How Do We Do ‘Greater Works’ Than Christ?
Hi Mike,
I have a question to ask.
When Christ said “Greater these things ye shall do than I” what did that mean?
Thanks,
G____
Hi G____,
It is always good to hear from you, and you are always in our prayers.
You ask what Christ meant when He said:
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
What Christ is telling us here in this verse is that you and I will do all the things He did in a spiritual sense, rather than in a mere physical sense. If Christ is within us we will…
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
But we will do so spiritually by giving Christ, and the Truth of His Words, to those who are so spiritually afflicted with the false fear-generating and tormenting lies of Babylon and her daughters.
Every time we are granted to reveal the Truth to anyone, we have replaced a lie with the Truth. In doing so, we have ‘cleansed a leper’, we have raised the dead, and we have cast out devils spiritually. For three and a half years Christ accomplished all these things in a physical and outward manner, but during His entire physical ministry He did not save one soul spiritually because the holy spirit was not yet come, for Christ had not yet been glorified through the sacrifice of His physical body:
Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
The giving of the holy spirit is “Christ in [us] the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). As long as Christ remained in a physical body He could not send His spirit to dwell in us. That is why it was “expedient that [He] go away”, so He could return to us via His Father’s spirit, which He tells us His Father had given to Him to give to us.
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
There it is if you can receive it. It is the holy spirit being given to us which glorifies Christ. It is not physical healings of physical lepers. It is not the physical raising up of the physically dead that glorifies Christ, rather it is the raising up from the spiritually dead condition in which all men come into this world, which constitutes “greater works than [those]” done by Christ while He was here on earth.
Let’s be honest with ourselves; of whom, since Christ, can this be said:
Mat 4:24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
Mat 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
Luk 4:40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
Of which man since Christ can this truthfully be said:
Joh 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
And yet Christ Himself says this of us, if indeed He lives within us:
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Joh 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
It is ‘because Christ went to His Father’ that He can now dwell within us and give us spiritual life eternal. That is much greater than all of the physical works Christ accomplished while He was here in a marred body of flesh and blood, without the ability to yet give eternal life to anyone.
I hope I have shown you what Christ meant when He said “greater works that these shall he do because I go unto my Father”.
Your brother and fellow servant,
Mike
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