Greater Things – John 14:12-14
Basil Howlett -
The disciples had
just heard that Jesus was about to leave them and they were distressed. Our Lord’s main aim in this 14th
chapter is to comfort them (verse 1).
He has already reminded them of the wonderful future they had in his
father’s house (verses 1-4).
Now in verse 2 he gives them 2 more reasons why their hearts should not
be troubled by his impending departure.
1. They would continue to do the
things he had been doing (i.e. the miracles mentioned in verse 11). The disciples feared that everything would run
down and collapse when Jesus left them and he tells them that those who had
faith in him would continue to do the things he had been doing. We see this promise being fulfilled
throughout the Acts of the Apostles (e.g. Acts 3:8, 5:12-16, 8:7, 9:33-42,
11:28, 12:6-10, Ac 14:8, 16:18, 19:11, 28:8).
The big question! Does this promise
still hold good or did it die out with the apostles. There are those who say that since
the completion of the New Testament all these miracles of healing and prophecy
and casting out demons have ceased.
Personally, I’ve never accepted that view. I cannot find any suggestion in
Scripture that this promise no longer applies. Jesus does not restrict it to
the apostolic age: he says, ‘Anyone who has faith in me...’ The promise in verses 2 & 3
has not died out (thankfully); neither has the promise in verse 12!
Some would argue the case for cessation from 1 Corinthians 13:8-12. They take the phrase ‘when
perfection comes’ (1
Corinthians 13:10) to refer
to the completed Scriptures and say that now that we have the complete Bible,
supernatural gifts like tongues and prophecy (and presumably miracles) have
ceased The logic of that argument
is that Christians today know more about Christian truth. and
see things more clearly than the apostle Paul! He only knew ‘in part’ , we
know ‘fully’ (1
Corinthians 13:12)! The
phrase, ‘when perfection comes’ obviously refers to the
final glory.
There’s no suggestion anywhere in the Bible that miracles and the
promise of Jesus in John 14:12 would die out at the end of the apostolic age. In church history there is
evidence that miracles have occurred.
John Welsh, at the time of the reformation, was reputed to have done
miracles and he was truly reformed.
Alexander Peden, a field preacher at the time
of the Scottish Covenanters gave some amazing prophecies, which literally came
true. 1 Pastor Hsi
of
The
fact that we believe our Lord’s promise in John 14:12: -
Does not mean that we have to be gullible and accept every so called
miracle we hear of. Some may
be imaginary, or deceitful, or devilish (Matthew 24:24, Exodus 7:11-12). We must ‘Test everything’
by the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22).
Does not mean that we organise and advertise
healing meetings. We don’t find any in the
Bible! Spontaneous
miracles of healing, but not one organised healing meeting.
Does not mean that every person we pray for will be healed in this
life. Paul had his ‘thorn
in the flesh’ and pleaded with the
Lord three times to take it away,
but it was not the Lord’s will and he wasn’t healed (2 Corinthians
12:7, see also 1 Timothy 5:23, 2 Timothy 4:20). The statement in John 14:13,
that Jesus will do ‘whatever we ask in his name’ has been misunderstood by
many. They use Jesus’ name as a kind of mantra and think that if they say
it often enough, loud enough, getting more and more excited, God will
answer. To pray ‘in the
name of Jesus’
is to pray according
to his will. But some of the things we ask for, even with good motives are not
his will,
But
praise God, genuine miracles can and do still happen.
2. The disciples would do greater
things.
Neither they nor we should major on miracles of
physical healing. There are greater things to be done .
Jesus is referring to miracles of spiritual healing. The healing of a person’s soul is
more important than healing for the body. You may have a perfectly fit,
healthy body but if your soul is not restored and saved then both your soul and
that healthy, fit body of yours will be thrown into eternal hell. On the other hand, you may have a
very sick body but if your soul is restored and healed, then both your soul and
body will spend eternity with the Lord (by which time your body will be perfect
(Romans 8:23). That’s
why we must major, not on miracles of physical healing, but spiritual.
That’s what the apostles did (Acts 3). Peter and John healed a man who
had been lame from birth and a
great crowd gathered to see him walking, running and jumping, but they
immediately began to preach about Christ, the Cross and the Resurrection and
about the need for repentance. They
realised that to save a man’s soul and body from eternal hell is more
important than to heal his body from pain and sickness.
We should long to see more of these ‘greater things’ , but that raises the all important
question of why we see so few. Just
after these words were first spoken by Jesus, the other apostles saw 3000
people saved in one day and thereafter the Lord added to their number daily
those who were being saved, and
within a short time the number had risen to 5000 men. Compared with
that, we see so few spiritual miracles in this country today. Why?
The basic answer is the sovereignty of God. God does these spiritual miracles - like
physical miracles - as and when he wills, to whom he wills and by whom he
wills. But the doctrine of God’s sovereignty does not rule out our
responsibility and there may be reasons in us why God is not doing many of
these greater things through us and our church.
It could be lack of faith (John 14:12 Matthew 13:58)
Or our lack of prayer. (John 14:13-14). We know it is the will of Christ
to save men and women. Maybe we are not praying enough for their salvation.
Maybe we are not urgent enough.
Or perhaps we are not as concerned as we should be about the glory of
God (John 14:13). The great
concern of Jesus while he was here on this earth was to bring glory to God the
Father. Maybe we have been doing things for our own glory or for the glory of
our church. God will not give
his glory to another.
May we take this promise seriously and long for him to do these greater
miracles in our church and in our town.
1 ‘Men of the Covenant’ by Alexander Smellie,
Banner of Truth Trust 1960, page 404-408.
2 ‘Pastor Hsi:
Confucian Scholar and Christian’ by Mrs Howard Taylor, The