often forfeit,

Oh! what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

God delights to prove His children. In 1 Peter 1. we read that those to whom he wrote rejoiced greatly in the salvation which was ready to be revealed in the last time, "though now" he adds, "for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold temptations, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it is proved by fire, might he found unto praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (verses 5-7). Surely we all long that at the end of the journey there shall be richly supplied unto us the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1. 11)! Let us see to it therefore that we are waring "the good warfare; holding faith and a good conscience; which some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith" (1 Timothy 1.18, 19).

The sixth sign is recorded in chapter 9. Here a man who was born blind had his eyes anointed by the Lord and was told to "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." He went therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The works of God had been made

manifest in him, but the miracle having been performed on the sabbath appeared to blind the Pharisees to the Lord's true character, and whilst telling the enlightened man to give glory to God they maintained that the Lord was a sinner.

This miracle is another figure of the completeness of the work of salvation wrought for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. As the man gazes on the Lord Jesus and learns from His own lips that He is the Son of God we hear his confession, "Lord, I believe" and we see him bowed in homage before Him. What a sight yet awaits all who are saved! "The things which are not seen are eternal," but more glorious by far than all these is the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as already stated, "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him even as He is." "Now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face" (1 Corinthians 13.12).

"Face to face with Christ my Saviour,

Face to face, what will it be,

When with rapture I adore Him,

Jesus Christ, who died for me?"

The last of the seven miracles under consideration is found chapter 11., and as we meditate upon it we borrow the words of the ruler of the feast at the marriage in Cana and say, "Thou hast kept the good wine until now." The blessed Lord, who contributed to the joy of the company at the feast, here stands. out as the perfect Sympathiser in the hour of a family's bereavement and sorrow. He was and is the all-sufficient Succourer in the time of need (Hebrews 2.18). Well might He weep as He looked, with an all-seeing eye, upon the ravages of sin as exemplified. in the mortifying body of Lazarus, lying in the tomb! What a challenge this was to His Divine Sonship! Think of Martha's words,-" By this time he stinketh: for he hath been four days dead"! Will He prove equal to the occasion, or is His power limited, as some of the company evidently believed, to those who are in life? They said, "Could not this Man; which opened the eyes of him that was blind, have caused that this man also should not die?" Here indeed, as the word of command goes forth, after a few wonderful words to God, His own Father, we see the fulfilment of the revelation He made that this sickness of Lazarus was "not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby" (verse 4). " He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! " Few words, but they were all that were Deeded to unloose the bands of death, for immediately "he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin."

Like the Lord's own resurrection, that of Lazarus is an earnest of that great harvest which is to be reaped when He comes again. Then the myriads of those "that are fallen asleep through Jesus" and whose bodies have corrupted, will hear His shout as He descends to the air to gather them to Himself, and will respond as did Lazarus to His quickening power (1 Thessalonians 4.17).

Surely this will eclipse all the Saviour's wondrous works and manifest His power and glory; yet it is but part of the fruit of His great redemption work of the Cross.

This last miracle, the raising of Lazarus, also leads us to a solemn thought, that if men reject Him, who alone can give life and joy eternal, they shall at last appear before Him as their Judge.

"All that are in the. tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth" (John 5' 28). The issue of this resurrection is sad beyond words so far as the unbelieving is concerned.; for them it is a resurrection of judgement. How different the prospect of the believer! Through the rich mercy of God, even when they were dead through their trespasses and sins, they. were quickened together with Christ, and raised up with Him and made to sit with Him in the heavenly places; in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might shew the riches of His grace in. kindness toward them in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2.4-7).

The grace of God, He has shewn in His Son,

A token of kindness through ages to come.

God's children for ever His kindness shall know,

His richness of grace through Christ ever flow."

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen" (Ephesians 3.20, 21).

"The power of God, the weakest may know,

By those who in grace and knowledge do grow,

Exceeding abundant, o'er all we ask,

God will provide strength to meet ev'ry task."

"For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4.17).

"The glory of God alluring will prove,

As onward and homeward they gladly move,

Its weight is exceeding, lasting and great,

To those who in patience bear, and can wait."

T. Rylance | Mar 1943
For Young Believers