As if by magic!?
Many wonder how Jesus did it, all those miracles.
It seems as if He just did them, some say to prove He was God in the flesh, others because He was moved with compassion to meet the needs of the suffering that He met. Besides His motivation to perform miracles, which seems to be a combination of both, there remains the need to understand how He did so, knowing that He was born as a fully-fledged human, and how this applies to us today.
Philippians 2:5-11
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Luke 2:49-52
49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” 50 But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.
51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
First, the Word teaches that He came and functioned as one of us, fully human, yet perfect, sinless.
Second, He submitted Himself to human requirements like parental supervision, growth, water baptism and a reliance on the anointing of the Holy Spirit to empower Him for service. He even boldly identified Himself as a walking, living fulfilment of ancient scripture!
Third, He boldly acknowledged the operation of the Holy Spirit on His life:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
Luke 4:16-18,21
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It seems fair to say that he performed miracles by means of the Holy Spirit’s anointing on His life and ministry. It was not magic!
Acts 10:38
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Besides a multitude of testimonies of the miraculous today, the Word teaches that we, like the early disciples are to be ‘naturally supernatural’ the supernatural flows from our new nature in Christ and the anointing of the Joly Spirit on our lives.
Think on these scriptures:
2 Corinthians 5:17 – All things new!
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Acts 1:8 – Power and the Holy Spirit go together!
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Mark 16:15-20 – It’s for those who believe!
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they[a] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
More to come on the Holy Spirit – enjoy talking to Him about all this.