On certain occasions the Lord performed the great miracle of raising the dead. In Luke 7:11-17 we have the case of the Lord’s raising up the dead son of a widow in the city of Nain. “As He came near the gate of the city, behold, one who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a considerable crowd from the city was with her. And seeing her, the Lord had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep” (vv. 12-13). This case was unique in its misery-the only son of a widow was being carried in the coffin. The Lord’s compassion was also unique in His loving sympathy. He volunteered, in His tender mercy, His power of resurrection to raise the widow’s son from death, without being asked to do so. “He touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, arise! And the dead man sat up and began to speak; and He gave him to his mother” (vv. 14-15). In His raising up the dead son and giving him to his mother, we see the expression of Christ’s divine attributes in His human virtues.
Another case of Christ’s raising the dead is that of Lazarus in John 11. In verse 25 the Lord said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, even if he should die, shall live.” Here the Lord Jesus spoke in the present tense, saying, “I am the resurrection and the life.” The words “I am” indicate that He is Jehovah, the great I Am, the One with whom there is no time element. Because Christ is resurrection, whenever He is present, resurrection is there. The Lord proceeded to demonstrate this fact by raising up Lazarus: “He cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And he who died came out” (vv. 43-44). When Lazarus heard the voice of the living Lord, he was quickened and was raised from the dead. This case of resurrection indicates that the Lord Jesus is not merely a healing Savior but a life-giving Savior. He wants not only to heal us but to give us life, to resurrect us.
The Lord Jesus also cast out demons (Matt. 8:16). In Mark 1:23-28 we have a case of the casting out of demons. A man with an unclean spirit cried out, and the Lord Jesus rebuked him saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” (vv. 23-25). This unclean spirit was not a fallen angel; this spirit was a demon (vv. 32, 34, 39; Luke 4:33), one of the spirits of the living creatures who lived in the preadamic age and were judged by God when they joined Satan’s rebellion (see Life-study of Genesis, Message Two). The fallen angels work with Satan in the air (Eph. 2:2; 6:11-12), and these demons, the unclean spirits, move with him on the earth. Both act evilly upon man for the kingdom of Satan. The possession of people by demons signifies Satan’s usurpation of man, whom God created for His purpose. The Lord Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan (1 John 3:8), and in His earthly ministry He cast out demons from the possessed people (Mark 1:34, 39; 3:15; 6:7, 13; 16:17) so that they might be delivered from Satan’s bondage (Luke 13:16), out of Satan’s authority of darkness (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13), into God’s kingdom (Mark 1:15).
In Matthew 12:28 the Lord Jesus says, “If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you.” The Spirit of God is the power of the kingdom of God. Where the Spirit of God is in power, there the kingdom of God is, and there the demons have no ground. By the Lord’s word here we see that the battle fought for the kingdom is not fought by man alone but by a man with the Spirit of God. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God and that this is the coming of the kingdom of God.
In His ministry on earth the Lord Jesus did signs, many of which are recorded in the Gospel of John (John 20:30). A sign is a symbol with a particular significance. The Gospel of John is a book of signs, not of miracles. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke we read of miracles, but in the Gospel of John the word “miracle” is not used. Instead this Gospel speaks of signs. For example, the changing of water into wine (John 2:7-11) is called a sign (v. 11). Another sign in this Gospel is the feeding of the five thousand with five barley loaves and two fishes (John 6:9-14).
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