This is a non-WLC article. When using resources from outside authors, we only publish the content that is 100% in harmony with the Bible and WLC current biblical beliefs. So such articles can be treated as if coming directly from WLC. We have been greatly blessed by the ministry of many servants of Yahuwah. But we do not advise our members to explore other works by these authors. Such works, we have excluded from publications because they contain errors. Sadly, we have yet to find a ministry that is error-free. If you are shocked by some non-WLC published content [articles/episodes], keep in mind Proverbs 4:18. Our understanding of His truth is evolving, as more light is shed on our pathway. We cherish truth more than life, and seek it wherever it may be found. |

Yahushua worked miracles. The gospel accounts record a total of thirty- five specific supernatural occurrences performed by Yahushua.1 Additionally, many other supernatural works were chronicled in general terms, without much detail:2 For example:
Matthew 14:35-36 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; 36 and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.
Incredibly, there were innumerably more wonders that were not chronicled:
John 21:25 and 30 And there are also many other things which Yahushua did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written…30 Therefore many other signs Yahushua also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.
What are miracles?
What are miracles? The Dictionary of the Bible offers this explanation:
Modern theology defines a miracle as a phenomenon in nature that transcends the capacity of natural causes to such a degree that it must be attributed to the direct intervention of God.3
Modern theology defines a miracle as a phenomenon in nature that transcends the capacity of natural causes to such a degree that it must be attributed to the direct intervention of God.
|
Some believe this direct intervention of Yahuwah occurred because Yahushua is himself, God. One popular apologist claims that the miracles Yahushua performed proved he is God:
Jesus’ deity is also proved by His miracles. His miracles are often called “signs” in the New Testament. Signs always signify something—in this case, that Jesus is the divine Messiah.”4
Prolific Christian author Herbert Lockyer, in his in-depth study on miracles, echoes the sentiments of many Christians when he says:
Miracles are also the insignia of Christ’s deity…5 New Testament miracles attested to the deity of Christ—God manifest in the flesh–and also the divine authority invested in the apostles.6
What’s more, Baptist theologian and evangelical apologist Bernard Ramm posits that Yahushua is God and that he performed miracles according to his sovereignty:
The ability to perform miracles from his own sovereign will is another indirect evidence for the deity of Christ. The Old Testament prophets and the New Apostles could not perform the miraculous on their own but were dependent upon God. [On the other hand,] Jesus is presented in the Gospels as acting freely, personally, and sovereignly in performing miracles.7
As widespread and entrenched as these beliefs may be, they are inconsistent with Yahushua’s own testimony.
I can do nothing on my own initiative.
One of the themes of Yahushua’s ministry is that he could do nothing on his own:
John 5:30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative.”
John 8:28 So Yahushua said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative…
John 8:42 Yahushua said to them, “…I have not even come on My own initiative, but He [Yahuwah] sent Me.”
After Yahushua healed a lame man on the Sabbath, he stressed his dependence on Yahuwah concerning miraculous works.
|
More specifically, after Yahushua healed a lame man on the Sabbath, he stressed his dependence on Yahuwah concerning miraculous works:
John 5:19-20 Therefore Yahushua answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. 20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
Yahushua could only do the works that Yahuwah the Father had shown him to perform. While Yahushua knew there were even greater works on the horizon, he was unaware of the specifics of the miracles yet to come, for he said that the Father would show him the works (i.e., he hadn’t yet shown him). Indeed, by his admission, Yahushua was entirely dependent on the Father.
The Father abiding in me does His works
Tragically, orthodoxy contradicts Yahushua’s clear confession by crediting him, not the Father, as the source of the miraculous deeds. But Yahushua consistently says it was the Father who was performing His works:
John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
In other words, Yahushua was the human agent through whom Yahuwah worked. The Oxford Companion to the Bible incorporates agency in its definition of miracles and their source:
A miracle is an extraordinary event, perceived to result from the direct, purposeful action of a God or the agent of a God.8
In Hebraic terms, the agent or the “one sent” is called the shaliah.
|
An agent is described as one who has been “authorized to act for or in the place of another.”9 In Hebraic terms, the agent or the “one sent” is called the shaliah.10 The word comes from the verb shelach, which means to send. James McGrath, professor and New Testament scholar explains:
Agency was a vital part of everyday life in the ancient world. The prophets and angels mentioned in the Jewish Scriptures were considered ‘agents’ of God. The key idea regarding agency in the ancient world appears to be summarized in the phrase from rabbinic literature so often quoted in these contexts: “The one sent is like the one who sent him.” 11
Indeed, Scripture repeatedly speaks of Yahushua as the one sent by Yahuwah to do the Father’s will and accomplish His works. The miracles provided proof of this:
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.
This principle of Christ’s agency is evident in a confrontation Yahushua had with certain Jews who pressed him to know whether or not he was the Christ. Yahushua cited the works as proof of his Messiahship:
John 10:24-25 The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Yahushua answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.
To do something in another person’s name means that they have given you the power and authority to execute the assignment.
|
To do something in another person’s name means that they have given you the power and authority to execute the assignment. As one clergyman states:
Doing something in someone else’s name has a distinct legal meaning that is the same under our law as well as Hebrew, Greek, and Roman law…If you appoint someone to act in your name, they can act as your agent within the restrictions you impose.12
Thus, when Yahushua said that he performed the works in his Father’s name, he was crediting Yahuwah the Father, not himself, as having authorized and empowered them. The works he performed corroborated his claim to be sent by Yahuwah, that is, to be Yahuwah’s agent.
First-century Jews who witnessed Yahushua’s miracles firsthand understood Yahushua to be Yahuwah’s agent and viewed the signs he performed as validation that Yahuwah had sent him. Take Nicodemus, for example:
John 3:1-2 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Yahushua by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from Yahuwah as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless Yahuwah is with him.”
Yahushua, a man attested to you by Yahuwah
Lest we dismiss Nicodemus’ observations by saying that he was unaware that the Nazareth rabbi was actually Yahuwah, let’s hear from someone anointed to speak on Yahuwah’s behalf. On the day of Pentecost, Peter, under the inspiration of the Spirit,13 began his sermon by saying:
Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Yahushua the Nazarene, a man attested to you by Yahuwah with miracles and wonders and signs which Yahuwah performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.
"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Yahushua the Nazarene, a man attested to you by Yahuwah with miracles and wonders and signs which Yahuwah performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know." (Acts 2:22)
|
If there was ever a time to reveal that Yahushua was Yahuwah incarnate, this would have been it! But that’s not what Peter preached, not on that day nor on any other day for that matter. Instead, Peter preached that the miracles performed by Yahuwah proved that He had made Yahushua the Nazarene, both Lord and Christ.14
Peter is, of course, consistent in his Yahuwah-given message. When he preached to Cornelius and his household about Christ, he offered this explanation:
Acts 10:38 “You know of Yahushua of Nazareth, how Yahuwah anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for Yahuwah was with Him.
Yahushua could perform wondrous works, not because he was Yahuwah, but because Yahuwah was with him.
Further evidence that the miracles served to prove Yahushua is the Messiah is found in an exchange between Yahushua and John the Baptist. King Herod had imprisoned the prophet, and his dire circumstance caused him to question if Yahushua was the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world:15
Matthew 11:2-6 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” 4 Yahushua answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
Those who believed in Yahushua viewed the miracles he performed as affirmation that he was the Christ, not Yahuwah.
|
In response to John the Baptist’s inquiry, Yahushua offered the miracles as proof that he was indeed the expected one, the Christ (Messiah).
Another scenario that helps us understand the purpose behind the miracles occurred during the Feast of Booths when the Jews were arguing as to whether or not Yahushua was the Christ:16
John 7:31 But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?”
Those who believed in Yahushua viewed the miracles he performed as affirmation that he was the Christ, not Yahuwah.
That you may believe Yahushua is the Christ
The passages we have reviewed are in stark contrast to post-Nicene orthodoxy, which views the miracles of Yahushua as proof that he is a deity. Ironically, the gospel of John, which many incorrectly claim was written to prove Yahushua is Yahuwah, was written so that we might believe Yahushua is the Christ, the Son of Yahuwah:
John 20:30-31 Therefore many other signs Yahushua also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Yahushua is the Christ, the Son of Yahuwah; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Do we believe that Yahuwah the Father worked through Yahushua to accomplish His miraculous works? Or do we wrongfully credit the miracle worker as the power behind the supernatural? Do we believe the miracles prove that Yahushua is Yahuwah as orthodoxy demands? Or that he is the Christ sent by Yahuwah as the Scriptures declare? What do you think?
1 Larry Richards, Every Miracle in the Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), p. 198.
2 For example, in Matthew’s gospel alone: Matthew 4:23-24; 8:16; 9:35; 12:15; 14:14, 35; 19:2; 21:14.
3John L. McKenzie, Dictionary of the Bible, (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1965), p. 578.
4Dr. Ron Rhodes, “Is Jesus God,” Answers In Genesis, December 5, 2014, accessed 10-30-19. https://answersingenesis.org/Jesus-christ/Jesus-is-God/is-Jesus-God/
5Herbert Lockyer, All the Miracles of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1961) p. 14.
6 Ibid, p. 25.
7 Bernard L. Ramm, An Evangelical Christology, (Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College Publishing, 1999), p. 45.
8 The Oxford Companion to the Bible, Bruce M. Metzger, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 519.
9 “agent,” Merriam Webster Dictionary, accessed 06-16-19, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agent
10 There a numerous spelling variations: shaliach, saliah, salah, etc.
11 James F. McGrath, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in its Jewish Context, (University of Illinois Press, 2009) p. 14.
12 Ken Collins, “What does it mean to do things in Jesus’ name?” Rev. Ken Collins’ Website, accessed 11-01-19, https://www.kencollins.com/answers/question-34.htm
13 Acts 2:1ff.
14 Acts 2:36.
15 John 1:29-34.
16 John 7:3-4, 11-ff
This is a non-WLC article. Source: https://oneGodworship.com/did-Jesus-miracles-prove-he-was-God/
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team