7 Creation Miracles of Christ

The Jesus story as told by the Apostle John

No star. No angels. No shepherds. No wise men. No mention of Bethlehem or Mary and Joseph. No compelling story of the babe in a manger. No genealogy of Jesus to introduce His birth. No elaborate "Christmas Story" describing the events preceding and surrounding the birth of Jesus.

John the Apostle does none of these things when he begins to tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth.

Instead, he pens a unique introduction to the words and works of Jesus that reaches back to eternity past, echoing the introductory phrase in Genesis-"In the beginning."John establishes the nature and character of Jesus as he begins to unfold such familiar themes as life and light to describe the One who became flesh and lived among us.

Why are there four different gospels?…How different are they? …Do they contradict one another? …Why did God inspire four accounts of Jesus' story?

Although all four gospels record the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, each is distinct, written from the author's own perspective. Each author is writing to a specific audience for a specific purpose. …From the pages of each gospel emerge a unique, but complementary, portrait of Jesus Christ.

Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah to his Jewish audience.

Mark presents a call to discipleship where Jesus is Lord desiring a fruitful, right relationship and proper worship from His people.

Luke emphasizes Jesus as teacher and seeks to make the Gentiles certain of the things that Jesus has taught.

John's purpose in writing is clearly defined by John himself…Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the source of eternal life.

John 20:30-31The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

John begins by stating and developing the "thesis" that he will defend as he tells Jesus' story. He describes the nature and character of Jesus, boldly declaring who this Person is. And while he recounts the earthly ministry of Jesus, John does not focus on His humanity, as the other gospel writers do, but rather on His deity.

John 1:1-7,12,14In the beginning the Word already existed.The Word was with God,and the Word was God. 2He existed in the beginning with God. …3God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. 6God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony├ö├ç┬¬├ö├ç┬¬├ö├ç┬¬12But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.├ö├ç┬¬├ö├ç┬¬..14So the Word became humanand made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.

John systematically builds a clear and compelling case for the nature and character of Jesus in the first chapter of the gospel of John.

Rather than giving a detailed account of the birth of Jesus, John, in his own style, writes an explicit description of who Jesus is. Did you notice, too, that John actually does include the essence of the Christmas story in his introduction?

Jesus, the Creator, stooped to enter His creation. In the first twelve chapters of John's gospel, we read the story of Jesus' earthly ministry, but with a primary focus on His deity and the reason why Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us.

The power and purposes of Jesus the Creator become evident as John describes His earthly ministry, particularly as he details the many miracles Jesus performed. John himself declared…John 21:25"There are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written".

Just how many miracles did Jesus perform while on earth? So many that no one but God knows. However, John chose to record just seven miracles to make his case for Jesus, the Son of God.

John's selection of these miracles is intentional. To validate the message of Jesus, John purposefully and strategically records (under inspiration of the Holy Spirit) these seven specific "signs" or miracles. They are unique in emphasis and in message.

And these are creationmiracles-ex nihilo ("from nothing") miracles-extraordinary supernatural demonstrations that validate Jesus' role as Creator. They give testimony to Jesus' identity as:…the Son of God, …the Messiah, …the source of eternal life, …the Saviorand…the Creator…John 1:1-3In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God,…and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him..

All seven of these supernatural creation events-creating something from nothing-were accomplished merely by the thought or command of the Creator.

John records these specific creation miracles so we could witness the divine nature of our Lord-the deity of Jesus, as Creator and Savior.

John 20:31But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name..

John 2:11This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

John 2:23Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.

John 3:2After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. "Rabbi," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you."

John4:48, 53-5448Jesus asked, "Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?".53Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." And he and his entire household believed in Jesus.54This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea.

John 6:2, 14;2A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick├ö├ç┬¬├ö├ç┬¬14When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, "Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!"(Deut 18:15, 18; Moses continued, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him├ö├ç┬¬├ö├ç┬¬will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.…Mal 4:5-6."Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.")

John 7:31 Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. "After all," they said, "would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?"

John 11:47-48Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council (Greek the Sanhedrin).together. "What are we going to do?" they asked each other. "This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple(Greek reads our place) and our nation

John 12:11, 18. 11or it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them(Or had deserted their traditions Greek reads had deserted.) and believed in Jesus..18That was the reason so many went out to meet him-because they had heard about this miraculous sign.

The 7 Creation Miracles of Christ will present how each creation miracle highlighted in John's gospel demonstrates Jesus' authority over all of creation (the physical, chemical, material, and natural universe)…His power over life and death as the Son of God, and the spiritual truths taught through His encounter with human need that can and should impact our lives today.