Miracles of Jesus

He prays, but He hears prayer. He weeps, but He causes tears to cease. He asks where Lazarus was laid, for He was man; but He raises Lazarus, for He was God. He is sold, and very cheaply, for it is only for thirty pieces of silver; but He redeems the world, and that at a great price, for the price was His own blood. As a sheep He is led to the slaughter, but He is the Shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world also. As a lamb He is silent, yet He is the Word, and is proclaimed by the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He is bruised and wounded, but He heals every disease and every infirmity. He is lifted up and nailed to the tree, but by the tree of life He restores us; indeed, He saves even the robber crucified with Him; indeed, He wrapped the visible world in darkness. He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall. Who? He who turned the water into wine, who is the destroyer of the bitter taste, who is sweetness and altogether desire. He lays down His life, but He has power to take it again; and the veil is torn, for the mysterious doors of heaven are opened; the rocks are split, the dead arise. He dies, but He gives life, and by His death destroys death. He is buried, but He rises again; He goes down into hell, but He brings up the souls; He ascends to heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

When our Lord came down to earth He drew heaven with Him. The signs which accompanied His ministry were but the trailing clouds of glory which He brought from heaven, which is His home. The number of the miracles which He wrought may easily be underrated. It has been said that in effect He banished disease and death from Palestine for the three years of His ministry. If this is exaggeration, it is pardonable exaggeration. Wherever He went, He brought a blessing.… We ordinarily greatly underestimate His beneficent activity as He went about, as Luke says, doing good.

We have the full use and benefit of the Holy Ghost which was given then. That seal that was then set to the Christian doctrine and Scriptures stands there still. When Christ has fully proved to the world the truth of his mediatorship, office, and doctrine, must he still continue the same actions? Is it not enough that he sealed it up once, but must he set a new seal for every man that requires it in every age? Then miracles would be no miracles.