All Hail the Power!
On 7-19-20, Mr. Josh Currey preached on the topic of Jesus’ identity and power from John 5 (listen here). He challenged us to consider the power of Jesus by comparing him to the three witnesses provided in this chapter. By doing so we came away with a much deeper appreciation for Jesus and his redemptive work over Satan, sin, and death.
Today, I wanted us to continue this discussion of the power of Jesus by considering just a few more ways in which Jesus displayed his power on Earth. You can often find correlation between these and events that happened with prophets in the Old Testament. The main difference to look at is that biblical prophets spoke “in the name of the Lord” or “by the God of the Hebrews”. When Jesus spoke, he did so on his own authority which could only be true if he were the Son of God. Let’s take a moment and consider just a few areas in which this is the case.
Jesus displays power over chemistry. In John 2, Jesus takes H2O and converts it to an alcohol (C2H5OH). Any chemist will tell you that from a human perspective this cannot be done. And yet, without speaking any audible words, Jesus turns this water into wine at the request of his mother.
If we look at Matthew 21:18-22, we see that Jesus also has power over the natural world. Upon seeing a fig tree not bearing fruit, Jesus curses it and it immediately dies. He then turns this into a teaching tool to show the disciples what level of faith is required to move mountains.
We could also look at Luke 10:1-20 when Jesus sends out the 70 witnesses to proclaim the gospel message. The 70 return praising God and demonstrating that Jesus has power over the spiritual forces of this world. Demons flee and Satan himself is restrained when Jesus sends forth his people to proclaim his message.
We could look at many other passages of scripture to see just how Jesus displays power over this world and those of it. But most importantly, we should remember what Jesus came to do. Yes, his power was placed on full display, but Jesus came to show his greatest power over sin and death itself. That was accomplished through his self sacrifice upon the cross. We are promised that for those who believe in him by faith, they will be saved. Saved from their own sinfulness. Redeemed. Given new live. Now that is a power that cannot be matched anywhere other than in God himself.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” - John 3:16
Sincerely,
Rev. Aaron J. Suber
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