Jesus didn’t come to give us miracles . . . . He came to give us himself.
Michael Card
In class we’ve just been talking about John 11 where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the grave for four days. I still find it fascinating that everyone believed that Jesus could heal Lazarus from sickness, but nobody thought he could do anything about it once he had died. This is the miracle that directly led to Jesus’ crucifixion, and, once again, when it was his turn to die, no one expected him to rise again, despite the fact that he had told them many times and in many ways that he would do just that. But the main point Michael Card made in the sermon from which the above quote is taken is that, on the day of Jesus’ death, the greatest miracle of all was that there was no miracle. Jesus healed when he chose to heal, and did miracles when he chose to. Each one was meant to point to Jesus as the promised Messiah. Yet when the crowd mocked him and said — “He saved others. Let him save himself. Then we’ll believe.” — there was no miracle. No angels came to take him down from the cross and zap the ones who had done this evil to the Son of God. This day Jesus performed no miracle.
Michael Card wrote a song for his grandfather some years ago. At the beginning of the song, he attached a small clip of his grandfather, who was an old time gospel preacher by the sound of it, reading John 12:24. Imagine hearing that voice as you read Jesus’ words below:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and DIE, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.
I love listening to that old recording of an old preacher who knew just what Jesus knew and just where he would have put the emphasis when he spoke those words himself.
As Michael closed his message on today’s program, his song Immanuel was played. As we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, I close with those words:
A sign shall be given
A virgin will conceive
A human baby bearing
Undiminished deityThe glory of the nations
A light for all to see
Hope for all who will embrace
His warm realityImmanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
ImmanuelFor all those who live in the shadow of death
A glorious light has dawned
For all those who stumble in the darkness
Behold your light has comeImmanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
ImmanuelSo what will be your answer?
Will you hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son
But gave him for us allOn earth there is no power
There is no depth or height
That could ever separate us
From the love of God in ChristImmanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel
