John 14:12-15 – Doing the works of Jesus and more

In John 14, the Lord began by assuring the disciples. He first dealt with their troubled hearts by calling on them to trust Him as they had trusted the Father. He assured them, and us as well, that He had gone back to the Father’s house which have many mansions. And He had gone there to prepare a place for us. And when that is done, He will return and take us there to be with Him forever. What a blessed thought! In the earlier verses, the Lord had also established that He and God the Father are inseparably one, and that His works affirm His deity. If the disciples had realized that, they would know where he would be going.

In the interim, Jesus made a promise to His disciples. In verse 12, He promised them saying, “Truly, truly, 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 the Father.” All of us would have considered it phenomenal if we can achieve all that Jesus had done. We just want to be His instrument in whatever way. But it blows our mind that He would grant us the ability to do works greater than those that He had already accomplished. But this verse says exactly that, and we will do the works of Jesus and much more.

What are the greater works? In talking about the greater works, Jesus was referring to the miraculous signs that He had appealed to as proofs of His divinity. It’s the work of healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, meeting the needs of the poor and needy, and proclaiming the message attested to by signs and wonders. Imagine we are to do all that and more. And how is this possible? Jesus had given a few keys here. The first is faith. In the promise He made, notice that He had placed a condition. It is in the five words, “…he who believes in Me (Jesus)”.  Faith in Jesus is needful, for “…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

The second key is found in verse 13; it is prayer. Alongside faith, we need to pray. So we read in verses 13-14, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” When we ask anything by faith, Jesus will answer our prayer. He will release the supernatural to meet the request we will make on the behalf of those we minister to. Of course it is fervent believing prayer offered in His Name, Jesus. However, take note that the whole purpose of doing the greater works is to glorify the Father through Jesus the Son. Faith and prayer are two critical keys. When these keys are there, Jesus would answer our prayer and meet the needs of those we pray for. In John 14:15, we see another key for accomplishing the greater works of Jesus. It is the foundation on which everything must be built upon. It is the love we have for Jesus. This is not just about a feeling. It is truly loving the Lord Jesus. Having a deep affection for Him that would lead us to do all that He has commanded. Being obedient to His commandment is the best test and demonstration of our love for Him. So Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

The promise of doing greater works of Jesus is ours. We can accomplish the supernatural He had promised. But we must do so with faith and prayer. In so doing, we must not forget to love Jesus by actively obeying all that we have discovered through the Word.