The Claims Of Christ: Jesus Is God In Power Series

Do you ever get frustrated? Do you ever look around at the things that go on at work and get frustrated? Or maybe things at school? I know that we all look at things going on in government and get frustrated. And inevitably, when we get frustrated like that, what is one of the first things we think about? We think—man, if I was in charge, things would be different. Sometimes when we get frustrated with things, we like to sit back and fantasize about what it would be like if we were the ones in power. If I just had the power, I’d really change things. But if you’ve ever been promoted, you know that’s not really the case, is it? If you’ve ever gone from “cook and bottle washer” to “chief cook and bottle washer” you know that just because you’re a chief doesn’t mean that you have the power to change things. Every time that there’s an election, we talk about electing people into positions of power. We vote for Governor and Congress and President. Those are powerful people, aren’t they? Can you imagine what you could do with that kind of power? Really—not much. At least, not much on an eternal scale. Don’t get me wrong. People in positions of power can do some good things sometimes. And there are a lot of times when they can do some very destructive things. People in positions of power can cause war and death and destruction on large scales. But no matter how powerful they might seem to us, their power is limited. As a matter of fact, it’s infinitely small compared to the only true source of power. Compared to God’s power, even the power of the most powerful person you can imagine is miniscule. The Jewish leaders in our passage were looked at as powerful people. You remember that Jesus had just healed a man. And because He healed him on the Sabbath, He broke one of the Jewish leader’s laws. Then when they confronted Him about it, Jesus told them that He is God in the flesh. Back up in verse 17, He told them that He is working just like His Father is working. And verse 18 says that by saying that, Jesus made Himself equal with God. And from that point forward, those Jewish leaders tried to show Jesus their power. They constantly and continually came against Him. And eventually, they used every bit of their power to arrest Him and beat Him and hang Him on the cross. They were powerful people. Or so they thought. Because, in reality, the only power that they had was the power that Jesus gave them. And when you think about it, that’s the only place that power still comes from. The only place that we can ever hope to receive power is from the God of all power. And just as God the Father is the God of all power, God the Son is the God of all power. That’s the claim that Jesus makes in this verse we’re looking at this morning. In this verse, Jesus claims to be God in power. What kind of power does Jesus have? You might remember from when we first started looking at this book, what John said in John 20:30. He said, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.” Jesus did many, many miracles. Far more than are recorded in any of the four Gospels. And John records fewer than any of the others. As a matter of fact, John only records 7 miracles of Jesus—he calls them “signs”. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John picked out only 7 of them. He specifically picked out these 7 signs to show us different aspects of Jesus’ power. And he does that, so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And when we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that we might have life in His name.

The first sign that John records is back in 2:1-11. You might remember that as the time that Jesus turned the water into wine at a wedding in Cana. Tell me, what was there before the miracle? Six waterpots filled with water. What does water have in it? Are there any grapes in water? Is there any yeast in water? So how did water become wine? Because Jesus showed that His power is not limited by materials. He doesn’t have to start with the right ingredients to create something. People make wine every day. But when people make wine, they have to start with the right ingredients. And they have to combine those ingredients in the right way. But Jesus doesn’t have to do that. Because Jesus has the power to fundamentally change things. That shouldn’t surprise us because He created it all in the first place. And if Jesus is the one who sustains His creation, it only makes sense that He can fundamentally change it at even an elemental level. And that’s what He did at that wedding feast. Jesus showed that, as God, His power is not limited by materials. But in the second sign that John records, he shows us something different.