How can this be so.?

Question

Jesus Christ. Said if you follow me, not only will you do as I do, You will do greater. I for one do not know any one who has done greater. not as good a servant and firend as I would like to be of the most high, but I will go on trying by his grace. yours in J. C. p.w.l. and truly please do have a nice day. Thank you .

All thoses mentioned so far only did what they did because he Jesus Christ was in them and the Holy spirit.

Answer 1

I have not seen greater works than his either but if He said it, I believe it will happen...perhaps soon...

Answer 2

These words from Jesus are found in John's Gospel (14.12). Look ahead to 16.7 where Jesus tells the disciples that it is actually best that he leaves them - otherwise the Paraclete (the second Advocate, the helper, the Spirit) cannot come. In 14.16-17 Jesus tells the disciples that the Paraclete will be "with" and "in" them permanently. Jesus' promise that "anyone" who believes in him will do "even greater works" opens up the door to discovering what can happen when believers remember Jesus and are led deeper into his meaning because the Paraclete has come to stay. Jesus had to go to the Father so the Holy Spirit could come.

Tim is right (above). Those actions by the Apostles (in Acts) are greater ... at least subjectively speaking (remember Jesus healed the Centurion's servant from quite a distance - Matt. 8.5-13). But as John Wesley said, "...the converting one sinner is a greater work than all these."

And we're suppose to have joy about this too! The pain at his death "will turn to joy" with his resurrection. (15.11, 16.22). But to listen to some joyless, doom and gloom Christians and churches these days, I can see him just shaking his head. Thank you for a great question and your blessings. I hope your day is just as nice.

Grace & peace

> In response to your "additional details" ... We have a relationship with the living Christ (who is with the Father) but it is only the Spirit that is "in" us. So yes, it is through the Spirit that we grow as Christians ... this continuing process of conversion (moving on to perfection) which is the "greater work" that Christ was speaking of.

Answer 3

I believe that what you ask relates to the fact that Christ was/is Divine and so for all the Good He did it came from a place of Goodness that was always Good from the start. However as humans we are not Good and so to become truly Good, to become Illuminated, to do God's work on Earth and then to arise to Heaven is considered by Christ as a Path greater than what He acheived while He was on Earth, because what was once inpure becomes pure and that is 'greater' in His eyes than One that is Pure naturally doing what a Pure person does - this is why the sinner who comes to Christ is 'greater' to Christ than the person who has always been with Him.

Answer 4

It adds also a subphrase that its easy to miss. '..because I am going to the Father'. Possibly He was thinking He was just one person on earth as Son of Man. Once He had returned to the Father, perhaps He was thinking that all believers form His body on Earth, and have His authority if they are matured in their faith. So with many believers, practically, God will be able to do all manner of supernatural healings and miracles through them, in the years before Christ returns, so more wonderful things will be done. It doesnt look that good at the moment does it? There have been and are some wonderful healing ministries; rare in the UK I guess. The Church may come to move in all these wonderful signs and acts of compassion as the second coming of Christ draws closer; we don't have revelation for it now, possibly.

Answer 5

if there were greater things done by a follower, would it necessarily have to be published in all newspapers?
Jesus gave his life to save us and healed so many, what about the mother who gave her life to save her children from war, what about so many that we don't know of in war countries that hide people while putting their own life in danger? What about those who prefer living a poor life and work for others and help instead of getting a well paid job from his University degree and just not care about the lowly ones...
Do we know what happens in the whole europe, africa, islands... so many spots that represent numbers of people we can't even realise there are.
We don't know every person on earth and every situation on earth, the Lord does. And he sure knows a wide bunch of people who did so many great things but it's up to Him to judge if it's greater than what Jesus did, we don't... we don't know.

Answer 6

Peter did greater - just his shadow passing over people was enough for them to be healed.

Paul did greater - he sent out handkerchiefs to sick people and they were healed.

There were at least a half dozen people around the 1950's that had very large healing ministries (Kulman, Cole, Roberts, Alain) where 10's of thousands were healed during their ministries (greater in number).

Answer 7

Jesus brought salvation to this earth, But it was the Apostles that built upon the foundation, into further revelation in serving God, It is easy to believe in someone while they are alive, but once they are gone, Then The Holy Ghost has to lead us on. The things The Apostles did in the book of Acts will be repeated again right at the end-time.

Answer 8

If you take the statement as being made by an ordinary man then it makes sense. Turn him into a God and it looses all meaning. If he was just a man and a teacher. Then those who followed in his footsteps would do all that he did and more. Try it sometime.

Answer 9

Yawn - sorry, must've nodded off halfway through reading the question. You want to be of the most high? Build a bridge ... and get over it!