If you could witness undeniable miracles, would that convince you to believe in God? You might think so, but Jesus encountered people who saw miracle after miracle and still rejected Him. Today we're looking at what it really takes to believe.
John 5:36 "But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me that the Father has sent me."
Jesus says He has a witness greater than John the Baptist – His signs and miracles. But here's what you need to understand: there are only three periods in all of the Bible where miracles were normal and rampant. Those three periods comprise about a hundred years total in human history: Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and Jesus Christ and His apostles.
If you grew up with felt boards and stories about dividing the Red Sea, you might think all this supernatural stuff was normal. But for the people of that time, it was absolutely extraordinary. And in each of those periods, the signs were the validating, corroborating evidence that these people spoke on behalf of God.
Jesus performed so many signs that John says if they were all written down, "even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." The dead raised, demons cast out, disease banished, lepers cleansed, blind made to see – boom, boom, boom. How could you not believe?
But here's the thing – the Pharisees couldn't deny what He was doing. In John 11:47, it says "the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council meeting and were saying, 'What are we doing in regards to the fact that this man is performing so many signs?'" They weren't denying the miracles; they were trying to figure out what to do about them.
Even Nicodemus, a Pharisee himself, said, "We know that you must come from God, because no one can do the signs that you are doing unless God is with him."
Never before had anyone seen such consistent displays of power. Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Paul, Peter – they healed people and cast out demons, but none of them claimed to be God. Here you have a carpenter, a stone mason, a Nazarene saying, "I'm God." Prove it? "I prove it every single day."
The greatest example of this is in Mark 2, where Jesus heals a paralytic. But before He heals the man's body, He says, "Son, your sins are forgiven." The Pharisees start bickering: "Who does this guy think he is? Only God can forgive sins."
Jesus responds, "So that you may know that I have power over what you cannot see, I will demonstrate my power by something you can see. Get up, pick up your pallet, and walk." What was the greatest miracle that day? That the man's sins were forgiven. But Jesus healed his body to prove He had power over his soul.
All these signs were exactly that – signposts pointing to the fact that this was not a normal man. He wasn't just a healer or teacher; He was God. He left no room, no margin for Him to be anything other than what He was claiming.
But they were unwilling to come. In spite of all the evidence, all the testimony, all the signs, they still rejected Jesus Christ.
Why? Because unbelief is never about lack of evidence – it's about unwillingness of heart.
1. What "signs" or evidence of God's reality have you witnessed in your own life?
2. Why do you think people can see clear evidence of God's power and still remain hardened in unbelief?
3. What's the difference between intellectual acknowledgment of Jesus and willing surrender to Him?
Stay dialed in.
