John 14:12-14
These are three of the most powerful verses in the Bible, spoken by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. It challenges us to see if we believe the words of Jesus or not. I do. He is my favorite theologian. I agree with every word He ever said. I hope you do too.
In v.12 He said that if I believe I could do the very works that He did and even greater works. What kind of works did He do? He healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, cast out demons, fed multitudes with a boy’s lunch, and many other such miraculous things. And Jesus said every believer would do these works. I am a believer. Are you? We must come to grips with these words of Jesus. Do we believe them or not? And if we do, what are we going to do about it?
How life-changing it would be for anyone who believes, anyone who meditates on this, imagines it, and gets a revelation of it. Your life would never be the same. And how world-changing this would be. Imagine a people who were all walking around doing the miraculous works of Christ. These healings and miracles would have the same effect they had 2,000 years ago. No building would hold the crowds who would follow such believers who do such works. And we would then be able to preach the gospel to all those people!
This is made possible by Jesus going to the Father. What did He do when He went to the Father? Two things: 1.) He poured out the Holy Spirit on all flesh, on every believer. Not just kings, priests, and prophets. “All flesh.” They “received power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.” (Acts 1:8). They were “endued with power from on High” to do the works of Jesus and preach the gospel to every creature. When Jesus went to the Father He sent the Holy Spirit (Jn.1:33; Acts 1:4-5).
2.) He went there and became our great high priest. He is our intercessor to give the Amen to our Yes. God gives a promise; We see the promise; we say, “Yes” to it and Jesus says, “Amen.” All the promises of God in Christ are Yes and Amen (2Cor.1:20). Heb.7:25 tells us about the High Priestly ministry of Christ. “He always lives to make intercession for them (us).”
His part is pouring out the Holy Spirit to give us the power to do the works of Jesus, and praying for us. Our part is believing in and praying for that power. There are actually two intercessors: Christ at the right hand of the Father and the Holy Spirit in us. (Rm.8:26-27) With these things going for us, how could we not do the works of Jesus? Here’s how. There is our part in all of this. Why did Jesus say v.13-14 right after v.12? There is a conjunction between them, “And…” We will do the works of Jesus through prayer. He will do His works through us as we pray and believe that God answers our prayers. The purpose of prayer is that we might do the works of Jesus.
In v.13:14 Jesus tells us our part in doing the works of Jesus. We must pray. This doesn’t happen unless we are a praying people. For ten days before Pentecost the early church prayed. The Holy Spirit only comes upon a praying people. Even Jesus was praying when the Spirit came upon Him (Lk.3:21).
Look at some of the promises of answered prayer in the Bible: Jn.5:7; 1Jn.5:14-15; and Mk.11:24. Oh the power of these promises. Who will believe them? I will. Will you?
It is possible to “ask amiss” according to Jas.4:2-3. How can we ask amiss? By asking for something merely for selfish reasons, for our own pleasure. I could pray for a brand new red Corvette convertible, but that would be for strictly a personal pleasure. What is it to ask rightly? To pray for the will of God, which is to glorify God and be a blessing to others. God told Abraham that He would bless him and he would be a blessing. We are blessed to be a blessing. There’s a higher purpose in prayer than our personal pleasure. What is that? It is to accomplish the will of God.
People today don’t seem to know what the will of God is about much of anything. Thus they end their prayers with, “…if it be Your will.” We can know what the will of God is. The will of God is found in the word of God, and in particular the words and works of Jesus who was the will of God walking around in human flesh. It is God’s will to save sinners. Duh. His name means Savior. It is the will of God to heal people. Find someone in the gospels He refused to heal. You cannot. “He healed them all…” It’s His will to prosper us in all things. He multiplied fish for the fishermen and bread for the hungry, with an amazing abundance.
If you want to know the will of God a good place to start is in the New Covenant as written by God through Ezekiel in chapter thirty six, verses 21-38. Fourteen times God says, “I will…” and then lists things He would do. Then he closes it by saying, “I will let them inquire of Me to do this for them.”
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