Articles
Power of Jesus
Power from Jesus
Two thousand years ago, the fame of Jesus spread rapidly as a result of the wonder He did. In Matthew 4:23-25, His fame “went forth into all Syria: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them.” In Matthew 9:18-26, (in Capernaum) after He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, it is said, “the fame hereof went forth into all the land.” In Luke 7:11-17, after he raised up the widow of Nain's son, it is said, “this report went forth concerning him in the whole of Judæa, and all the region round about.” His fame is without question.
However, as we consider the life of the Lord and work he came to do, was it as a wonder worker that He wanted to be known? In Matthew 8:1-4, when Jesus healed the leper, “Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.” Also, in chapter 9:27-31, after the healing of the blind men, “Jesus strictly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.”
As we consider these events, we are brought to a realization that the physical signs and wonders of the Lord were not intended to set a precedence that Jesus came to purge the world of disease, poverty, and affliction but to demonstrate His power in the spiritual realm. In Matthew 9:6, that point was made when Jesus healed the man sick of palsy, when he said, “that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go unto thy house.”
By observing the signs and wonders of the Lord we can achieve a better understanding of what the Lord can accomplish in our lives:
In John 9:1-12, before Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man, he said, “I am the light of the world.” He then “spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed his eyes with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam...He went away therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” In Acts 26:16-18, the apostle Paul stated that the Lord had sent him to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God...” Through his obedience the blind man came seeing. Jesus had the power of giving sight in the physical realm and He has the power to give sight in the spiritual realm.
In Mark 6:34-43,52; John 6:9-13, the feeding of the five thousand demonstrated the omnipotent power of the Lord. He showed himself to be the ruler of the elements themselves. In John 6:26, Jesus said of the people, “Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled.” Jesus utilized this physical event to open their eyes to his omnipotent power in the spiritual realm when he said, vs. 35, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” As bread is a sustainer of the body, so also is Jesus the sustainer of the spirit.
In John 11:17-44, the death of Lazarus had brought great sorrow to his sisters. When Jesus came to Martha, he “said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die.” When they came to the tomb, in which Lazarus lay, Jesus said unto Martha, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”...“And when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth...” As Jesus manifested his power over the grave, through the raising of Lazarus, so also did He manifest his power to raise us up in the last day.
With these assurances let us echo the words of the apostle Paul, when he said, “Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord...but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God; who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but hath now been manifested by the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel...”
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