Monday Morning Devotions

John 14:12- "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." (NKJV)
I used to read this passage and wonder "I will do greater works than Jesus? Jesus raised people from the dead. What greater work could I do?" But now I realize that this promise is not just made to individual believers, but to the Church as a whole. First to the disciples, then to all those who believed in their message, down to the present day. Jesus was fully God and fully man. As a man, Jesus had voluntarily placed himself under the physical limitations that all individual men and women are subjected to. During His earthly ministry, He could only be at one certain locality at one time and He could only communicate with a limited number of people. Wherever He was, He performed the miraculous: healing sicknesses and physical deformity, casting out demons and raising the dead. Rarely did He perform miricles on those outside His vicinity. (The Centurion's servant and the Syro-Phoenician woman's daughter were two exceptions). But the Father and the Son were about to send the Holy Spirit to dwell in each believer's heart. The same Spirit that was about to raise Jesus from the dead (Rom 8:11) was going to, and now does reside in all who make up the true church. As more are called to the Church daily, then that means more and more people have the Holy Spirit indwelling them. And as Jesus did all things as a man through the power of the Holy Spirit, so do all individual members of His body, the Church, all over the world. As the Church extends over all the earth, then the works Jesus did will be done all over the world. The Church can go where Jesus the man could not. More work will be done than could be while Jesus was limited by being one man. Now Jesus indwells all believers and so works through all believers all over the world. And if you are a believer indwelled by the Holy Spirit, you are doing the works Jesus did, in conjunction with the entire Church. And as the Holy Spirit works through the Church, then greater works than what Christ did on earth are being done.