The miracle maker

Just how is it that Jesus was able to perform so many amazing miracles?

Was it because he was ‘of one being with God’ or was it simply by virtue of the fact that God had empowered him with that level of authority? If so, before that empowerment would he have been able to do any miraculous work?

Could it be that Jesus’ power is not by virtue of anything intrinsic to him? If it was, he would have had no need of the Father to confer anything upon him. Yet he performed no miracles prior to his baptism, when the spirit came on him.

This is because the bible tells us that it was not until then that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him”- not for he was God. It also describes him as “a man attested by God by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him” (Acts 10:38 & 2:22).

This would seem to be what John 5:17-31 is all about. Jesus is unpacking his declaration in verse 19 about his own inability and the effect of the Father’s empowerment.

So what was the point of his miracles? According to Jesus’ words of prayer to his God at the tomb of Lazarus not
“that they may believe that I am God”
but, quite the opposite
“that they may believe that You have sent Me” (John 11:42).