Sunday: Signs, Works, and Wonders
Daily Lesson for Sunday 17th of November 2024
In addition to the specific miracles that John used to point to Jesus as the Messiah, he also recorded the broader discussion about the signs, works, and wonders that Jesus did.
The signs and wonders, in and of themselves, were not proof of His Messiahship because many prophets, sometimes false ones, also performed miracles. John did not record the signs because they pointed to a great miracle worker only. The signs that John wrote about had the unique character of pointing to Jesus as the Messiah and to show that He, indeed, came from God the Father Himself.
Read John 5:17,20,36-38. How do these verses describe the relationship between Jesus and God the Father, especially in the context of the signs?
Image © Kim Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Jesus used the signs to show His close working relationship with the Father. The two were one. The works showed that “ ‘the Father is in Me, and I in Him’ ” (John 10:38, NKJV; see also John 14:10-11.)
The purpose of Jesus’ coming was to do the works of the One who sent Him, in order that these works might be made manifest to the world. That is, He came to do the work that the Father sent Him to do, and the works that He did testified, clearly, that He was from the Father.
And yet, as we have already seen, even despite the powerful signs and the testimonies from many people, people still chose not to believe.
The religious leaders asked Jesus, “ ‘How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me’ ” (John 10:24-25, NKJV).
If Jesus had come right out and said He was the Messiah, the religious leaders—looking for anything they could find against Him—would have pounced on Him. Knowing this, Jesus instead pointed to the works He had done. If Jesus had said He was the Christ, they could easily seek to deny that. But how could they deny the signs, the works, and the wonders? These were powerful testimonies to who He was and where He had come from.
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How can we protect ourselves from having the kind of hard hearts we see among these religious leaders? In what ways might we be fighting against the work of God in our own lives? |
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Chemistry can be pretty exciting. Magnesium burns with a bright flame in oxygen; Solutions of Copper sulphate and Ammonium hydroxide solution mix to form a pale blue precipitate which almost immediately turns into a deep blue solution; Lycopodium powder burns with a bright red flame when thrown into the air and ignited. Most of us can remember the showy bits of chemistry from our high school days, or from sermon illustrations. And, while they are chemistry, those of us who go on to study chemistry know that there are equations to be balance, redox reactions to be analysed, and thermodynamic equilibrium situations to be understood. I have several thick books on Chemistry and it took me about 5 years to learn all the boring bits (for other people) to the extent that I could use that information in real life.
Miracles, signs and wonders, can be part of Christianity, and we should not discount them. But in today's world, where miracles are often misunderstood, there is a very real need for us to embrace the "boring bits" of Christianity. Looking after one another, caring for the disenfranchised, listening to the lonely. Some of us look forward to the "outpouring of the Holy Spirit". Maybe the miracle of the last days will be a bit more boring than rushing winds and leaping flames.
Malachi had this to say:
Perhaps the sign and wonder we need to pray for is the healing of families. Wouldn't that be a great miracle in today's society?
Amen.
Delighted to read your insights again, Mr Ashton.
Great point you make about the healing of families, Maurice. Satan has worked overtime in destroying families. As the master of deception, he now tells us we need healing. (which indeed we do) He is instigating a subtle movement to achieve this. Here in North America there is a push by the political right, to bring in Sunday laws so that there is a day each week to heal families. There are reverbs even from the newly elected US. president that this is on his agenda.
Is it politically correct to go around pronouncing that you are a Christian?
The religious leaders of Jesus' day wanted Him to come out and explicitly state that He was Messiah.
Jesus, knowing their hearts, pointed them to His works as a better identifying mark than just verbal assent.
Could it be that in our Christian walk today, just as Jesus did back then, we should let others know that we are Christians by our love rather than eloquent pronouncements??
Thank you Mr. Ashton for your insight concerning our current situation with broken family relationships. I personally feel the affects of brokenness in my family life and strife. Family members not talking and loving each other as they should. Children with little or no respect for their elders and there is a total disconnect of the sacredness of the home environment. Lord we need your guardance. Since the COVID era I've noticed this change found in Mark 13:12, Matthew 10:21-23 and my prayer daily is to be strengthen until the end. I see daily the love for each other wax cold and it saddens me to see little children and parents relationships deteriorating because of lack of communication. Technology has taken the place of real human interactions and our children, baby children are suffering. There so much more I can discuss, but I think we the whole world needs healing.
2 Chronicles 7:14
" If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Jesus came not only to die for our sins but also to show us how to live. His words to the Jewish leaders clearly demonstrate that His mission was to do the will of His Father. The question for us today is: Are we following Jesus' example by seeking to understand God's will for our lives and living in accordance with it?
Interesting and quite relevant perspective. I however believe there will be superlative signs in the last days, but our primary focus should not be on the signs, but more on relationship with the one behind the signs.Even with that we have to be so careful we have to be careful with making the right choice.
Today's lesson skips right over John chapter 5's story of the paralytic man at the pool of Bethesda and jumps right into Christ explanation of His mission, which I believe was 3 fold in significance could be even 4 fold, or multiple layered sandwitch as Thomas Shepard puts it.
The purpose of His teaching in John 5:17, John 5:20, and John 5:36-38 is as follows:
1. To break the bondage that was put on the people by the Jewish leaders who had preverted the 4th commandment.
2. The lesson I also get out of these text is there is a salient, or spectacular if you prefer message that Christ is giving information of what to expect in the future. "And He will show Him greater works than these, of which we will marval." Has not there been greater works than these through the ages of A.D. to now, and what will come.
3. Last but not least, He is explaining His connection and total dependence on Our, also His Farther. F.R.O.G. Forever Reliance On God, or if you prefer Forever Our God Guides,Yes! Through foggy weather and clear sky's. Psalm 48:14.
Remember the text I pointed to a few days ago. John 14:23. "We will come to him and make our home with him." I like that, God the Father and God the Son will come to us, making us one happy family. Mind you later on, we find out that the Holy Spirit joined our happy family also. Do you now catch the significance of Our Father and Our Brother Christ, through out the 4 Gospels. I am sure we will talk about the significance more.
That is one of the deficiencies of this quarter's lesson. In focusing on themes, it does a lot of skipping around and ignoring context. In my understanding, each of the seven signs is connected closely to the teaching that follows.
The world needs healing.. There's a lot more than the tongue can say. But we thank God because His love too is more than the tongue can say as we always sing.His love will heal the world ,let's continue to hold on to our faith and we'll see His love work wonders in our lives.Amen.
How can we tell the difference between Jesus miracles and others?
Jesus' miracles are unique - in a sense they will never be duplicated again. His followers have definitely done similar miracles through His power, but there is still a difference. For example, Peter and Paul raised the dead, but not after 4 days as Jesus did.
I think John emphasized the signs that He did to really show Jesus as God and to emphasize the spiritual changes that Jesus can work in our lives (typically expounded on by the preaching of Jesus following a sign). I think when we reflect on these signs, we have plenty of evidence that Jesus is God.
Now in terms of signs today, the testing of whether they're from God would relate to God's word and harmony with it. Jesus said "By their fruits you will know them." Of course it can be hard to know people's fruits right away. So I feel the best way to relate to miracles today is to neither be fully skeptical or fully trusting. Be open to the possibility they are from God, but be careful if the source is at odds with God's word. I'm not saying that God can't work miracles among people who have an incomplete knowledge of Him, but they could be false.
Ultimately, our faith should not be based on signs. That is a protection.
The lesson writer states: “The purpose of Jesus’ coming was to do the works of the One who sent Him, in order that these works might be made manifest to the world.” “To make manifest to the world” - for what purpose? One can ask: “Of Whoes Spirit do the works testify as they are done in the Spirit of the One who sent Jesus Christ?
What does His Spirit’s work do? What do His works intend to impress the people with? I consider this to be the Spirit of God’s Love for mankind expressed by/through His Son’s ministry of healing to encourage loving their God; their love for Him had become buried under the burdens imposed by the Law.
By His works and teachings, Jesus wanted to re-introduce His brethren that He was sent by the same God who provided the miracles and wonders their Father’s experienced in the past. But, by being bound by fear into keeping the 'letter of their Law', this prevented them to love God in ‘Spirit and Truth.
All works and teachings of Jesus are an example of the Father’s Love for His people. His works aimed not only to confirm that they were still God’s chosen people, He needed also to reassure them of the Father’s everlasting, unchanged Love for them by His own presence.
The heart of Jesus’ ministry was to demonstrate to His fellow country men and to the whole world that God loves mankind and invites all to trust Him by giving their life into His hands.
I fight against God's will when I lose the connection with Him. My constant prayer mode must be on all the time.
We risk being with hard hearts like the religious leaders at Christ time when our focus on miracles is to check whether they are from God or not.Our focus should be on rising Jesus high in our lives to be seen such that He draws all men to Himself.let us pray for Spirit of discernment too.
Happy Sabbath brethren [and sisters: moderator], I find it difficult to relate these signs, works and wonders to the topic. Which prophecies are they fulfilling in the old testament?
The Sunday lesson is just the introduction. If you look at the rest of the lesson for this week you should see the links. For starters. check out Psalm 22 and see where parts of it are quoted in the Gospels. Isaiah 53 is another Old Testament messianic passage.
Thank you so much for the insightful introduction. no
Jesus claimed that His works fulfilled a prophecy penned by Isaiah. (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:17-21)