Greater works than these…
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:11-13)
Over the years, we have observed people use Jesus’ statement in John 14:12 to say that believers should all be operating with as much and even more power than Jesus did or they are not living up to God’s calling. According to this teaching, we should do greater miracles and healings than Jesus did while He was physically here on earth.
Jesus – Anointed as Messiah
The first problem with that standpoint is that they ignore the very fact that Jesus was God manifested in the flesh, and that if that be so, it is impossible for the creature to do greater works than the Creator. They ignore and deny that Jesus came as the Messiah, and that the very signs of the Messiah are miracles and healings.
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)
To anoint means to consecrate to an office or religious service through the idea of contact or smearing/rubbing with oil. To what office was Jesus consecrated by the Father?n The office of the Messiah, the Christ. No other person in the New Testament dared claim this title or office. Paul never referred to himself as an ‘anointed’ one. Neither did Peter or any other minister under the New Testament. Why? It is such a sacred office reserved for only One Person in history.
Believers – Anointed and Consecrated as Truth
Bearers
Yes, 1 John 2 talks about all believers being anointed, but note that it is different from the Anointing of Jesus. Jesus was anointed (shown forth to be the Messiah) with the Holy Ghoist and power. 1 John says that believers are anointed differently (shown forth as God’s people) with truth. Let me put it simply:
The miracles and healings Jesus performed were the means by which people would identify Him to be the Messiah. The truth that believers know and uphold is the means by which we are identified as belonging to God. These are profound truths we must never, never forget.
Jesus, when praying for His own, said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:17). To sanctify means to consecrate – to set apart. How are believers known? By truth. Not by miracles, signs and wonders. As a matter of fact, Jesus clearly taught that many who work signs and wonders will not make it:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:27)
That passage is clear that physical miracles are not the ways to recognise believers. Adherence to truth is.
The Messiah, God in the Flesh
John chapter 5 gives us great insight into the Person of Jesus. It is here that the Jews got riled against Him because He presented Himself as equal with God – and indeed He was God (John 5:18)
He also said in that chapter, “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36). He was saying that the works He did were the validation of the Father.
The average Jew who had studied prophecy knew that when the Messiah came, He would work great miracles and healings such as no man had ever or would ever work. As such, when John sent people to enquire of Jesus, the Lord did not answer him directly; instead He pointed to the works He did:
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Luke 7:22-23)
That answer was sufficient, because only the Messiah could produce such. He was God manifested in the flesh. The Bible says so:
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)
But Jesus said that we would do the works He did
Yes; He said it, and He meant it. God uses believers to heal and works His miracles through men. But – and a big ‘but’ – only as He wills.
1 Corinthians 12:10 to another the working of miracles….
1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Paul’s writings and other passages make it absolutely clear that no-one can produce a manifestation of the Spirit as he wills or desires. This is contrary to what many preachers claim and would have us believe today.
while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:4)
Jesus was God – absolutely One with the Holy Spirit. He had the Spirit without measure. He was the Messiah. He could heal whosoever He willed. Believers are not God. We are under the authority of God, and we can only minister healing or produce a miracle as the Lord wills. None of us can walk around and heal anyone as we will. Only the Messiah – God Himself in human form – could pull that off.
All manifestations of the Spirit are given as the Spirit wills – including healings, miracles and tongues.
On a side note, everyone opening their mouth to ’speak in tongues as they will today are just blabbing. Genuine tongues are given as the Spirit wills, and I daresay are not regular, everyday things, same way miracles and healings are not everyday things. If you have been observant, you will have noticed that almost everyone who claims to be baptised in the Holy Spirit today simply do a repetition of words and phrases – all in the name of speaking in tongues. That is proof that it is a product of their minds.
Any examples of anyone working greater miracles than
Jesus?
It is important as we study Scriptures that we follow clear teachings and also look for examples. This ensures that we get the picture clearly. As such, note that not one of the Apostles of the Lamb, not one of the apostles and prophets did physical miracles and healings greater than Jesus did.
Clearly, one of the most amazing things Jesus did was raise Lazarus from the dead. The man had been dead 4 days, yet Jesus raised him up with a command. No apostle outdid this. No-one in the Bible did.
How about post-Bible times? Can anyone point to any individual who has done greater miracles and healings than Jesus did? I know of none. Not Oral Roberts. Not Kenneth Hagin (in his 60 years of “ministry”). Not Chris Oyakhilome. Not Charles and Frances Hunters. Not John G. Lake. Not David Oyedepo. Not E.A. Adeboye. They are all pretenders to the claim of “greater works”. Not one of them have produced any physical miracle greater than what Jesus did.
Everyone Jesus ministered to was healed. Jesus had 100% success rate in healing and miracles. Everyone He ministered healing to got healed. Not one of those men who claim ‘greater works’ are close. Many they minister to, lay hands on, anoint with oil, return home sick and even die of those illnesses. Why? They are not the Messiah. They cannot beat the Messiah at the signs of His peculiar office.
How can a goat bark better than a dog?
If no-one has done greater physical miracles, then did Jesus lie?
God forbid! I am glad to let you know that Jesus did not lie. As the Holy Spirit wills, God may use believers (not just some selected species of men claiming to be ‘anointed’) to do certain physical healings and miracles.
Note that Jesus tied the ‘greater works’ to His going back to the Father, meaning His death, resurrection and ascension to Heaven. The cross opened the door for the greater works, but of a different kind. What works did Jesus not do during His earthly ministry?
In John 5:21, He said, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will“. Here’s a comparison between the raising of the physical dead and the raising of the spiritual dead. While Jesus was here on earth, He never raised those who are spiritually dead. Why? Regeneration of dead souls/spirits could not take place until the cross was accomplished. But after His death, resurrection, and ascension, those who were
dead in their trespasses could then be made alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).
The Greater Works
A clear study of the subject shows us that the greater works Christ spoke about is works of a different kind than what He did while physically present on earth – the spiritual regeneration that takes place when the Gospel is preached.
Someone may say, “But it is God that regenerates spiritually!” I say, it is God too who raises the physically dead; not man. Raising a dead man is as much a divine act as regenerating a spiritually dead man.
More importantly, raising a man who is dead spiritually is infinitely a greater work than raising a physically dead man. Think about it, the physically dead were being raised all through Bible times before and without the price Jesus paid. On the other hand, the regeneration of spiritually dead people was impossible without the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lamb of God.
Conclusion
Jesus said that believers would do the works He did – and we see from Scriptures that this is possible but only as the Holy Spirit wills. Unlike Jesus, no-one can – or has been able to – do it at their own discretion and with 100% results.
Secondly, we see that indeed, Jesus did not raise any spiritually dead people to life during His earthly ministry, but that since His death His followers have been instruments in God’s hands to bring the spiritually dead to life. Preaching the cross of Christ is presenting ourselves as vessels through which God’s greater works are being done today: getting people born again.
