…That Ye Might Believe…
Before He experienced what many call ‘The Passion Week’ beginning with His betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus conducted a three-year ministry to mankind through preaching, teaching and performing signs that point us toward who He really was and is.
Jesus did not perform those miracles as an audition for a carnival sideshow; He was not an entertainer. Neither did He come to live among men simply to feed the masses sprawled across the hillsides of Judea when He preached publicly or to provide for their other material needs although at times He did feed and provide. Likewise Jesus did not come to compassionately share the cures for physical debilitation and sickness even though He in fact healed a number of individuals of a variety of ailments. One segment of the general population even initially thought that Jesus had come to establish His kingdom on the earth in those days, but His real purpose was to spiritually minister to our fallen world, to the men and women who so desperately need Him as eternal Savior. Jesus conducted His ministry by many means: by teaching and instruction through thought-provoking parables and object lessons, expansion upon spiritual truth and clarification of Old Testament doctrine or demonstrations of His wisdom. What, then, demonstrated His authority to teach and preach as only He could? It was the various manifestations of His power over all things. John 20:30-31 puts the matter in this perspective: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book (John’s Gospel account): But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” One of the key words in that passage is “believe.” It appears twice, but in slightly different forms.
The first form is the Greek pisteusEte (actually to be believing) in reference to a person seeing the evidence that Jesus is in fact Messiah and accepting it as factual. In one way this is little different from a review of the evidence that might be presented in a court of law. A juror sees the evidence presented and hears the facts to which witnesses testify, considers them, applies logic, and reaches a conclusion regarding the truth of a case to determine the guilt or innocence of the person being tried. Jesus did not write of Himself although He in fact spoke of Himself often, describing Himself in many ways. What is recorded by John in his Gospel account and all of the Revelation as well as by Matthew, Mark and Luke within their synoptic Gospels is taken, along with brief passages in Acts, as the evidence that Jesus was and is the Son of God, that He has always been and always will be. In his writings Paul the apostle not only confirms Jesus’ authority but enlightens us concerning it. The signs (miracles) Jesus performed were for the purpose of demonstrating His true Sovereignty over all things – material as well as spiritual and are recorded by eyewitnesses. Jesus’ disciples and the others who witnessed His work and ministry were the jurors then, and now across the interim centuries so are we. Paul and others also recorded their testimony for our benefit and much can be gleaned from their inspired writings.
The second reference to belief in John 20:30-31 (Greek pisteuontes, or through belief – trusting) is in reference to what we do once we have accepted evidence as factual, and goes far beyond intellectual knowledge or acceptance to cut straight into our hearts. A juror can amass a great deal of intellectual understanding and knowledge regarding the evidence of a case and hear the testimony of all the witnesses but can still render an erroneous judgment if they refuse to have faith in the truth of what they have seen and heard. In rendering a verdict a juror must trust what his or her eyes see and trust what their ears have heard. Without that level of trust a false conclusion will be reached.
So it is in the case for Christ as John and the other inspired writers of the Gospels and the apostle Paul bear record for our benefit. While the gaining of intellectual knowledge – the who, what, when, where and how – are important they are all superseded by the why of our case. The ever-important why is found in Jesus’ words recorded in John 3:16-21. Everything Jesus did from before the foundation of the world through living a sinless life and offering Himself as a sinless sacrifice, being resurrected on the third day and ascending once more to heaven, was motivated by His great love for us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
John offers insight into what Jesus said in 1 John 4:9-10 where he wrote, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God’s love for us and His desire for an eternal, intimate spiritual relationship with us is the all-important why of the matter, the motive for everything Jesus did including His resistance of every temptation as He lived a life without compromise or sin.
A Time Of Celebration
Just as every word Jesus spoke was for our benefit, so every miracle Jesus performed had the purpose of teaching us something beyond what may have been immediately obvious. The signs and miracles Jesus performed in the presence of His disciples and others were the manifestations of His dominion over every aspect of creation but as He traveled, ministered, and lived His day-to-day life among men there were surely times when Jesus encountered temptations. There were times when He might have succumbed to the lust of the flesh, the pride of life or the lust of the eyes during His ministry by first considering His dominion over the material elements of creation.
Genesis 1:1, the first verse of the Bible, says: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” John 1:1-3, in referring to Jesus, says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Thus Jesus is identified as not only a part of the eternal Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – but as being present and active at the moment of creation because all of God’s Word is about Jesus. Because God created all things all things must be subject to Him and because Jesus is God all things are subject to Him, including the elements spoken into existence when “God created the heaven and the earth.” There is therefore no doubt that Jesus was both present and active at the moment of creation.
Jesus’ first recorded miracle was performed in Cana and we find the account in John 2:1-11. To summarize the event Jesus’ mother Mary, Jesus, His earthly family and His disciples had been invited to a wedding feast. We may imagine it was a happy occasion and, as we may further imagine, the supply of refreshments eventually ran low. When Mary mentioned to Jesus that there was no more wine He replied in a sometimes-misunderstood way, addressing her as “Woman…(verse 4).” A side note here is that Jesus was in no way disrespecting his mother by addressing her as “Woman” (Greek “gunai,” a common form of addressing females). Gunai is the same word used in John 19:26, 20:13, and 20:15. What Jesus was really saying was something like, ‘Good Madame, the situation you draw to my attention concerns you but not Me.’
The wine of which Mary spoke to Jesus was not of the same kind with which we are familiar today. Even in our day there are many places throughout the world where the water is unfit to drink, and that was the case in Jesus’ day. Juice was therefore fermented to become wine as a way of preserving it, resulting in an alcoholic content far lower than that of today’s wine, perhaps little more than 1.5 percent. These days we would say it was about ‘3 proof’ (the “strong drink” referred to in Leviticus and elsewhere being of about the potency of today’s beer at approximately 5 percent, or ‘10 proof’).
According to John 2:6 there were six pots of water readily available to be used by the celebrants to ceremonially and physically wash themselves prior to the feast. If one averages the recorded capacity of the pots (between 18 and 27 gallons each) there would have been between 108 and 162 gallons in all. Jesus ordered the servants to fill the pots to their brims, draw from them, and present the contents to the host. To the host’s astonishment the wine was the most flavorful he could have offered his guests!
In no way was Jesus condoning drunkenness or over-indulgence when He transformed dirty water into fine wine. He was instead demonstrating that even water – the most fundamental of all elements required for every form of physical life – was under His complete control. We can further conclude by extension that not only water but all the other elements are under His control, and thus so are even the various forms of life they sustain.
Jesus certainly had the chance to yield to pride at such a moment by making Himself the center of attention, by showing off a ‘trick’ or two. He could have gratified His flesh by making the wine more intoxicating for the purpose of enhancing its inebriating effects or making the gathering a bit more raucous. He might then have succumbed to the lust of the eyes by choosing a maiden for Himself from among the merrymakers and… I think you see how things could have progressed, but Jesus gratified Himself in none of those ways. Instead He manifested Himself in perfect self-control of His power and His flesh, His pride and the elements He had created. He unquestionably presented Himself as the servant He had come to be.
What Manner Of Man?
As straightforward as the story of Jesus’ first recorded miracle is, it is only the foundation upon which many other records of Jesus’ dominion over the universe and what goes on in it are built. Another example can be found in Matthew 8:24-27, Mark 4:36-41 and Luke 8:23-25. The circumstances were these: Jesus had just concluded speaking to a large group of people, preaching to them and teaching them through object lessons. As daylight faded He and his closest disciples boarded a boat to cross the Sea of Gennesaret (Galilee) and other, perhaps smaller boats joined to form a small flotilla. It had likely been a long day and our Lord’s human mind and body were surely fatigued so that he retired to the stern of the boat to nap during the crossing. A tempest arose during the transit and no doubt the wind was driving the boat off course even as rising waves crashed over the gunwales so that the boat was in danger of swamping. The voyage was in jeopardy and those aboard feared for their lives while Jesus slept peacefully.
When it seemed that all hope might be lost the others aboard aroused Jesus from His sleep. He didn’t tell them to abandon the boat, every man for himself. Instead He spoke a few simple words of rebuke to the wind and calmed the turbulent waters by saying, “Peace, be still (Mark 4:39).” Immediately the wind ceased to blow and the water became placid. So marvelous was this manifestation of His authority over nature that those who witnessed it “…said unto one another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? (Mark 4:41).”
Jesus did not calm the wind and sea so he could return to His sleep although in the flesh He may have been tempted to do so; neither did He in anger or frustration at being awakened allow or cause the storm’s intensity to escalate. He didn’t calm the storm to preserve His own physical life or in pride to say something like ‘Look what I can do whenever I want’ but as a demonstration for those present that they (and we), even in the face of peril, need only have full faith in Him. Jesus did it not to present Himself as a god among gods in the manner Satan spoke to deceive Eve in the garden. Here we see Jesus as the only God, present at creation and therefore Master of even the violence of a hurricane! God doesn’t cause every storm that comes into our lives but He does allow such things to happen for many reasons and all to His purpose. Sometimes it is to demonstrate His faithfulness despite our lack of faith. Even when we may think God is paying no attention to our plight He is aware and in complete control. It may have been just that kind of lesson that Jesus was teaching us through Peter’s actions and His response during yet another storm as Jesus took Peter…
…Hand In Hand
Jesus had just used a boy’s small lunch to miraculously feed five thousand men and their families who were in attendance as He preached along the shores of Galilee. As astonishing as that miracle was, demonstrating Jesus’ ability and willingness to supply the “daily bread” for which He had instructed us to pray (Matthew 6:11) as it did, it was soon to be followed by another. While the event is recorded in Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:15-21 let’s consider Matthew’s account in 14:22-33 which states that Jesus admonished His closest disciples to enter into a boat and cross the water while He dismissed the assembled masses. Once the crowd had dispersed Jesus secluded Himself for a time of prayer that lasted well into the small hours of the morning, a period during which the wind rose in a direction contrary to the disciples’ travel and the waves tossed the boat violently. The crew had been able to progress only about three and one-half miles despite working hard to stay on course when, at some time between 3:00am and 6:00am, Jesus stepped onto the turbulent waters and began to walk toward the boat. From a distance as they peered through the darkness the disciples mistook the Lord for an apparition and expressed their fears. Jesus’ response as He drew nearer was plain when He told them, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid (Matthew 14:27).”
When Peter recognized Jesus he addressed Him as “Lord” (Greek kurie, or master) and then said something we might interpret like this: ‘What we see is incredible! Order me, and I’ll come to you,’ so Jesus in fact called Peter to come to Him. As he leaped over the side of the boat Peter too walked on the waves, probably with his eyes glued upon Jesus, and all was at first well for him. Then Peter did what so many of us might have done in his situation – he became distracted by the wind and the turbulent waves around him and took his eyes off the Master of the sea. Peter then became afraid, and Matthew 14:30 says he began to sink. Perceiving the danger, Peter cried out to Jesus, “Lord, save me.” The next verse says Jesus did not hesitate in His response as He reached forth and took Peter by the hand before the waves could sweep him under.
Jesus might have been tempted in the moment to simply turn His back upon Peter and the others and return to shore while the storm to had its way; certainly He could have again calmed the throes of nature, but those actions would have taught us other lessons entirely. Jesus may even have been tempted to allow Peter to sink deeper before rescue or to drown altogether but if He was He resisted, and therein is a beautiful lesson for us to learn: that Jesus stands ready to preserve us even if or perhaps especially when the storms of life are beating against us, even when or faith lapses and the storms begin to overwhelm us, even when we are doubtful and afraid and distracted. All we have to do is call upon Him, just as Peter did. Verse 31 teaches us that Jesus did not turn His back to Peter but continued walking on the thrashing waters and through the boisterous winds until He had conducted Peter safely into the boat. Therein is another lesson: that sometimes, for reasons we don’t always understand immediately, God doesn’t calm the storm right away but instead takes us by the hand and conducts us through it to safety.
Verse 31 says Jesus addressed Peter directly and described him as having “…little faith” before asking a question pertinent not only to Peter but to us by inquiring, “…why didst thou doubt?” The message strikes home when we examine ourselves and see that we too sometimes exercise far less faith than we should, that we become distracted and succumb to doubts or begin to rely on ourselves more than upon God. When we turn our eyes once more upon Jesus He can and will conduct us to safety. God is concerned about all our physical needs as He gives us…
“…our daily bread.”
Imagine packing your lunch for an outing, only two sardines and five small biscuits – that’s all that is available, barely enough to make it through a long day after a meager breakfast while facing the prospect of a less than ample dinner. That may have been the situation for a small boy living in an impoverished and oppressed land 2000 years ago, because like so many others his was probably not a family that worked for a living but rather that worked hard day-by-day just to live.
We aren’t told much about the youngster in the accounts related in Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:12-17 or John 6:1-13, such as his age or why he was among a throng of thousands of families who had come to hear Jesus preach, but what we are told in the citations above is that the crowd was large – five thousand men accompanied by their families. Thus we can envision that a crowd of perhaps twenty thousand or more had gathered to hear the words of Jesus. Some of those families, perhaps many or even most, had brought nothing at all so that as the day passed and people became hungry Jesus’ disciples began to fret over how to feed the crowd. They were worried about how they would respond to the clamor for food. Further, they worried about the expense of providing for such a gathering. It was then that Jesus commanded His disciples to collect everything that was immediately available – those sardines and little biscuit-sized loaves of bread mentioned earlier – and to bring it forward to Him.
In compliance to Jesus’ command His disciples did as they’d been instructed, and the offering seemed small. They had only those five pieces of bread and two little fish but they had brought everything available, and that’s one of the lessons Jesus was teaching – that whether what we have seems to be little or much, bring everything. Jesus then blessed all that was freely offered and multiplied it so that not only was every man, woman and child filled but the bounty was such that there were left-overs aplenty! The lesson for us is that we should entrust everything to God through Christ.
To satisfy His flesh Jesus might have been tempted to take the offering and consume it for Himself while letting the people go hungry; in pride and arrogance He might have been tempted to turn it into a five-course gourmet meal the likes of which none of the crowd had ever seen before or would again. He might have been tempted to feed only a portion of the people or maybe only his closest friends but He did none of those things. Instead He shared with all. No one in the crowd was compelled to eat to their fill but the bounty was made available to everyone so that all they had to do to be filled and satisfied was partake.
So it is with us when we feel ourselves hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of God (Matthew 5:6). Like the Hebrews in the wilderness gathering manna, we will receive our daily bread (Exodus 16:15-31). Like they, we will be filled (Matthew 6:25-34) with whatever we need in the moment, on this day and in all days to come so long as we entrust everything to Christ’s control and His ability to provide. Within that context we have no need to be anxious over anything, not even the wiles of…
…devils, demons and Satan Himself…
In the opening article of this series we considered the reality of Satan’s existence and the reality of his minions when we began to consider the temptation of Our Lord in the wilderness. An in-depth study of who devils and demons and fallen angels are or even their origin isn’t to be undertaken here, but there are numerous references to these spiritual beings throughout the Bible. A simplified statement is to say that they all work at the behest of Lucifer, the archangel who in pride and arrogance sought to set his own estate above that of God who had created him. In the King James Version the Greek word Maimonides is generally translated devils; however, a more correct translation might be demons. The New Testament alone bears such voluminous testimony as to the reality of demons and their activity among men that any comprehensive study regarding them is far too large for our consideration here. However, a few important things can be noted. First to consider is that they are in fact very real; they do exist. Second, they are numerous beyond human calculation. Third, they were once not only commonly recognized as being active in the world but should be recognized as currently active in the hearts of men and women and thereby the society in which we live. We know this because as a fourth point there is no Biblical record of them yet having been banished from the world we now occupy. One example that points out the reality of demonic existence and their activity in people’s lives can be found in Mark 5:1-21 and Luke 8:26-40 (Matthew’s account in 8:28-34 mentions two men).
Upon being awakened from sleep in the midst of a storm as we saw earlier, Jesus calmed the winds and waves, leading His disciples to ponder what manner of man could have displayed such power over the elements. He and those with Him then landed on the shore at Gerasa (Gadera), where they were encountered by a man possessed by not one but many demons.* This unfortunate soul was tormented day and night as he wandered naked and homeless in desolate places. Those around him who had observed his rantings and attempts at self-harm sought to bind him for his own safety as well as that of society but without success. When He entered the encounter Jesus surely looked upon the man’s pitiable condition and heard his words identifying Him as the Son of the Most High God as well as the man’s swearing by God that Christ should leave him be. Jesus, in compassion, spoke not to the man but to the unclean spirits indwelling him, and commanded them to come out of the man. Then Jesus asked (for the benefit of those witnessing the event) the name of the spirit. The reply was, “Legion” before the spirit described himself as “many (Mark 5:9).” The demons of Legion then entered a nearby herd of swine and drove themselves into the sea rather than continue to confront the Son of God.
Jesus knows we are all engaged in a battle “…not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).” He also knows it’s a battle we can never win on our own, and that’s why He steps up to the front lines on our behalf. Jesus might have been tempted to turn His back and leave the man as he was found or to shirk away from the confrontation with Satan’s servants. He might have been tempted, but if He was Jesus overcame temptation and manifested His power over all things spiritual. Afterward those who were familiar with the man were astonished to find him sitting calmly, speaking coherently and “…in his right mind… (Mark 5:15).” How was this possible? Because Jesus holds absolute power over evil spirits and spiritual matters. The man’s spirit was set free of torment, his previously-tumultuous thought processes and self-destructive tendencies haunting him no more as evidence that when our spirits are made right our emotional and intellectual processes follow.
*A parenthetic note: While much has been written and speculated concerning demonic influence or possession (some of it fanciful at best or grossly inaccurate at worst) there are some noteworthy Biblical truths about evil spirits: Scripture is not specific regarding the origin of demons but we should not confuse them with the fallen angels mentioned in 2 Peter 2:4 or Jude 6. In Matthew chapter 12 we find that they are spirits (verses 43 and 45) and the emissaries of Satan (verses 26-27). From Mark 5:9 we may conclude that they are so numerous as to make Satan’s dominion almost universal. Also from Mark chapter 5 (verses 2-13) we can learn that demons have the capacity to enter and control either men or animals and that they require such embodiment for the performance of their evil intents and deeds (also Matthew 12:43-44).
Demonic influence and demonic possession are discriminated in the New Testament. Instances of possession can be found in Matthew 4:24; 8:16, 28 and 33; 9:32 and 12:22; Mark 1:32; 5:15-18; Luke 8:36; Acts 8:7 and 16:16. Demons are malicious in every way, violent, and sullen, referred to as ‘unclean’ (see Matthew 8:28, 9:33, 10:1, 12:43; Mark 2:23, 5:3-5; 9:17 and 20; Luke 6:18 and 9:39). Demons recognize Jesus as Most High God. They recognize His supreme authority (Matthew 8:31-32; Mark 1:23-24; Acts 19:15 and James 2:19), and according to Matthew 8:29 and Luke 8:31 they are acutely aware that their eternal fate is one of torment.
Demons can inflict physical maladies upon those they possess, as we learn from Matthew 12:22 and 17:15-18 or Luke 13:16. However, genuine mental disease should not be confused with disturbances that are due to demoniacal control. Demonic influences may manifest themselves in religious asceticism and degenerate into uncleanness (1 Timothy 4:1-3) such as departure from the faith or the body of revealed truth in inspired Scripture.
Ephesians 6:13-18 admonishes Christians to don “…the whole armor of God…” Why is this necessary? Because demons are in constant conflict with and opposition to Christians who seek to be more Christ-like and spiritual (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The Christian’s other resources are prayer and self-control (Matthew 17:21). Any and all unbelievers are open to demonic possession although not all are possessed (Ephesians 2:2). In Acts 16:18 we find exorcism in the name of Jesus Christ being practiced in such instances. One of the most dreadful events of the apocalyptic judgments in which the world as we know it will end is a mass emergence of demons from the abyss referred to in Revelation 9:1-11 and 20.*
John chapter 4 verse 23 says “…the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Because God is a spirit His sovereignty includes the spiritual realm of the universe. In speaking to His disciples during His commandment of the Great Commission Jesus affirmed once more that His authority was from His Father when He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth (Matthew 28:18).” That power and authority extends to dominion not only over all things within the material realm but over the spiritual world as well. As we will examine in the next article, Jesus’ power and authority also extends to our physical lives.
Until then be blessed, my friends, and encouraged in the sure knowledge that Jesus is Lord –
– Tom