Christ as the center of the entire Bible is all-inclusive, having many aspects. The New Testament at its beginning presents four biographies to portray the four main aspects of this all-inclusive Christ. Matthew testifies that He is the King, the Christ of God according to the prophecies of the Old Testament, who brings the kingdom of the heavens to the earth. Mark tells us that He is the Servant of God, laboring for God faithfully. His account is most simple, for a servant does not need any detailed record. Luke portrays Him as the only proper and normal man, qualified to be the Savior of mankind. John unveils Him as the Son of God, the very God Himself, to be life to God’s people.
When the Lord Jesus was about thirty years old (Luke 3:23), the legal age to be a priest (Num. 4:3), He came out to minister and work for God. Before He began His ministry, He was baptized by John and anointed by God with the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:13-17; Luke 4:18). Then He was tempted by the Devil, and He overcame (Luke 4:1-13). Therefore, He was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to come out to minister and work (Luke 4:14).
The first thing the Lord Jesus did in His ministry was to preach the gospel, to announce God’s glad tidings to the miserable people in bondage (Luke 4:18-19), that they may repent, believe in the gospel, have their sins forgiven, and be regenerated by God to have the divine life and enter into God’s kingdom (Mark 1:14-15; John 3:3-7).
The second thing the Lord Jesus did in His ministry was to teach people (Mark 1:21-22; 2:13), releasing words full of light to enlighten those sitting in the shadow of death (Matt. 4:12-16), that they might receive the light of life and thus be brought out of the satanic darkness into the divine light (Acts 26:18).
The first miracle that the Lord did in His ministry was to change water into wine, manifesting His divine glory (John 2:1-11). He also used a small portion of food to feed five thousand people at one time and four thousand people at another time. In both cases there were broken pieces left (Matt. 14:15-21; 15:32-38). These cases prove that He is the Creator who calls things not being as being. Furthermore, He also walked steadily on the waves (Matt. 14:24-27) and calmed the winds and the sea (Matt. 8:23-27). These cases indicate that He is the sovereign One who rules the universe.
The Lord Jesus came that He might destroy the works of Satan (1 John 3:8). Therefore in His ministry, as a part of the miracles and wonders, He also cast out demons, who were under the hand of Satan, from the possessed people (Mark 1:34, 39; 3:15; 6:7, 13; 16:17) that they might be delivered from Satan’s bondage (Luke 13:16) and transferred out of Satan’s authority of darkness (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:13) into God’s kingdom.
Sickness is an issue of sin, and it is also a sign of man’s abnormal condition before God because of sin. The Lord Jesus healed the sinners’ sick condition both physically and spiritually and restored them to a normal condition that they might serve Him (Mark 1:34; 3:10; 6:5, 13, 56). This is another part of His ministry in doing miracles.
Leprosy is the most contaminating and damaging disease, much more serious than fever (Mark 1:30, 40) and isolating its victim both from God and from men (see notes 21 and 31 in Matt. 8). A leper portrays a typical sinner. The Lord Jesus’ cleansing of a leper signifies His recovering of the sinner to the fellowship with God and with men.
Death is the fruit of sin (James 1:15; Rom. 6:23). The Lord Jesus came to be the Savior of mankind not only to save people from sins (Matt. 1:21) but also to save them from death (John 6:50). While He was ministering on the earth, the highest of His miracles was His raising the dead (Matt. 11:5; Luke 7:12-15; John 11:39-44), proving that He is the Lord of life who is able to bring those who believe in Him out of death into life (John 5:24).
While the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He lived because of the Father, He worked with the Father, He did things in the Father’s name according to the Father’s will, He spoke the Father’s words, and He sought the Father’s glory, not His own glory. Therefore, He could testify that “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). He did not seek His own will, nor did He express Himself, but He expressed God. In His transfiguration on the mountain, He manifested the glory of His divinity, thus enabling God to be fully expressed before His three disciples (Matt. 17:1-2). At the end of His ministry and work for God, God declared from heaven that He had already glorified His name in Him, that is, that God Himself had already been expressed (John 12:28).