Bible Questions & Answers Archive 

 
John 14:12
By Dr. Max D. Younce
0002

 Question 

In John 14:12 the Bible says that, "greater works than these shall he do." What does this mean?

 Answer 

Let us look at the verse in its entirety:

"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."

This refers to the miracles and blessings the disciples experienced in the Book of Acts. Notice Hebrews 2:4:

"God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers (various) miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will."

Our Lord performed many miracles in the sight of thousands--many are recorded, but many are not. These were to convince Israel that He, Christ, was their Messiah. In John 1:11 it is recorded that, "He came unto his own (Israel), and his own received him not."

Israel crucified their own Messiah in spite of the miracles He and the apostles (Matthew 10) performed to authenticate His Deity. In John 20:30,31 we find that:

And many other signs (miracles) truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in the book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus (humanity) is the Christ (Deity, the Messiah), the Son of God; and that believing ye might leave life through his name.,,

The last miracle of Paul is recorded in Acts 28. Sometime around 57 A.D., after Pentecost, Paul declared in II Corinthians 12:7-10 that he could not heal himself as he had previously done in Acts 28:1 when bitten by a viper. The miracle signs had ceased even before the completion of God's word, the Book of Revelation, written in approximately 96 A.D.

The "greater works" spoken of in John 14:12 are the works Christ does through us, which are greater in the sense that we are mere human vessels while He was God Incarnate on earth. We cannot raise the dead, physically, today; BUT, we can present God's Word. God's Word, specifically the Gospel, received by faith will resurrect a sinner who is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) into a child of God (John 1:12). They are now spiritually alive and possessing everlasting life (John 3:16,17).