Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do
also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.
(John 14:12)
If we accept this prophetic
commandment from Jesus as being for us today, we must confess that (for the most
part) we have fallen short of doing the works, much less, “greater works”
than Jesus did. This exposes our limited faith and understanding of who
Jesus is, and our need for a sovereign end-time move of God.
How are we to define “greater
works?” Are these “greater works” qualitatively or quantitatively greater? Or
did He mean conversion alone? Jesus didn’t specify, but He did say
“greater works.” Therefore, we are to be expectant, and must refrain from
explaining away “greater works.”
Raising the dead is not
a greater or lesser work for us to accomplish than winning souls for Christ. We
simply are to be available for God to do either — or both — through us, as He
wills and when He wills.
There is no proof that everyone
who received a miracle became a convert. Jesus gave out of His pure heart to
reveal Himself as our loving Messiah and not because He could get converts by
exhibiting miracles. He never uses cheap gimmicks and “God tricks” to promote
Himself. Jesus loves — period!
WHAT ARE GREATER WORKS?
Some theologians interpret
“greater works” in this verse to mean the accumulative works of the greater body
of Christ over the last 2,000 years. Some cessationists believe the “greater
works” applied only to the first century church. But notice that Jesus’
statement was made to “He . . . who believes in Me,” not to “My Apostles who
believe in Me,” or “the first century Christians . . . who believe in Me,” or
“the accumulative works of all those . . . who believe in Me.”
In context, the implied
definition of “he who believes” is . . . every individual believer from the day
of Pentecost to the day of His Second Coming.
The word “shall” in John 14:12
makes this a prophecy and a commandment to every generation until the Second
Coming of Christ.
Why? Because in context, “shall”
is as “present tense” as Jesus — the great I AM — is (John 8:57-58).
Paraphrased, Jesus
said: “If any Christian in any century believes in Me, then all these Christians
can do the works that I (Jesus) did, and even greater!”
But, how can that be when our
experience verifies that no such thing has happened to us, or to anyone we know?
Let me prove to you — from the
Bible — why and how we can do the works that Jesus did.
THE SPIRIT OF JESUS
This may shock you, but the Bible makes no distinction
between Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and God and the Holy Spirit — as these verses
point out.
5. Test yourselves to see if you
are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test? (2
Corinthians 13)
17. The Lord and the Spirit are one and the
same, and the Lord’s Spirit sets us free.
18. So, our faces are not covered. They show
the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like
our glorious Lord. (2 Corinthians 3 The Promise Bible version)
20. In that day you shall know that I am in My
Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14)
Thinking in terms of the Trinity, the three are ONE,
and the Holy Spirit is as much the “Spirit of Christ” as He is the “Spirit of
God” the Father. The Holy Trinity cannot be separated.
We are not gods, but divinity resides within us. The
New Agers have it all backwards. Because they think they are gods,
they miss God altogether.
This same Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Jesus
Christ” in Philippians 1:19, and Acts 16:7. Many older Bible manuscripts say,
“the Spirit of Jesus.” This title — the Spirit of
Jesus — emphasizes the unity of action between Jesus and the Spirit that
permeates the book of Acts and its companion volume, the Gospel of Luke.
During the days of
Jesus’ earthly ministry, Jesus directed the disciples. Now, after His
resurrection and ascension, “the Spirit of Jesus” directed them. This is why
Jesus told us that after His ascension and the coming of His Spirit to indwell
us, we would be able to do the things He did and even greater.
Is it not this aspect
of “Jesus in us” that will do the works that He did, and even greater, when He
walked on the earth? (John 14:12)
Because divinity
indwells us, we can do divine things. Rather, the Divine can manifest Himself
through us, the Divine being the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus is in us — collectively
— continuing His ministry, and doing (as always) what He sees the Father doing
(John 5:19-21). Since there are millions of us, His accumulative work through us
certainly can exceed what He did in person.
We do not need to
strive to do the things that Jesus did because Jesus is in us to do the things
that He did (prior to Pentecost) through us!
The following is a panoramic word picture, an
impressionistic, idealistic painting that will thrill you as you begin to grasp
the depth and breadth of what it means to be IN Christ Jesus.
We Christians gained our common salvation in Christ
Jesus because Jesus sought us and bought us, and His Spirit indwells us. We did
nothing — God did everything. Therefore, if anything is of God, it is because
God alone CAN do it and DOES do it.
Was
that interesting? There is so much more in this chapter that you will
want to read. Is this a good time to order the book?
