Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (Jn 14:12, NIV). What a big statement! We will do greater things!
“Things” is translated from ἔργα (erga): works, deeds, miracles, labor in/by the Spirit. It includes preaching the gospel and showing compassion motivated by love for others.
At the end of his gospel, after testifying to all the things Jesus did, John wrote, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (Jn 21:25). So in chapter 14, we have Jesus saying we would do greater things than He did. Then in chapter 21, John is saying that Jesus did so many things there is not enough room for all books to contain all the things.
How exactly are we supposed to do all these greater things?
By the power of the Holy Spirit in us! The Holy Spirit is God. He wants to dwell in us. He wants to come and settle down in our hearts, permanently making our heart His home… in a really, really, really big way.
We need to be fully immersed in the Spirit. This is what baptism is, full immersion in Spirit. Every believer needs this. Jesus wants us to be doing the ministry He did. But we cannot unless we are baptized and walking in power of the Spirit, led and guided everyday by the Spirit.
Real spiritual power, all the power that Jesus Himself had while He walked the earth as man, is made available to the believer who is baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Every time Jesus ministered to others, every miracle, the multiplying of food, the calming of storms, all of His ministry was done through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did all this as a man. He did not do it as God. He never ceased to be God. He was God in human flesh but never flexed His divinity. He never pushed the divinity button. Jesus did everything as a man, like us, to show us how to live fully-filled and led by the Holy Spirit.
If you haven’t yet read Acts 2, go ahead and do it today. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the topic these next few days.
