How was Jesus able to do all the miraculous things he did?
It is summed up in one word – RELATIONSHIP.
Jesus drew his power from an intimate, child-like relationship with God. The ability to hear what God is saying, do what God is doing, and move in the realm of the miraculous, comes as we develop the same intimacy with, and dependence on, the Father.
Firstly
John 5:17-21
17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
a. He works together with the Father.
b. He does nothing of his own initiative.
c. He acts and speaks only on what he literally sees and hears from the Father. He lives on the principle of explicit revelation and implicit obedience.
Secondly
John 8:16, 26-29, 38
16 But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.
“Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied.26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” 27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father
a. The relationship is built on absolute trust and commitment.
b. Jesus always does what pleases the Father.
c. They were constantly in each others presence enjoying interaction. Jesus prayer life was integral to the relationship.
Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. LK. 5:15-16
Thirdly
John 14:5-21
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know[a] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[b] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
a. Philip had been with, but had not come to know.
b. Jesus perfectly modelled the Father. In knowing Jesus, the Father could be known.
c. The Father has the initiative (v.10) and therefore Jesus has:
- Inward revelation or God’s thoughts
- He then speaks them out as God’s words
- And they create God’s works
d. We are to believe in Jesus and experience the relationship through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6) and we then:
- Hear his thoughts
- Speak his words
- Do His works – and even greater!
How do we develop this relationship?
- Through choice – what we do and what we say.
- Through time – developing intimacy by spending time, with God and with people who love God.
- Through God – empowering our desire where we cannot change though we desire to.
© Paul Wood