Four Wonderful Miracles
Pastor Eric J. Hanson
March 3rd 2024
This message is designed to give us a look at how Jesus revealed himself to be the Messiah (anointed one and coming King) of the Jews. In the process of this revelation, He revealed a great heart of love and compassion for the people. He also showed that God the Father has not forgotten us here in this World of suffering and hardship.
At the time that Jesus walked the Earth and conducted ministry among the people of Judea and other nearby areas, there existed a deeply settled set of expectations concerning what the Messiah would be like. One of the teachings which the leaders of the Jews held to, concerning the person of the Messiah, and which the people had also been taught, was this one:
The (Hebrew word) Messiah or (Greek word) the Christ would do certain miracles when He reveals Himself. These would be miracles which had never been done before by any of the prophets of old, such as Moses, Elijah, or Elisha.
Jesus indeed revealed His messiahship by doing these very miracles. Let’s look into this wonderful slice of history at this time, and let’s be blessed as we consider the greatness of our Lord.
Messianic Miracle One: Healing the Leper
Nobody, throughout the chronicles of Israel and Judah had ever been recorded as having received healing from the dread disease Leprosy. Even though the book of Leviticus chapters 13 & 14 goes into great detail about the procedure for a person suffering with leprosy to obtain healing and then to authenticate that healing through the priests, it never happened. The Pharisees taught clearly that when the Messiah comes, he will heal lepers.
Now let’s read Luke 5:12-16.
Let’s take note of a couple of things here.
First, Jesus indeed healed a man of advanced, fully spread leprosy. This man would not have lived much longer. Everyone in the vicinity know about him, and they kept their distance from him.
Next, Jesus instructed him to obey the instructions from Leviticus to go show himself to the priest and then offer the prescribed sacrifices for any Israelite who had been healed of leprosy.
Finally, word of this Messianic Miracle spread rapidly to many people.
Read verse 17.
The Sanhedrin, because of word of this Messianic Miracle now started officially observing Jesus to see whether he might indeed be the Messiah.
Read 18-21.
Jesus purposely forgave the man’s sins right away. This was to provoke the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who were there into revealing their attitudes. They had taught that the Messiah would be both the Son of David and the Son of God, thus being the God-Man. They knew that the Messiah would be able to forgive sins. However, rather than completing a methodical investigation of Jesus, they jumped to condemning Him in their thoughts, accusing Him of blasphemy.
Read 22-26.
Jesus now addressed them directly concerning this, and then He proved his point by healing the paralyzed man. Notice that the common people were not having any problem with Jesus.
Wonderful Miracle Two: Casting out a Deaf and Dumb Demon
The Jewish Religious leaders did occasionally engage in deliverance ministry. They had a rigid series of steps to do this. One of the steps was to get the demon they wished to expel from someone, to identify itself by name or title. Therefore, if a demonized person could not speak, the Jewish priests or teachers of the Law could not help that person, but they taught that when the Anointed One would come, he would cast out dumb (not able to speak) demons, even from blind people. This sets the stage perfectly for the next Messianic Miracle performed by Jesus.
Read Matthew 12:22-23
Jesus delivered and healed this man instantly. Please note that the people knew immediately that this was specifically one of the 4 miracles that they had been taught that only the Messiah would do.
Read verse 24
The Pharisees immediately contradicted their own long standing teaching that only God’s own anointed one would ever perform such a miracle. They should have been still open heartedly investigating Jesus at this point, but they had already rejected him in their hearts after he showed them up by healing the man whose sins he had forgiven on an earlier occasion.
Read 25-29
Jesus demolished their reasoning; the excuses they were using to be against Him.
Read verses 30-32
The Leaders of the Jews, the Pharisees, and by extension, the Sanhedrin, had rejected Jesus as Messiah by this point in time. They had also attributed the unique miracle deliverances he was doing, to Satan, rather than to the Holy Spirit working in Jesus. This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
Read verses 33-37
Jesus, in turn, rejected them and warned them that their words would be used to judge them on Judgment Day.
Read 38-39
Here, Jesus told them that he would do no more Messianic Miracles for them to see. They no longer had permission from Him to investigate Him. However, there would be more, just not for them to observe.
Read 40-42
He denounced their lack of faith and again warned them of their generation of the Sanhedrin facing a tough time on Judgment Day.
Wonderful Miracle Three: The Man who was Born Blind
This time, Jesus had just walked away from the gathered Sanhedrin. They had attempted to murder him, but could not do so, because his hour to die had not yet come. No investigative panel was present for this miracle, but they would soon be confronted with it.
Read John 9:1-5
In the religious thinking of the Jews in those days, anyone who was born with a birth defect was being punished, either for his or her parents’ sin, or for his or her own sin while in the womb. For instance, the Pharisees taught that the pre-born know right from wrong, and that a fetus can become angry at his mother and kick her in wrath from inside the womb. God would punish this with a birth defect.
Jesus dismissed that thinking. He declared it to be wrong. God was about to receive glory; not because a man was blind. He was about to receive glory as a blind man was healed by Jesus.
Read verses 6-7.
Sometimes Jesus did long distance healings. Sometimes he just spoke them forth. This time he did one that was unique. A crowd of ordinary people was gathering and watching this. Certainly this would be something they would never be able to forget.
Read 9-12.
His neighbors, who were not present when Jesus ministered to him, now got filled in on what had happened.
In verses 13-34, the Pharisees investigated this clearly Messianic Miracle, “opening the eyes of a man born blind”. Nobody had ever done this before. This was their chance to realize their horrible mistake and reverse themselves in the face of a third such miracle. Instead, they intimidated the man’s parents with the threat of excommunicating anyone who believed in Jesus. They also tried to intimidate the man who had been healed, but he stood up to them and they threw him out.
Read 35-41.
Here Jesus dealt with the aftermath of this whole thing, strengthening the healed man’s faith in Him, and again warning the Pharisees of their guilt.
Wonderful Miracle Number Four: The Sign of Jonah… Resurrection from extended death.
Just as Jonah had been in the great fish for three days and three nights, Lazarus was dead for that long before Jesus showed up in Bethany after his death. It was now the fourth day, and wonderful things were about to happen.
Read John 11:1-6.
Here Jesus stayed away purposely so that Lazarus would die and enough time pass for him to also be buried. Jesus knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead after enough time had passed so that the official teaching of the Jews was that the dead man’s spirit had left the area and gone on to Sheol, also called Abraham’s Bosom. The Pharisees taught that no one can be raised to life after being dead for 4 days. Jesus had already raised others from death, which was miraculous in itself; but they had only been dead for anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days. This one would be revolutionary.
In verses 7-16 Jesus let the disciples know that it was time to go raise up Lazarus, but they didn’t quite get what he was saying.
Read 17-22
Martha demonstrated great faith in the Lord. She was certain he’d have healed her brother, if only he had been there before Lazarus died. Then she spoke her hope that even now, he could do something.
Read 23-27
Martha got it. She completely got it about Jesus. She just proclaimed the opposite of the Pharisees, Jesus is the Christ. God’s son; the God-Man, the Messiah.
Read 28-37
Mary too responded to Jesus’ presence, with faith that Lazarus would not have died if Jesus had just been there in time. Her grief and the grief of the others there touched Jesus deeply. Notice that after Jesus wept, some of the people referenced the miracle healing of the man who had been born blind. This miracle of just days earlier was known all over the area already.
Read 38-40
Here it was clearly established, in front of hundreds of villagers, that Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus was not scared by this; not at all.
Read 41-44
Wow! Praise God! Jesus conquers the grave, and would do so again later, for all of us!
Conclusion
After this, the Sanhedrin decided that Jesus must die. They did not repent, even though Jesus had demonstrated his Lordship even over lengthy death. After this, it was “game on” for the killing of their Messiah, whom they had rejected.
For many of the common people, it was a different story. They were now primed, and after the death and resurrection of Jesus, starting on the day of Pentecost, many thousands of them would become born again, and would follow Jesus with all their hearts.
How about us; you and me?
Is Jesus the one you are trusting? He is, as he proclaimed at Lazarus’ tomb, “the Resurrection and the Life”. -Are you trusting Him to be the one (and only) who can take you past death and into everlasting life in God’s wonderful Kingdom?
Don’t delay. Trust Jesus Christ fully today.
(Have a call to salvation or repentance from backsliding.)
