Meaning of "Greater Works" Promise (8)

By Hazel Holland

I am aware that many of my brothers and sisters interpret the following verse to mean that anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ will not only do the works He did, but will do greater works than He did. Usually they mean that we will perform greater miracles than Jesus did.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” John 14:12 (NASB)

However, it seems difficult to me to believe that Jesus was referring primarily to physical healing when He made this declaration about “greater works”. The truth is, the healing of the sick, the giving of sight to the blind, the curing of the lame, the deliverance of the oppressed by demons, and the raising of the dead were the hallmark of Jesus’ ministry—a hallmark that has never been duplicated in all of history—not by the apostles, and not by those who continue to teach that physical healing in the atonement is guaranteed here and now.

If Jesus, in talking about the “greater works” we will do, was talking about miraculous physical healings, what could be a “greater work” than raising the dead? There’s only one. Raising those who are spiritually dead! After all, isn’t that the reason He came—to save and deliver us from our sins?

It is the opinion of many scholars, and the belief of this writer, that Jesus was anticipating the preaching of the gospel to all creation when he made this promise of “greater works” to his disciples. Since He was soon to die on the cross and return to the Father, He knew that His ability to continue to reach the world with the Good News of the Kingdom was about to end.

Yet His prophetic eye looked into the future and saw that through the disciple’s enactment of the Great Commission after the Holy Spirit was poured out, men and women would be saved and the Kingdom of God would be established on earth through the Church.[1] The book of Acts confirms that the promised greater works were fulfilled as thousands of men and women believed in the Lord Jesus Christ after hearing the preaching of the gospel. Thousands were continually being added to the church daily through the ministry of the apostles, and millions more since that time are continually being added to the church as the Holy Spirit speaks to people’s hearts.

To insist that the “greater works” are miraculous physical healings that believers will be given the power to perform is to totally miss the very heartbeat of the gospel message. Jesus ultimately came to save us from our sins—to heal the spiritual sickness of our souls. He took our punishment for sin so that we could be delivered from eternal punishment in hell. It is a far greater work for someone to receive salvation in Christ than for someone to receive physical healing of the body, because the work of salvation is eternal in nature. Most definitely the greater work is salvation! Most definitely God’s free gift of eternal life to “whosoever will believe in Him” is the greatest work of all!

Besides, there’s great spiritual danger in placing so much emphasis on supernatural signs and physical healings. Over the past few months we have seen the truth of this played out as much emphasis has been placed on supernatural signs and miracles by those in the charismatic body of Christ who have been involved in the Lakeland Revival.

Unfortunately, the questionable doctrine and extra biblical supernatural experiences of Todd Bentley, the leader in this revival, were, either glamorized, or entirely overlooked by the leadership of the charismatic body of Christ as people flocked by the thousands to get healed by someone whom they believed moved in miracles and signs. In all the hype and confusion people not only threw discernment out the window, but they forgot that miracles and signs are intended to validate God and His message of salvation, NOT the messenger.

Jesus knew that supernatural signs and wonders alone do not change the hardness of people’s hearts. That is why Jesus condemned those people in His day for demanding a supernatural sign to prove that He was the Messiah. In fact, He told them that no sign would be given them except the sign of Jonah. They all knew who He was talking about. But did they really believe that Jonah came back from the dead? The Ninevites to whom Jonah was sent did, and they repented. Would the scribes and Pharisees believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah after He was resurrected from the dead? Would they also repent? History reveals that many still refused to believe.

[1] Ibid.

(To continue this study go to "Is our Emphasis on the Gospel or Healing?" at: http://sound-the-trumpet.blogspot.com/2008/09/is-our-emphasis-on-gospel-or-healing-9.html)