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The Christian Walk Illustrated in the 7 Miracles of Jesus Recorded in
the Gospel of John
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Romans 11:25-26
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest ye should be wise in your own conceits;
that blindness in part {toward Christianity} is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be
saved:
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The Christian Walk Illustrated in the 7 Miracles of Jesus Recorded in
the Gospel of John
These are Seven Miracles performed by
Jesus and recorded in the Gospel of John by John a disciple of Jesus. John
was an eyewitness present at each of these seven miracles. These miracles
are illustrations representing miracles that Jesus is currently doing in the
life of each and every Christian.
Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of
God;
After accepting Jesus as our very own personal Lord and Savior by knowing
that without the sacrifice of Jesus, what He did for us on the cross, that
we would be permanently dead in our sin and rebellion, separated forever
from God. Now that the sin has been paid for and taken away at the cross of
Jesus we Christians are now free from sin and reunited with God in the
Resurrection of Jesus.
But what do we do now? After our conversion [Heavenly focus]. For the
Christian the conversion is just the start of Christianity the best is yet
to come.
In the fascinating Gospel of John, John one of the original 12 disciples
of Jesus and an eyewitness that was present at all seven miracles, lays out
seven miracles that Jesus Himself performed while in person on the earth and
in a specific order. These seven miracles in the Gospel of John are a model
of the very miracles that Jesus is doing right now this very moment and day
in the life of every single living and breathing Christian. Let's take a
look at the 7 miracles that Jesus performed and that His disciple John
recorded for us.
Miracle #1 {John
2:1-12} Turning wedding water to wine
The Purified Believer becomes filled with the Holy Spirit
In the Gospel of John chapter 2 we read that Jesus' mother is
attending a wedding in the city of Cana in the district of Galilee. We read
that both Jesus and his disciples are also called [invited] to the marriage.
At this particular wedding the host runs out of wine for the guests. Mary,
then comments to Jesus that there is no wine. Of course Jesus knew in
advance that there was not a sufficient amount of wine at the wedding, this
is part of the reason Jesus went to the marriage and brought His disciples
with so that He could perform this miracle as an illustration to them and
have it recorded in the Bible for us His future disciples. Jesus and the
disciples are not the reason that the wine ran out. Jesus and the disciples
were both invited [called] and the host would have declined to invite them
rather than to invite them and run out of food and drink. Probably everyone
at the marriage was having such a festive time that people stayed longer and
drank more since the wine ran out yet the food did not lack.
Jesus replies to Mary that "His hour has not yet come." Jesus
knows that He is going to provide the much needed wine, but Jesus is
establishing that miracles are not the reason that God became a man in the
person of Jesus and walked on earth with mankind. Jesus came in the form of
a man to die on the cross to remove sin and reunite us with the Father. The
hour that Jesus came for is the cross of crucifixion. Mary then instructs
the servants to "Whatever He (Jesus) saith unto you, do it." The
"obedient" servants then go to Jesus. Jesus instructs the servants to
fill the six water pots used for purification to the brim with water.
Remember six is the number for man, as man was created on the sixth day. The
stone water pots are clean because they are used in cleaning, a dirty water
pot would not clean the person who washes from it. Jesus then tells the
servant to "Draw out now and take it to the governor of the feast."
And they did obey Jesus. When the ruler of the feast tasted the water that
was turned into wine he declared that unlike other feasts this feast had
reserved the best wine until the end.
This first marvelous miracle that Jesus is performing is an illustration
to us His believers. When we obey Jesus we become His servant, Romans
6:16 says "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness?" When we acknowledge our sins and the
forgiveness of the cross of Jesus we become clean like the stone water pots.
Once we are clean Jesus then comes inside and fills us with His presence. We
are then to draw out the wine of Jesus' presence in us and pour it out to
others. When we do this we are effecting the lives of others around us.
Wine is used as a Biblical example for the Holy Spirit. Wine has an
effect and influence on the person who drinks it. Worldly wine has a bad
effect with headaches and hangovers and demeans the person who drinks it and
who's actions are influenced by worldly alcohol wine. The presence of the
Holy Spirit has an influence on the person who is under His influence, the
influence of love and of a testimony of Jesus. This is the first miracle,
Jesus has taken the water of this world and turned it into His wine. It is
nice to know that the start of the Christian walk is to be cleansed and be
filled to the brim with the Holy Spirit. We get confused at times and think
if I get my behavior right then Jesus will come to me and give me the Holy
Spirit, but it is the other way around when we believe we receive the Holy
Spirit in full. It is the Holy Spirit that then instructs us and guides us
in our life to live a life of Holiness and communion, pleasing to God. And
the best part of the miracle is that God gives the best wine last. The best
is always yet to come with Jesus. The Christian walk just keeps getting
better and better. If for instance we went to church as a child with our
parents then we stopped going to church or we never went at all, and now we
think I don't want to go to church I have missed so much and people will
judge me. This is wrong in God's eyes, He says follow Him and it will be
better than it ever was.
Miracle #2 {John
4: 46-54} Healing the Nobleman's Son
Our Life and Nobility in Jesus
The second miracle, Jesus is again in the city of Cana and a certain
nobleman's son is sick in the distant city of Capernaum. The noble man
approaches Jesus and asks Jesus to heal his son. Jesus replies "that
unless ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe." Then Jesus said
unto him "go they way; your son liveth." As the nobleman was on his
way the next day he met his servants that told him "his son liveth"
he asked them when he became well? and discovered it was the same hour that
Jesus had spoken the words.
After being cleansed by the blood of Jesus and filled with the new wine
of the Holy Spirit, we now partake in the second miracle. Because we
"liveth" we have now become a son of Nobility. We are now children of
God and our new position is a child of the King Jesus. Jesus' position of
nobility elevates us to nobility as well. We can now like this nobleman
approach Jesus and talk with Him just like this nobleman did, seeking out
Jesus and telling Him our cares and concerns. Jesus tells him "that
unless ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe." Jesus is telling
this new believer that miracles do not validate God's existence, His
presence or man's salvation. We receive salvation and the gift of the Holy
Spirit by faith not by experience. In the turning of water to wine in the
first miracle only the servants knew that it had happened but they knew it
by faith there was no experience involved in the first miracle. Jesus wants
us to know by faith that He loves us, He died for us on the cross and He now
lives with us in His resurrection.
In Moses day the children of God saw many miracles performed mightily by
God yet the people Jews and Egyptians alike both refused to have faith in
God. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the word of God. Faith does
not come by seeing with our eyes or experiencing with our intellect or
emotions. Miracles are also performed and counterfeited by Satan and the
demonic realm. In fact the Anti-Christ, the coming world leader, is a
demonic person who rises to power by performing false miracles and false
wonders. The people who accept the Anti-Christ will have accepted him based
on the miracles he performs instead of relying on the Bible for guidance. If
they had read the Bible they would know that the one coming with miracles
for everyone to see he will be the fake one.
When we specifically look for miracles we are prone to miss the biggest
miracle of all and that is the Spiritual healing of us from death to life.
Jesus said the son "liveth" Christianity is not about being bad then
becoming good it is about being dead in sin and then becoming suddenly alive
to God and life. Notice that Jesus spoke this miracle and healed the son
when the son was in a different city than Jesus. It is that way for us,
Jesus is in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father, we are here on
earth, but we are not out of the effect of Jesus' voice. When Jesus speaks
we are healed. This miracle is important, Jesus wants us to know for certain
that we are now alive in Him and that we belong to Him. This is the first
part of a relationship with God it comes even before our Christian walk and
is to be establish beyond any doubt that we are alive Spiritually and that
we belong to Jesus. Jesus wants us to have a life long Christian walk, one
that is grounded in the Bible and strong enough in faith to get us through
all of life's disappointments, pains, suffering, and hurts. In fact the
healing that is now taking place in the son of the nobleman is the real
miracle the miracle healing of hurts, pain, loneliness, sorrow, and
suffering.
Miracle #3 {John
5:1-17} Healing of the Lame man
The Christian can now walk
In the third miracle Jesus sees a man near the pool of Bethesda who has
had a crippling infirmity for a long time for 38 years to be exact. Jesus
asks the man if he wants to be "made whole?" Interestingly the man
instead of saying yes, replied with a myriad of excuses and reasons as to
why he has not been made whole. It turns out that an angel would agitate or
trouble the water of the pool of Bethesda and when the hurting people saw
the pool disturbed the first one into the pool would be healed by God from
whatever ailed them. In this man's case he was so crippled that he was not
able to get into the pool first as he could find no one to help him.
Jesus completely ignoring the infirmed man's excuses said to him
"Rise, take up thy bed and walk." And immediately the man took up his
bead, and walked. Here is another man being healed by the voice of Jesus.
The nobleman's son was healed to life this man is then being healed to have
a walk [relationship] with God. Once it has been established that we are
alive [born again] and belong to God. The next miracle in the life of the
Christian is to begin to have an intimate relationship with God, a walk as
it is called. Notice that the man was infirm for 38 years, that is exactly
the amount of time that the Jews with Moses wandered in the wilderness after
neglecting to enter the promise land the first time, and before actually
entering into the promised land. After leaving Egypt God led the Jews to
Mount Sinai and gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the law (613 commandments),
and instruction to build the tabernacle and establish the Levitical
Priesthood under Moses' brother Aaron. Then God led the Jews to the promise
land where each of the 12 tribes sent out two spies. It took two years once
leaving Egypt and staying at Mount Sinai to get to the promise land and send
out spies. The spies returned and were afraid to enter the promise land
because of the giants in the land. The Jews then had to continue wandering
in the desert until the entire generation of unbelief died. The Jews
wandered for 38 years until God took them to the promise land the second
time and Joshua [Jesus] led them into the promise land as they by faith
crossed over the Jordan river.
This crippled man, like us, is in a similar circumstance as the Jews who
came out of slavery in Egypt were. They have been saved from slavery and
have received instruction at Mount Sinai in how to follow and worship God,
they are being miraculously provided for from God with the manna [bread]
from heaven, yet they are not yet able to believe and trust God to take care
of the giants in their lives. We likewise have been delivered from the
bondage and slavery of sin and death, we have been instructed in how to
follow and worship the Holy God of Israel, we receive our daily manna in the
Bible to sustain us through this wilderness wandering. Yet just like the
Jews and just like the crippled man we lack the faith in God to provide for
us and to take care of us and our problems. So we to having rejected
entering into the promise land must now wander in the wilderness of excuses
and complaints until by faith we hear the voice of Jesus and pick up our bed
and walk.
Jesus performed this miracle on the infirm man on the Sabbath day, the
weekly Saturday Jewish day of rest. The infirmed man was confronted by
others for being healed on the Sabbath but remember it is not work to
worship God or to be healed by God. Jesus has done the work of salvation
[healing] for us. We just need to work through our circumstances with Jesus
and the healing is a natural part of walking with God it is not work.
It is interesting in this miracle that God would trouble or stir the
water in the pool of Bethesda and that getting into the troubled waters
would heal the sick. God does that in our lives He troubles the water of our
life He has us work beside a co-worker that we have nothing in common with
that we cannot stand to be around. Through these troublings we are healed if
we get into the water. Get in there and get to know that co-worker, get in
there and work on that resume, work on that marriage and those bills and
through the troubled waters God is healing us as we are walking with God.
Jesus later sought out the now healed man and found him in the
"temple" and told him "behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest
a worse thing come unto thee." That is where Jesus should find us is in
the church worshiping and fellowshipping. Just think what if Jesus had found
this man with the sinners? We are freed up from sin to follow God not to
return and sin more and make a mockery out of the cross and suffering of
Jesus. Jesus makes the point to this man that although our sins are forgiven
we still have our own fee will and if we choose to sin "a worse thing
will come to us." We are free to worship God and we are free to sin. If
however we choose to sin then there will be ramifications. If we return to
what we know is wrong it gives Satan a chance to condemn us and accuse us,
making our walk with Jesus even more difficult. Difficult that is if we
choose to listen to Satan and ignore Jesus, but remember every sin is taken
care of at the cross of Jesus, confess the sin, acknowledge the Deity of
Jesus and remember the good wine is right now and the best wine is yet to
come.
Once the healed man gave credit to Jesus for healing him. The people he
told became so upset that Jesus had healed the infirmed man on the Sabbath,
they actually sought to kill Jesus. This is the first part of persecution in
the Christian walk. As soon as we start to glorify Jesus people are going to
start to get upset. People are going to want to kill Jesus and claim that He
does not exist or that He is not capable of healing even that Jesus does not
care enough to heal us. Jesus' answer to these people is that "My Father
worketh now and I work." In fact this is the very work of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit and their work is going on right now whether
people choose to believe it or not. And how Jesus would love to do His
healing work and have a relationship with even the most critical, cynical
and reached sinner.
Jesus performs this next miracle while on a mountaintop. A great
multitude had followed Jesus out into the countryside. Jesus asked the
disciple Philip "where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" It
says that Jesus asked Philip to test Him because Jesus already knew what He
was going to do. Philip wondered how much money it would take to buy all of
the bread that the huge crowd would need. Another one of the disciples named
Andrew said "There is a lad here, which has five barley loaves and two
small fishes: but what are these among so many?" And Jesus said "Make
the men sit down" Jesus took the loaves and the fish and after giving
thanks distributed them to the disciples and the disciples distributed them
to the people who were sitting down. When the people were full Jesus
instructed the disciples to "Gather up the fragments that remain, that
nothing be lost." And the disciples gathered 12 full baskets of
fragments from the five barley loaves of bread.
Sharing bread and fish that God has provided for us is an example of
fellowship. The miracle of fellowship is that God has broken down every wall
and barrier. Believers are now converted and see themselves and others in
God's true agape love knowing that we are all created by God in the Image of
God. We are all saved and cleansed by the same precious blood of Jesus shed
for us on the cross. All people are descendants of Adam and Eve and again we
are all related in Noah and His wife. There is no longer any color barrier
or ethnic barrier we are all one in Jesus. We are all now nobility, children
of the King. We have been elevated to the highest standard obtainable to
become a relative in the one and only true Royal Family of King Jesus.
Jesus gives thanks, takes the bread and breaks it, distributing the
fragments of bread to feed the multitudes. We often think what do I have to
offer in fellowship & Church with other Christians. We look at ourselves and
know our problems and our shortcomings. We wrongly think that Christians are
"perfect" people and that we need to be "perfect" to
fellowship. The reality is that in Jesus He is using the fragments of our
life to nourish others in fellowship. When we honestly open up our lives to
others we are truly fellowshipping and helping others many who are in
similar circumstances as we are.
Then Jesus instructed "Gather up the fragments that remain, that
nothing be lost." The truthful fellowship will remain and last even into
eternity. There are some things that will transfer with us into Heaven and
earthly fellowship is one of those things. The people and Godly
relationships we establish here on earth will transfer with us for eternity
into Heaven.
Miracle #5
{John 6:16-21} Jesus calms the disciples during a storm.
Jesus calms our fears
The disciples entered into a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee, alone and
in the dark, the disciples began to experience a great storm "and they
were afraid." They were still afraid when Jesus walking on the water
approached them and said to them "It is I; be not afraid." Then they
willingly received Him into the ship (boat): and immediately the ship was at
the land whither they went.
The dark nights and the storms of life will come. It is up to us to look
to Jesus and to invite Him into our situation into the very boat of our
circumstances. As we look around for Jesus we need to look up to see Jesus,
for He is above our problems He is walking on the waters. Jesus is above the
very storms that threaten to capsize us.
In following Jesus the sea of life will from time to time become stormy,
strong winds will blow. These are the very circumstances which Jesus allows
into our lives in order for us to call out to Him and to see that He is
bigger than any storm. Often these strong winds are nothing less then
demonic attacks, but that doesn't matter as Jesus has the authority to calm
every storm even satanic and demonic storms. It is important to remember
that no matter what direction the wind is blowing from or how strong the
storm that Jesus is always in control and He is always with us.
Miracle #6 {John
9:1-41} Blind eyes opened
Apostles sent out to non-believers
This man has remained blind since his birth. Jesus Informed His disciples
that the act of making this man see is a work of God. It is a work that God
will be glorified in doing. Vision requires light in order to see, Jesus
proclaims Himself to be the light for our sight.
Jesus made clay from His spit and dust from the ground then Jesus
"anointed" the eyes of the blind man with the clay. Clay represents the
frail condition of humanity. The Bible says that we are but clay (Job
4:19). This man was blind to the plight of humanity. This man was blind
to the sin and suffering that is occurring around him.
Then Jesus instructed the man to "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,
which is by interpretation, Sent." In Greek the pool of Siloam is called
the pool of Apostle. Apostle means sent. The Apostles of Jesus are the
"sent out ones" But in order to be sent out it is first required to have
sight in the light of Jesus and to have our eyes Anointed with the Clay of
humanity. Apostles have the Gospel of the Resurrection of Jesus to Eternal
life. Apostles have the Good News and the message is to the sinner that God
desires to save them.
We were once blind now that we have been filed with the Holy Spirit read
God's word daily, walk according to God's word, share God's word in
fellowship with believers, braved the storms of life by calling on Jesus, we
can now participate in the 6th miracle of Jesus which is to be a sent out
one an Apostle. Jesus said to take the Good News [gospel] of His
resurrection into all the world. We do not have to be sent out into the
globe to be sent out we can reach our families, friends, communities and
co-workers all of them need to experience the love that Jesus has for them.
When we have applied God's word to our own life and Christian walk we can
now share God's word with others we must be careful to give only God's word
and not to pass off our notions as God's word but share only the true bread
of Jesus.
Miracle #7 {John
11:1-45} Resurrection of Lazarus from death to life
Resurrection of the believer from physical death to eternal life.
Lazarus was sick. The Lazarus whom "thou (Jesus) lovest." Jesus
replied "This sickness is not unto death, but for the Glory of God, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Then Jesus waited two more
days before departing with the disciples on the journey to get to where
Lazarus was. By the time Jesus and the disciples arrived, Lazarus had been
dead and in the grave for four days. The sisters of Lazarus were in despair
that Jesus had arrived too late to heal their now dead brother. Jesus
replied that to believe in Him is to never die. Then Jesus called Lazarus by
name and the dead Lazarus became alive and walked out of his own grave. Not
only did Jesus resurrect Lazarus back to life Jesus instructed that the
grave cloths that had Lazarus bound up were to be removed.
Many people are afraid of death, Jesus has said that to believe in Him is
to have the binding cloths of death and the grave permanently removed from
us. In Jesus we have both life and freedom.
It only makes sense that God can resurrect us from death, after all God
created and gave us life in the first place. What is more difficult, to
create life the first time or to give existing life a new body? To God
nothing is impossible. The difficult part is not in creating a physical body
or next a Spiritual body for us, the difficult part was to remove the sin
that separated us from God.
The final miracle of Jesus that we get to participate in is the glorious
resurrection of the believer. Jesus called Lazarus by name just as Jesus
knows our name and will call us by name to the first resurrection. The first
resurrection is a selective resurrection and is for the believer only the
unbelievers will not come forward until the end and that is to be condemned.
Jesus said "unbind him and let him go" at the resurrection we will no longer
be bound to these bodies of flesh and sin. Jesus has set us free from sin
and the penalty of sin which is death. The resurrection is where we realize
what God has already done for us at the creation and re-united for us at the
cross of Jesus.
These are Seven Miracles performed by Jesus and recorded in the Gospel
of John by John a disciple of Jesus. John was an eyewitness present at
each of these seven miracles. These miracles are illustrations
representing miracles that Jesus is currently doing in the life of each
and every Christian.
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7 Miracles of Jesus These are Seven Miracles preformed by
Jesus and recorded in the Gospel of John by John one of the original 12
disciples of Jesus. John was an eyewitness present at each of these
seven miracles. These miracles are illustrations representing the
miracles that Jesus is currently doing in the life of each and every
Christian. (15 pages)
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