If you want to learn about someone, you have to find out what they love to do. Perhaps they love to work with their hands: carpentry, baking, and landscaping are common options. Maybe they are an artist who loves to paint portraits or even cars. Maybe they simply love puzzles. Our actions are quite often a window into our very hearts.
Have you ever considered what Jesus’ actions said about Him? He did a lot of things. We see him at parties. We see him join in at festivals. He comes to religious gatherings. He is even found at a wedding. None of these acts are truly out of the ordinary. In fact, how many of them have you involved yourself in over the years? These ordinary acts function like a foundation to highlight the extraordinary and mighty acts which the Lord Jesus accomplished throughout the Gospels. But what do we learn about Him when we watch Jesus do the impossible?
The mighty acts of Jesus over nature, illness, and spiritual forces attest to the world that Jesus is the Son of God. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish ruler, came under the cover of darkness by night to learn more from Jesus. Why would he do this if Jesus was such a controversial figure in his day? Nicodemus said to the Lord Jesus Christ, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these sighs that you do unless God is with him.” (John 3:2 ESV) The works of Jesus left Nicodemus speechless. Jesus often has this effect when we see His actions and consider what must be implied.
The Lord Jesus did not leave Nicodemus in the dark that very night. Jesus taught him many things. He spoke about all of humanity’s need to be born again, to be born of “water and Spirit,” and the reason why He came. Although these are familiar words they strike at the very heart of the preaching and mighty acts of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. Jesus said, “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 ESV) These words may be familiar. We may even have them memorized, but it is my experience that they are rarely considered in light of Jesus’ mission as a whole.
God reveals very simply through the works of Christ that the Word of Christ is true. Which words? That God loved the world. That God sent this well-beloved Son and that every miracle came as a sign or marker to demonstrate His identity.
Peter made this point most clear in his Pentecost sermon recorded for us in Acts 2:22. Peter proclaimed Christ in this way, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst…. God raised Him up.” (Acts 2:22, 24 ESV) God bore witness of the trustworthiness of Christ’s words by raising Him from the dead. This is what makes the resurrection such a pivotal feature of the Christian message. The resurrection of Christ, like every miracle of Christ, is a verification that Jesus is God’s Son. He is not only the Son of God, but our great Redeemer as the God-Man.
One of Christ’s mighty works was the stilling of the storm. We may not find ourselves in the midst of a raging sea. Maybe we do. But the same Christ who calmed that storm by His words alone is still speaking to us today. And we are meant to ask and wrestle over the same question the apostles raised then, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matt. 8:37 ESV) How would you answer this question? We would see that He is a forgiving man. He is a holy man. He is a good man. He is a merciful man. He is a righteous man. But the great comfort for us is that He is the God-man. What He has said is truth itself because He is Himself Truth personified.
May we learn then to cling to His promises of grace, and help, and strength, and encouragement. O what blessed joy it is to rest in the sweet promises and heed the warnings of our God, “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36 ESV)