Proof of the Power of God
Luke 6:12-19
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15 and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
17 Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19 And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.
In this narrative, we actually have two stories. The first one is that Jesus selected 12 men out of the followers that were with him. The second part of the narrative tells us that Jesus immediately goes into a crowd and heals people of diseases and rids them of demons. The four Gospels present different ways of bringing the disciples into the fold. One thing that they all agree on is that there were 12 that would become Jesus’ inner circle.
Why is the immediate story that Jesus goes down from the mountain and heals people? Perhaps it’s just as simple as Jesus wanting to give the chosen 12 disciples an example of the power he had from God, and eventually, give them that power. Therefore, we can examine this short healing narrative as the need for people to see the signs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Even his 12 handpicked disciples needed to see it as well.
The people in those days did not have the cool technology that we have today in the knowledge of medicine and other things to stop them from believing. They became believers because they saw the power of God through the actions and words of Jesus Christ. That was more than enough for them. So, we have to ask ourselves the question of what proof of the power of God do we need to see today to get people to come to a faith in the works of Jesus Christ?
When I went to college, I studied biology and computer science. My original intent was to go into medical practice. However, in my sophomore year, I learned that an uncle of mine had died. That man was the director of admissions at Albert Einstein medical school in the Bronx, which is in New York City. All I had to do was get a prescribed GPA during my undergraduate work and he would make sure I got in. Well, the beginning of my sophomore year, he had a heart attack at his desk in the hospital, which is a kind of ironic when you think about it, but what it meant to me was I would not make it into medical school. Since my parents would not support me going to college, I had to work full time to pay the bills. That limited how much study time I could put into college. Luckily for me, I was talented in the computer science field and when I graduated college in 1980, there were plenty of companies in the United States that were desperate for computer trained people.
I brought up this part of my background because I received training as a scientist and an engineer, making it difficult for me to take things on faith. After getting married, it took 15 years for me to tear away the technology veil which covered my thinking to think in the terms of faith and power of God. Why would that happen and why did it take so long? Because it is very difficult to see the power of God in action, especially when it’s not happening to you directly. How many people are there in the Western world that want to see some kind of proof before they would say they have a faith in the works of Jesus Christ? Having been one of those people, I would think it’s pretty high.
Around 1975 the postmodern movement began. One of the key points of postmodernism is that there is more than one answer to a question. We remember that an area of science called quantum physics was alive and being expanded at an exponential rate. Scientists could prove that a photon of light could hit a slit in a flat object and could go in many directions. That means the question can be asked which direction will the photon go? The answer is random., anywhere and everywhere. From something that simple, the philosophers of the late 20th century said there are more answers to a single question than we thought.
If you’re willing to look at all the religions that exist in the world, they all have the same God, but they get there in different ways. This makes it very difficult when you’re dealing with a postmodern individual because it says in John’s Gospel that the only way to God the father is through God the son. When I taught postmodernism to churches, I would say to them you have to be ready to answer the following question. If there are so many religions, why does Christianity think it has the only way? My answer to that is there may be many ways that people think they can get to God, however I have a proven way which is through the death and resurrection and faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
Therefore, there may be many ways to get to God, but Christianity has a proven way. I know some of your thinking know we have the only way, and that’s true. But when dealing with a postmodern adult, it is important to remember the way they have been trained to think. The second problem is if you’re going to go out and evangelize, which you should do, how do you prove to someone who does not believe in Christ that he had the power of God when he was on earth and can help anyone if they have faith and ask for it? How do you prove the power of God exists through Christ?
This is where one story can come into play. I can tell you I definitely felt the power of Christ earlier in life, but it took so I was around 35 years old for me to explore it and to understand it. Being a scientist and engineer, I had to study the situation and see some kind of proof. One thing I did as I went back through my life and wrote every major event that happened and then I went to each major event and I explained what happened and why it was significant. That allowed me to see the power of God through Christ in my life. When I created this list and analysis, it was difficult to understand where that power was coming from, however there was a power driving my life and that God had this plan of what I’m doing right now.
Too many things had to be exactly perfect and timed perfectly in my life to end up where I am today. I am happy that God pushed me in the direction that got me to this point.
Praise God for his power through Christ came to me. I was evangelized. Through my lovely bride and children, I had the opportunity to witness Christ working through them, and as a result, I realized that Christ was also working through me. Pastor Don Stover gave me some fabulous counseling and explanations of what I was feeling and what was happening to me. If it wasn’t for my family wanting to evangelize me I may never had discover that what was going on in my life was controlled by God through Christ.
Evangelism means talking about your story to other people and showing them the proof of the power of God because Christ is in your heart, and you allow the Holy Spirit to direct your life. And then help them see it is the power of God through Christ and the Holy Spirit has been directing their lives. It may take time and many conversations, but one day they will come to you. Like I said to Pastor Stover I now understand the power of God through Christ.
Go out and tell people about your story about coming to know and having a faith in Jesus Christ. Even if the person never comes to Christ because it’s up to the Holy Spirit to turn their heads, you must still talk to them. It’s up to us to get them think about Christ in their lives.
