12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[a] anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14)
Introduction
Well Church, as we gather here today, on the first Lord’s Day of 2021, it marks the two thousand and twenty first consecutive year of our Lord in which the world continues to sit under His reign. What we need to understand is that there has not been a single one of these last two thousand twenty one years in which the Church of Jesus Christ the King has not been present here on this earth. It is a great privilege to live on this earth during the reign of our Lord, just as our forefathers did in the first century, just as they did when Northern Africa and the Middle East were Christianized, just as they did in the medieval ages, just as they did during the Reformation, and from the puritans up to the present day. We are the continuation of a long line of Christ’s Church on earth throughout history. We are the heirs of those who came before us, those who gathered in catacombs, and those who gathered in cathedrals. And who knows, it is possible that our spiritual heirs could be gathering somewhere similar on a Lord’s Day two thousand and twenty one years from now to confess the same ancient truths and sing the same ancient Psalms. So let us endeavor to be faithful with whatever the Lord ordains for us to face this year.
Having said that, let us proceed now to our text today.
Doing the Works of Jesus (v. 12)
Focusing initially here on verse 12, Jesus says an amazing thing, indeed a difficult thing for us to understand. In verse 11 Jesus has just implored His disciples to believe that He is in the Father, and the Father in Him, or else to believe on account of the works that Jesus came to do. And then we get to verse 12 where Jesus says, “and whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do…and greater works than these will he do.”
Special application to the apostles
Certainly there is a specific application of what Jesus says to the apostles, to whom He is directly speaking. We know from other places in Scripture that there were special miraculous signs that accompanied the ministry of the apostles, that were in many ways continuations of the ministry of Jesus – teaching, healing, and casting out demons. As the miracles that Jesus performed were signs that pointed to His messianic ministry, so the miraculous signs that accompanied the apostles were signs that validated their commissioning from the risen Christ. The apostolic era, much of which we read in the book of Acts, was a unique time in church history, as the New Testament was in the process of being written, churches were being established for the first time, the gospel was going to the gentile nations, all the while the Old Testament sacrificial system was still being practiced by the unconverted Jews who persecuted the Christians.
One of the temptations of modern thinking is to read about the early church in Acts, the New Testament, or early Church Histories, and think that we need to be exactly like them in every way. There is certainly continuity and many ways that we should seek to emulate them, but we also must recognize that specifically the apostolic era was a unique era in church history, that is not to be and cannot be emulated. One of the things we must believe in to help make sense of our faith and practice is the historical progress of sanctification of the church. The Scriptures and the doctrines do not change but the Church matures in her understanding of certain things and her practice over time. And we recognize that there was that apostolic time in which the Church was without the New Testament Scripture, as it was in the process of being written, and so our Lord to them, gave miraculous signs to accompany the teaching. One of the things that this means is that there are certain parts of Scripture that are only directly applied to certain times in history, such as the Old Covenant, first century judgments, or the Apostolic era, for example. At the same time we maintain that all of Scripture remains beneficial, authoritative, and applicable to our lives in every era, just in different ways than the initial audience.
Application to the Church in History
So, one of the common Reformed positions is to see verse 12 as only applying to the apostles. Calvin and Gill both hold that position, for example. As a cessationist, and Reformed partial preterist, I am certainly sympathetic to that position, and don’t like disagreeing with Calvin. However, the exegesis keeps me from going there. I don’t believe that the exegesis restricts verse 12 to applying only to the apostles. The two main reasons being that Jesus says “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.” Then when Jesus refers back to the “whoevers,” still in verse 12, He says, “and greater works than these will he do…” So the “whoever” really seems to take it beyond just the apostles, and then when Jesus uses “he,” when He could’ve said “you,” if He was referring to just His apostles, makes it for me very difficult to see this as strictly applying to the apostles. Furthermore, if we don’t see the “works” that will be done as continuationist miracles, then we are not restricted by that element of systematic theology – so certainly I am not promoting continuationism, the continuation of miraculous gifts, because I am not seeing the definition of “works,” as miracles here. (And will talk more about what the works are later on). But finally, Jesus gives the basis for these greater works, and the basis is His ascension to Heaven, where Jesus still remains to this day, enthroned at the right hand of God, in the year of our Lord, 2021. And if the ascension is the basis for these works, then it stands to reason that whatever these works are, they continue for the duration of His being in Heaven, since there is no other apparent time or era restrictions given in the text. With that said, there is nothing else within the text that restricts these works to the apostles only, other than the fact that Jesus is directly talking to His disciples, which is significant, and why I am sympathetic to that view. Nevertheless, as I have explained, the exegesis leads me not to hold to that view. And if it weren’t for these other textual indicators that expand it beyond the apostles, I would agree with the restriction to the apostles. So while I don’t like disagreeing with Calvin, the exegesis compels me, and I am not alone, because while I part with Calvin, I join St. Augustine who agrees with me. So my contention here is that there is a unique and special application of this to the apostles as we see elsewhere attested to in Scripture, and then a general application to all who believe, as I will present.
“Whoever Believes”
So Jesus says that whoever believes in Him will also do these works. So if we take “whoever believes,” to be intended to include anyone and everyone at any time and place who believes on the Lord Jesus to be the ones who do these works, we are presented with some problems, if we take the works to be the miracles of Jesus. Because we either would have to say that this hasn’t come true since all believers do not perform miracles, or we have to say that there haven’t been any Christians since the first century. This is one of several reasons that lead me to conclude that the works that Jesus speaks of are not speaking about His miracles, and it’s why Calvin, Gill, and others restrict this passage to the apostles.
The works are not the miracles
Since I do not restrict this passage to the Apostles, what then are the works spoken of here? Most modern people will typically assume this is referring to miracle working. And in one sense, the miracles Jesus performed would be considered as part of His work. But in other sense, the miracles are not the works that Jesus came to do. The miracles were signs that pointed to Jesus and pointed to His work – the work that He came to do. The miracles pointed to Jesus’ work of establishing His Kingdom and driving out the darkness and the enemy. That is His work, establishing His Kingdom and driving out the enemy, the miracles were signs that pointed to that work. Or we could say, the miracles were part of that work, as signs that pointed to it. Understood this way, we can definitely see where we have participated in this work as Christians. Have we not participated in the advance of the Kingdom, and driving out of the enemy? Have we not evangelized, preached the gospel, made disciples, fought against sin and evil, and raised children to do the same? Indeed, we have done all this because we have believed in Jesus name.
The works are His Words (v. 10)
Furthermore, another way of saying it is to say that the works are His Words. Augustine contends that the works that all who believe do, is the preaching and spreading of the Word. And it is compelling, being that we have reason within the immediate context to go there. So Augustine says the works are His words, and says we have no obligation to define these works further outside the immediate context, being that we are given some definition here. Without saying it as explicitly or narrowly, this is essentially the view that I have put forth for you. I have maybe broadened it to covering the implications, fruits, and results of the Word as well as the Word narrowly itself.
The basis for the works is the ascension
But look again at verse 12. Jesus gives us the basis for the performing of these greater works. One does not do greater works because he is greater than Jesus, but because Jesus has ascended to the Father. So what’s the connection there? How are greater works done by those who believe because Jesus is with the Father? Greater works will be done because Jesus ascended to the Father – and when we ascended to the Father, what did He do? He sat down at the Father’s right hand – a position of rule, authority, and power. He is now enthroned and the world is under the reign of Christ. Remember the vision of Daniel 7, where Daniel sees the ascension of Christ, and in the vision of the ascension of Christ, the Son of Man goes to the Ancient of Days, and the Son of Man is given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. This, accompanied with the coming of the Spirit, which we will talk about in the coming weeks, is why the ascension is the basis for the greater works, Jesus is given all authority in Heaven and on Earth and all the nations belong to Him and are under His rule.
The advance of the Kingdom
So the greater works that those who believe in Jesus will do, presuppose Jesus’ ongoing work in the world through His people, even as He sits at the right hand of the Father. You see, the works, and the greater works are not works done by man as Christ sits in Heaven and does nothing.
Jesus does the works (His presence in the Church)
Jesus is active and present in the world through His people and the works that they do in Him. After all, look again at what Jesus says in verse 12: “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do…” These greater works are works that Jesus does, is doing, and continues to do, that those who believe in Him will also do along with Him. This speaks to the presence of Jesus in the preaching of His Word. When the preaching of the Word goes forth and tears down strongholds of Satan and convicts sinners, bringing them to repentance and faith in Christ, it is not the preacher of the Word that has exercised any power, but it is that God did that – as He is present by His Spirit in the pure preaching of His Word.
This also speaks to the fact that every spiritual work that we do, we do not in our own flesh, but in the power of Christ, as He works within us and through us. So let us lay aside any pride or presumption in things that we do and recognize that it is God who builds the house, lest we labor in vain.
So in what way is it said to be greater works? Indeed, we recognize it is still Jesus who does them, but how yet are they greater? His works will be amplified by multiplying believers and expanding the Church. The Church, since the ascension of Christ has done nothing but extend and expand and grow and increase throughout the world, much more than when Jesus left the Kingdom task to His disciples who stood there watching Him ascend into Heaven to the Father. So the works are greater in volume over time and space in history. They are greater not in terms of the degree of greatness, but in their expanse and number.
Athanasius was the bishop of Alexandria Egypt in the 300’s AD. One of the most important Church Fathers. In his work On the Incarnation, he has a chapter on refuting the Gentiles with facts. And he notes some historical realities of the advance of Christianity and the Kingdom of Christ that were already present by the 4th century. He says this, “When did people begin to abandon the worship of idols, unless it were since the very Word of God came among men? When have oracles ceased and become void of meaning, among the Greeks and everywhere, except since the Savior has revealed Himself on earth? When did those whom the poets call gods and heroes begin to be adjudged as mere mortals, except when the Lord took the spoils of death and preserved incorruptible the body He had taken, raising it from among the dead? Or when did the deceitfulness and madness of demons fall under contempt, save when the Word, the power of God, the Master of all these as well, condescended on account of the weakness of mankind and appeared on earth? When did the practice and theory of magic begin to be spurned underfoot, if not at the manifestation of the divine Word to men? In a word, when did the wisdom of the Greeks become foolish, save when the true wisdom of God revealed Himself on earth? In old times, the whole world and every place in it was led astray by the worship of idols, and men through the idols were the only gods that were. But now all over the world, men are forsaking the fear of idols and taking refuge with Christ; and by worshipping Him as God, they come through Him to know the Father also, whom formerly they did not know. The amazing thing, moreover, is this: the objects of worship formerly were varied and countless; each place had its own idol, and the so-called god of one place could not pass over to another in order to persuade the people there to worship him, but was barely reverenced even by his own. Indeed, no! Nobody worshipped his neighbor’s god, but every man had his own idol and thought that it was lord of all. But now Christ alone is worshipped, as One and the same among all peoples everywhere; and what the feebleness of idols could not do – namely, convince even those dwelling close at hand – He has affected. He has persuaded not only those close at hand, but literally the entire world to worship one and the same Lord and through Him the Father. Again, in former times, every place was full of the fraud of the oracles, and the utterances of those at Delphi and Dordona and in Boeotia and Lycia and Libya and Egypt and those of the Kabiri and the Pythoness were considered marvelous by the minds of men. But now, since Christ has been proclaimed everywhere, their madness, too, has ceased, and there is no one left among them to give oracles at all. Then, too, demons used to deceived men’s minds by taking up their abode in springs or rivers or trees or stones and imposing upon simple people by their frauds. But now, since the divine appearing of the Word all this fantasy has ceased, for by the sign of the cross, if a man will but use it, he drives out their deceits. Again, people used to regard as gods those who are mentioned in the poets – Zeus and Kronos and Apollo and the heroes – and in worshipping them, they went astray. But now that the Savior has appeared among men, those others have been exposed as mortal men, and Christ alone is recognized as true God, Word of God, God Himself. And what is one to say about the magic that they think so marvelous? Before the sojourn of the Word, it was strong and active among Egyptians and Chaldeans and Indians and filled all who saw it with terror and astonishment. But by the coming of the Truth and the manifestation of the Word, it, too, has been confuted and entirely destroyed.”
How can it be said that the works those who believe in Christ do are greater than the works Christ did while on earth? It is not greater in degree of greatness, but greater in number, time, volume, and extent. The church can do more because it involves more people over a longer period of time.
But you see, the “greater works” are also a product of prayers offered up in Jesus’ name to the throne of God, as we see in verse 13-14. The contrast is not between Jesus’ work and the disciples’ greater works; but it is between the works done by Jesus on earth, during His earthly ministry; and the works that Jesus does through answering the prayers of His church and disciples on earth while He is in Heaven with the Father.
Praying in Christ (v. 13-14)
I love what Augstine says here, “His proceeding, therefore, to the Father, was not with any view of abandoning the needy, but of hearing and answering their petitions.” When Jesus ascended, He ascended to His throne of rule and authority, but also the throne of grace, where our prayers ascend to His ears like incense. He ascended to His prayer seat. This was encouragement the disciples needed, as they are faced with the fast approaching departure of their Lord. Where He was going, would not be out of reach of their prayers. Where He was going, His arm would not be too short to still reach down and intervene on behalf of His people. And of course, Jesus comforts them with the coming of the Spirit to be with them, as we will see in the coming weeks.
What does it mean to ask in Jesus’ name?
Considering the comforting words Jesus provides to His disciples, still more yet words that can be difficult to understand.
First, we may ask, what does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name? We know that asking things in “Jesus’ name” is not referring to simply saying “In Jesus’ name” when we pray, although I think that is a good practice to do. Jesus’ name is not magic words we can slap on to any request and expect it to be answered as we are asking.
It is certainly closer to the truth to see praying in Jesus’ name as praying prayers that align with the will and ways of Christ. Yet, it seems like something more is meant here, as it cannot be a stab in the dark as to what the will of Christ is, and if we get lucky and hit the mark it will be answered. Certainly the language here is that of confidence. The way Jesus phrases this is certainly meant to instill comfort and confidence in prayer.
If that is the case, then we can have absolute confidence when we pray in line with the known will of Christ. In other words, when we pray the prayers of the Bible, such as the Psalms, and the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” We can be confident those prayers will be answered to the glory of the Father.
Not only that, but also in prayer, as Christians, we are praying in Christ – in union with Him. Indeed Jesus sits there at the right hand of the Father as the One Mediating our prayers to the Father. In this God is certain to answer. This is one of the great privileges and benefits of being in union with Christ, and being found “in Him.”
What will Jesus do?
But then Jesus gives a large promise telling us that whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. This is where it gets a little difficult for us. There of course has been much abuse of texts like this within the prosperity gospel movement or the closely related word of faith, name it and claim it movement.
But as careful expositors, in trying to understand this text, one of the questions we should as is: what is the “this” that Jesus will do? “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” What is the “this” that He will do? Is it that He will do whatever we ask, or is it that He will do what glorifies the Father in the Son? It could be referring to doing whatever it is that we ask, so long as we keep the qualifier that we ask it in Jesus’ name, and define praying in Jesus name, as praying what He has specifically commissioned us to pray in His Word. Or the “this” that Jesus will do, could be referring to His answering our prayers in such a way that He will glorify the Father in the Son. It is as if He is saying, “Whatever you ask in prayer, I will do whatever it is that brings glory to the Father. This I promise you I will do. So you can take comfort in your prayers, that these ends will be met.”
The end of prayer
This shows us that the end of prayer is the glory of the Father in the Son. So if we are to pray in Jesus’ name, we are to pray to that end, that God alone would be glorified. This, Jesus will answer and do. He has promised us He will.
Application
So let us endeavor in this new year, as always, to do everything with prayer and supplication. For this prayer in Jesus name, to the end of God’s glory, is the power to doing the works that Jesus is doing.
You see friends, if we want to participate in this, what we first need to do is not only repent of our sins, but repent of our good works. We need to repent of all of our righteous deeds that we have endeavored to do apart from Jesus Christ. Any work that we do, that Christ does not do, is not a work that will last. It will be burned as the stubble on the judgment of the last day.
When Jesus tells us that whoever believes in him will also do the works that He does, He is telling us that it is only by faith in Christ that we can do anything of eternal worth. If we endeavor to work this year upon any other basis than faith in Christ alone, we are only working for hell. So let us recognize all of our righteous deeds to be nothing but filthy rags before a Holy God, and from this need for cleansing and righteousness, let us exercise faith in Christ alone. By faith let us join in with the long history of those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So come and welcome to Jesus Christ that you may also do the works that He does and have your prayers in Jesus’ name answered to the glory of the Father in the Son
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