How Did He Do That? (Miracles)

[Gary Antion] Wow! It blew out this thing. It was wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for all the practice. Thank you for all the time that you spent in preparation. And thank you to all the people who had set it up and for being so professional the way it was done. Thank you to Katherine, who led it, and it takes a lot of practice to bring that many cast of thousands together. And we really appreciate that.

So it's nice to see you. Happy Sabbath to all of you. It's a great Sabbath day. I have a handout. I think some of you got it coming in. Some of you might still want to get some. I don't know if they're back there. I asked them to put some back there. They might be at the door going out. It just gives you a summary of some of this message that I'm going to give today, because obviously I'm not going to be able to go through every detail. But you'll see as we go through it.

So, good afternoon.

Have you ever seen a magician's trick? I can tell you in Newfoundland, Canada, they sell out when there's a magician in one of the theatres. People are going to see that which they can't understand, that which seems mysterious, that which seems marvelous, that which seems too good to be true. Maybe they pull a dove from a handkerchief. Maybe they make something disappear. Maybe they plunge a sword into a box with a lady curled up inside. Crowds are amazed and marvel at such tricks and happenings.

There are explanations for most of these. Sleight of hand, mirrors, advanced prep of containers that are deeper than they actually look. Yet many are fascinated by happenings that are not easily explained or understood. The audience may even think when they see it—and I've seen Siegfried and Roy with their Siberian tigers in Las Vegas—and it is a pretty spectacular show. All of a sudden you put a band in this thing, spin it around, and there's a tiger in there. It's pretty impressive. It's fascinating.

But I'll tell you, there's something much more fascinating than that: a miracle from God. A miracle from God. Our God is an awesome God. I can give you that scripture. That's found in Psalms 47:2. And also in Psalms 118:23, He does marvelous things. And when you read the word marvelous, know that there are 44 times in the Bible that marvelous is used—and mostly after Jesus Christ or God did a miracle. Many times they were marveled at this, and I'll share some of those with you as I go through it.

So our God has done many more miracles than magicians. Yet much of what He has done since creation is just observed without thinking. And this is the title of the sermon: How did He do that? How did He do that?

Let's check out some of those miracles and think, how did He do that? And it will come to what I call the greatest miracle of all, and that'll be at the end. But our God has done so many things. So let's check them out, and we can have a greater appreciation of Jesus Christ and a greater appreciation of God our Father as we look at those and see what they have done and ask ourselves, how did He—or They—do that?

Let's begin with creation. Genesis 1:1–5. I'll read this if you want to turn in your Bible. It's a simple stating of the beginning of the world, yet such a mammoth miracle, and everything we see out here was made from that which you cannot see. Everything you see—nothing visible. God took what was invisible—I'm sure He knows what to do, and He did—and He made the world. And He took dirt, and He made you and me.

But He made you and me in a very special way, as we will see. So Genesis 1:1–5, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." He just kind of stated it out there—heavens and the earth, stars, sun, moon, astral bodies, comets, planets—and they all move in harmony. Except once in a while one of the comets breaks loose, or one of the asteroids breaks loose and comes down and burns out usually before it gets to the earth. God made it all.

And it's fascinating to read. You read through the Psalms, you see all kinds of things God did, all kinds of major events. But in the New Testament you see many of the things that Jesus Christ did. And of course, Jesus Christ is God—was God when He walked, God in the flesh, and He is God. And together They made the heavens and the earth.

“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). God's Spirit is that energizing force from God. It's part of Him coming forth to us. No, it's not an individual person, but it emanates from Him. It's what is God sharing. It is the power, the might, the majesty, the strength. It gives all kinds of things like the mind of Christ to us. It gives you understanding. God's Spirit is so awesome.

And it was hovering—or brooding—over the waters. Why? Well, let's get this done. God knew what He was going to do. God's not a haphazard planner. Let's try it. Oh, that didn't work. Let's try this. Well, that didn't work. God knows what He's doing, but sometimes He doesn't know the result of what He's doing.

Didn't He make man in His image? In the image of God, He made them male and female. And what did they become? Because He made them subject to vanity. A lot of the traits that we have as human beings that stir us and inspire us can also become bad, difficult, if they're exaggerated and not used in the right way.

For instance, a little baby's crying. What's disturbing? My sleep. Why don't you go to sleep? Get in bed. Throw a bed in bed. You need to learn how to calm down. Is it possible that baby's wet? Is it possible that baby's hungry? They can't tell you. Is it possible that baby just says, Please pick me up and hug me? Is it possible? Of course it is. Can't say.

So if that baby grows up without anybody having to temper it, that baby becomes very selfish. Everything that baby wants, he gets. What? Because he did before. Because nobody requires—okay, give him his way. So yes, you want to take care of them. Yes, you want to feed them. Yes, you want to tune into them as much as you can without them saying anything.

But that baby will grow up. And if he's not saying, Now look, and this is nice that you want to do this, but you've got to think about others. Oh, I know you want that. But what about others?—you teach them. You train them to say Thank you. Not, I deserve that. Give me that. I deserve that. No, that's not what we do. That's not what we train our children to be.

We don't want them to grow up to be selfish. We don't want them to grow up—and selfish definition isn't just wanting something yourself. It's always wanting something yourself. You put yourself ahead of everybody.

So He says in verse 3, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). Well, the first thing God said to do: Let there be light. How beautiful is light. It lights the world that God has that sun set up for us—just the right distance so it doesn't scorch us, and just far enough away that it still heats the earth so we don't freeze to death.

God did it. He made it. He knows what He's doing. He knew what He was doing. "God saw the light, that it was good" (Genesis 1:4). And remember, when Jesus Christ came into the world, He not only brought physical light—which He didn’t drink—but He brought spiritual light. He came into the world. He was the light of the world, and they did not even like Him. They did not even understand Him. They didn’t want to. He appeared to His very own.

I can tell you, Syrian or Arabic peoples are not very prominent in my life around, except my old family. But when I know of a Syrian in the church, that’s a special connection. There’s somebody there. I want to give them a little more credit. They’re Syrian. Give them a little more attention. They’re like me. But His people, when He came into the world, they rejected Him, and He was God in the flesh.

So you say, well, why are you giving us this sermon, Mr. Antion? Because I want us to appreciate Jesus Christ and God the Father. I want us to say, How did They do that? Wait till we see some of the other miracles.

Let’s finish. "God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness" (Genesis 1:4). Darkness and light are just opposite. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day" (Genesis 1:5). That’s how God counted days. He began with the beginning of another day—began at sunset, at the ending of one day, beginning of another—and all the way through to the next sunset. That’s why He said, “from even to even shall you keep your Sabbaths” (Leviticus 23:32).

So then followed the sky, heaven, oceans, earth, vegetation, heavenly lights—stars, planets, sun, moons—the sea, the oceans, the water, creatures, birds, creeping things, animals, and humans. Humans—male and female—made in the image of God, with food for them in nature. Told them what they could eat. And finally, the blessing of the Sabbath.

I’ve planted gardens. Helped my dad. I’m not a great gardener, but I have done that, because my dad was a good gardener. I planted it. He said, How does that grow? You just put a little seed in the ground. A few days later, you have this plant growing up. A few weeks, it’s growing up. You watch it. I get on—we eat stuff, keep the slugs away and all that. Pretty soon, you have the plant growing. Pretty soon, you have some produce from that plant.

How does that happen? How did He do that? I just put it in dirt. That dirt contains some things, too—some good properties and minerals for it to grow. How did that happen?

I remember one minister told me, the one thing he wanted to ask God—if he makes it into His Kingdom—is How does a weed grow? How come a weed can grow in my driveway? I didn’t plant it there. I didn’t put any fertilizer. There’s a weed growing in your driveway, in between the cracks. How did that do that? That’s what he wanted to know. How come?

Of course, I want to know why He made mosquitoes in the first place. That’s my question.

But the blessing—finally after He made humankind—what did He do? The blessing of the Sabbath. Why is the Sabbath day important? God rested on that day. He put His very presence. Did He need to rest? God never gets weary. He put His presence in that day. That was a blessing that He gave to man—to humankind. He gave it to them as a blessing for them to keep. And what a blessing it is to be able to put away the previous week’s issues, the previous week’s work, and think about God and His ways. Study. Relax. Rest. It’s a rest day, too. Fellowship. It’s a nice day for fellowshipping. It’s a nice day for eating a nice meal. That’s wonderful. He made it for you and me.

A lot of people wish they could take a day just to unwind. You can’t. There’s this rat race in the world. You’ve got to get out and do everything. You’ve got to get that done. You can’t take a day off. You can’t possibly let up. Keep the foot on the accelerator the whole time.

John 1. Oh, by the way, when God looked at the earth, He said, “Replenish it.” Told Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” He looked and saw—it was good. All that was good, God saw. All. And God said the creation was very good. Everything He made, He looked back and said, Wow, it’s good. It’s very good.

I see a lot of goodness in the world. No, it doesn’t come because of man, but it’s there. God made it. I wonder at all the birds that fly onto our deck. I wonder at the squirrels that I have to keep chasing away because they don’t give up for anything, and they play games with me, thinking I don’t know they’re up in that tree trying to blend in with it. They come back to steal the birds’ food where they can get to it. And I put some out so that the larger birds can get to the food—because if I put it in the feeder, the large birds don’t fit on it—because I care. I’m trying to help God. God says He feeds them. He doesn’t need me, but I’m trying to help Him where I can.

John 1:1–4. The Word who became Jesus Christ as a human was involved in every step of the creation. He was with the Father. Remember when He made humankind? He said, “Let Us”—“Let Us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26). And in John 1:1, He talked about the Word: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And “Not anything that was made was made without Him” (John 1:3).

The Word was involved in every step of creation—John 1:1–4.

But Hebrews—I’m going to read that one—Hebrews 11:1–3, creation was not made of visible substances, anything we could see. And here’s what we read:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:1–3).

You have to believe. You didn’t see God make it. You didn’t see Him take this and this and make that. I didn’t either. So humankind tries to figure out—How did He make that? Where did that come into? Oh, it just evolved. Just evolved. Archerfish just evolved. How did they learn to shoot their prey by spitting at it—and being accurate at that, too?

Did they just—How did they just happen to do that? Yes? No. It had to be programmed into it.

How do birds know to hover over their little ones in the wintertime when snow is falling down or rains on them? And they—big wings—and they had these—we saw one of owls on my Facebook picture. Somebody posted that. And here was a bird hovered over.

How do they know to do that? Who taught them? Take care of those owlets.

God programmed it. How do they know how to do that? God made them. God made them that way. He said, "For by it [faith] the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:2–3, NKJV).

So God made the sun, moon, planets, stars, fish, animals, vegetation, and humans. But He made the humans in His image. Why did He do that? Did He just run out? Boy, I don't know what to design now. I've designed all these things. I don't know—all these animals—I don't know what to do. Oh, I look in the water. He sees Himself. I know. I didn't make anything that looked like Me, so I'll make humans. He didn't do that. He knew. He had a plan, and He had a purpose to make us look like Him—now—as human beings. Not in the same form, but in the same shape, the same outline. You want to know what God looks like? Jesus Christ said, you want to know what the Father’s like? Look at Me. Have I been with you so long that you don’t know the Father? Because He said, show us the Father—it’ll be good for us. Good enough. And we can see. He said, you see Me, you’ve seen the Father (John 14:8–9). Not only His physical shape—and of course, God is beaming and bright, and He could even knock you down if He showed you His sight—showed Himself as He is.

Remember when Moses asked to see the God of the Old Testament? I believe it was Jesus Christ. He said, show me Your presence, and it’ll be good for me. He said, okay Moses—for you, special. You go stand over there behind that rock, and when I come past, I’ll put My hand over your eyes, because you cannot look on Me and live. Because that would be a good shot of sunshine right in his face, that close. So He walked past—the Lord God walked past—put His hand over His eyes as He was coming past him, and turned. Moses was able to see the hind part of God as He walked past.

Who wrestled with Jacob? Who wrestled with him? The God of the Old Testament? Okay, we have a wrestling match. I don’t know if that’s God’s favorite sport or not, but He knew how to hold. He knew how to hold. But Jacob was a feisty man. He held on to Him. And then the Lord God said to him—the God of the Old Testament—let Me go now. It’s getting late. He said, not unless You bless me. And He had even tried to put his hip out of joint or whatever, and touched it in such a way that He disjointed him. And Jacob would still not give up—not until You bless me. And then God said, you’re going to be a father of many nations. He changed his name to Israel—from Jacob.

So God is a great, awesome God. Some additional examples—I’ve given you the handout—and I’ll rapidly go through these. And my only impression, try to leave an impression on your mind of how great God is, how great God and Jesus Christ are. Because I’ll bring it down to the greatest miracle. So I’m going to really zip through these.

Isaac was miraculously born to Abraham, who was aged 100, and Sarah, 90. You remember they both laughed. We’re going to have a child? And God said, name him Laughter. When he’s born, call him Laughter, because every time you see him and call for him—hey Laughter!—you’ll remember that you laughed at Me saying I would give you a child. He was 90. Abraham was 100. You can check those in Genesis 17 and 18.

The Red Sea. How do you do that? How do you roll back water and make it dry ground after it’s been soaking there for how long? Roll it back—the Israelites could walk through it. When the enemy came—close it up. How do you do that? If you’ve ever been to Universal Studios out in California, they can take you through something—this little tour—and they actually roll back the water. You go through it, you’re going in a tram or whatever they take you through. But it’s not the Red Sea. Not deep enough to kill the chariot riders, the chariot drivers, and all the swordsmen and spearmen that were chasing after Israel. And God said they will all die in the sea.

Egyptian plagues. Turning water to blood—just at the stroke of that cane he had, or stick that he had—walking stick—touch the water, and all of a sudden it becomes blood. How do you do that? God did. Darkness over the land—but not over Israel. How do you cause darkness all over Egypt but preserve the light for Israel?

Clothes and sandals lasted 40 years in the wilderness. Wouldn’t you like that? I wouldn’t want it to be out of style by the time... You’re walking around 40 years later in those baggy pants—what’s wrong with you? Sandals—they’re wearing out! And yet they didn’t wear out. Forty years! How do you do that?

What I want to focus on just for a little bit is to show you how God is tender. He’s strong but tender. He’s strong but merciful. He’s powerful, but not to use it in a wrong way.

A constant supply of oil for a widowed wife of a prophet—Elisha in his day. And Elisha grants a Shunammite woman her wish to have a child. So two of them. When the child died some years later, he brings the child back to life for her.

Both examples are in 2 Kings 4:1–7. "A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, 'Your servant my husband is dead. And you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves'" (2 Kings 4:1). So they could work as indentured servants to pay off the debt. How would you like to be faced with that?

Elisha takes mercy on them. Elisha said, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" She replied, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil." And he said, hmm. Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few" (2 Kings 4:2–3). Which means: gather a lot.

Now it came to pass—they went out and did that. He said, "And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones." So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out (2 Kings 4:4–5). Olive oil was precious. And he said, just keep pouring. And when it runs out, then it’ll stop.

Now it came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another vessel." So the oil ceased (2 Kings 4:6). There were no more vessels to put it in. That ran out. How does He do that? From a jar of oil to fill all these vessels. Enough—notice—he said to her, "There is not another vessel." So the oil ceased.

Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest" (2 Kings 4:7). He solved the problem. Well, God solved the problem. But he was the instrument involved. And God does use instruments.

Elisha’s time—chapter 5, that was chapter 4. Chapter 5, in Elisha’s time, Naaman the Syrian was a wonderful captain of the Syrian army. Yes, Syrians. But he was a wonderful captain. And Naaman had this disease of leprosy. So his man said, we’ve heard there’s a prophet over there who could probably take care of you and help you. Oh, I won’t do that. And so they finally convinced him to go. So he came. He said, okay, Naaman, now what I want you to do is "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean" (2 Kings 5:10).

What? The Jordan River? We’ve got better rivers in Syria than that! And he wouldn’t do it. So he went off, stormed away in a huff. His servant said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash and be clean'" (2 Kings 5:13)? Please, just do what he says. Do what he says. We know he’s got power that he gets from God. Do it, please.

So he came and did it. And he dipped himself as he was asked to do. "So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean" (2 Kings 5:14). His leprosy was gone. How does that happen? How does that do that?

And then in 2 Kings 6—that was 2 Kings 5—Elisha had a lot of miracles. He makes a borrowed axe head float. The men had talked to Elisha and said, we need to expand where we are. We need to have a little more community somewhere, and we want to go build them. So they said, we’ll get on and start cutting down the trees for the lumber to build these places, these houses, or whatever. And so he said, okay.

So they went down. "So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, 'Alas, master! For it was borrowed!'" (2 Kings 6:4–5). It came off the handle. It came off and fell into the water.

"So the man of God said, 'Where did it fall?' And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. Therefore he said, 'Pick it up for yourself.' So he reached out his hand and took it" (2 Kings 6:6–7).

That’s not all. How did he do that? Try throwing wood into the water—a twig—see if it can cause anything else to float, especially if it’s heavier than water. See if it’s going to come up. It doesn’t do it. There’s a God in heaven who can and does do great things.

What about the dead person who touched Elisha’s bones? By mistake they were carrying this man. Elisha was dead and had a sepulcher there. And so this other man—some other man died. They were going to bury him. They took these bones—his bones—or took, not his bones, the dead man, and they saw the opposing armies coming. And they were afraid of getting apprehended, so they quickly put that dead man’s body into the sepulcher where Elisha’s bones were. And that man came out alive.

One of the two resurrections I know of in the Old Testament. Elisha was there with it. Jesus Christ raised three in the New Testament. He did three. Peter did one. Paul did one. Were instrumental. We know Jesus did it, but God had to do the others. He raised the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue leader—that’s in Luke 8. And the only son of a widow—another one—the only son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7. And Lazarus, His friend, in John 11.

Paul raised Eutychus, who fell when Paul preached beyond midnight in Acts 20. So Eutychus, I guess, was a new person. And remember—what’s the circumstance? These people crowded in to hear Paul speaking, and Paul’s preaching away, and preaching away. And it goes beyond midnight in this man is sitting. Now you have to get a picture. What’s the room like? Probably not a lot of fresh air. What’s the room like? Probably not very bright. Why? Because what did they have to light it with? Lanterns or torches. So this guy is sitting up there, Paul’s going on and on, and he falls from the third level and kills himself. Dies. And Paul went, came to him, and raised him. Raised him from the dead. God’s power. Men don’t have power to make life work. God does.

And then in Acts, Peter—one of the leading apostles, one of the ones of the big three that Jesus always took with Him—Peter in Acts 9 came and raised Dorcas from her deathbed. After all the people were there, gathered, crying, oh look, she made this sweater for me. She made these woolen socks for me. She knitted this for me. She took care of this for me. She did that. Oh—put them out of the room. They’re all crying. Raised her up. Got up. Stood up. Took her in. Presented her to the people alive. How did he do that?

I’ll tell you, I’ve thought sometimes at anointing, funerals, or whatever—one day, somebody’s going to be in that funeral or that casket. I hear this knocking sound when I’m doing the funeral for them. And God can do anything. And I don’t pray that they would be resurrected at that moment. God can do anything. God can and does do anything.

Remember what He said when Sarah said, can You give somebody at 90 years old a child? He said, "Is anything too hard for the Eternal?" (Genesis 18:14). Is there anything? God can do the impossible.

Remember about the rich man and so on? He said, "With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). Because God does not have the same limitations that we do.

Christ discussed the issues of the day with the doctors of the law—twelve or thirteen years old. You know what it says about it? They were amazed at His understanding and answers. Twelve or thirteen years old. Could you as a twelve or thirteen-year-old sit among doctors of the law who studied these things—you knew all the technical knowledge and all of the world? Could you do that? Probably not. But Jesus did because He was God in the flesh. He knew who His Father was.

And when He was apprehended by His parents once—He had stayed behind to do that, to be in the temple—they found Him. They said, we worried about You. He said, why did you worry? Why didn’t you know I’d be about My Father’s business? Why’d you worry? Look at the temple. That’s where My Father’s house is. This is My Father’s house.

How about when Jesus Christ and Peter walk on water? Jesus lagged behind, let them get on the boat and start going across the sea. And He’s finished His prayer—getting close to God. Then He comes down to the table. Why take a boat? Why swim? Why get My clothes wet? I’ll just walk on the water. So Jesus walks on the water, and they’re out there rowing away. And what happens? What happens? They see this image coming across the water at night. Probably maybe some mist going up. Who knows? And they were afraid.

And they said, who is this? Jesus said, I think it’s the Lord. Who is this? Jesus asked. Okay, so Peter said, if it’s You, Lord, let me come and do that. So He said, okay, come on. So Peter jumps on. What would it be like to jump out on water? No skis underneath. No water skis. Just jump on. And there you are. And you start walking to Him. And when he walked to Him, he began to look. And I was—why am I doing this? I’ve never skydived, but if I were ever thrown out of the plane with a parachute on, I’d be saying, why did I do this?

Walking on water. And He grabbed his hand. “Why did you fear, O you of little faith?” He picked him up, helped him up, pulled his hand, and they went back to the boat.

How about when Jesus Christ turned 120 gallons of water into the equivalent of 100 bottles of wine—100 bottles of wine He made at a wedding supper in John 2—because they said, we’re running out of wine. And then Mary, His mother, said, Jesus, could You help? Okay, go bring these water pots full of water. Put them all over here. He blessed it. Out came wine. And they tasted the wine—mmm. Most people serve the best wine first because their palates then get adapted to it, and then they think the next batch, well, not so good, but they don’t discern the difference because their tongue is already salivating from the first one. He said, boy, people don’t keep the good wine for the end. He made good wine! 120 gallons of water He turned into 100 bottles—like wine bottles—of wine. How’d He do that?

What about the miracle of tongues? That’s Acts 2:7–12. When they all spoke, and the people in the audience all heard them speak in their own language. In some cases, it even said dialect. So if it was talking to somebody from Georgia, it’d been speaking American Southern—Y’all come. No, it’s text. Whatever. Why? Why could they hear that? How could I speak to you, and each of you hears me in your native tongue if you were all in different languages? There were a lot of them there at Pentecost in different languages. How? How did that happen? God can make it happen.

How about feeding 5,000? And that’s in Acts 2. How about feeding 5,000 and then 4,000 men, plus women and children—possibly 10,000 and 8,000 or more—out of a few loaves of bread. Five loaves and two fish one time, and seven loaves and a few fish. Both found in Matthew 14 and 15. How do you just take this bread and just keep spreading it? And not only did they all eat to the full, but they gathered several baskets full of leftover. How can our God do all these things and Jesus Christ do all these things? They’ve got power.

After His resurrection, Jesus goes to visit His disciples. Why go by the door? He just walked through the wall. He didn’t do any destruction. He just walked through the wall. You can read that in John 20. And in John 20:30, we read, “He did many other deeds”—that it would take libraries, I put it in my term, libraries—to hold that information of all Jesus Christ did. And what I’ve just read to you isn’t even everything. I could have read to you a lot of others.

In John 14:12, Jesus said to His disciples, “You will do even greater works than these.” Could you imagine what the Apostle Paul would have done if he were able to use the internet? Can you imagine what the Apostle Paul would have done if he were able to use Zoom? Can you imagine what the Apostle Paul could have done if he could have flown on a 747 or a faster jet—SST—that they used to have, they’re out of service now? As he went from place to place? Or a helicopter? Could you imagine how much he did, instead of having to walk from place to place? Or go by ocean or sea or the Mediterranean Sea?

“You’ll do greater works.” In many ways, we can reach the whole world with His message without having to go to the whole world. “You’ll do greater works than these.” He said, “Because I’ll be there. I’ll be there to help you.” And God’s the head of the Church. He’s the one who guides us and leads us and takes care of us.

2 Peter 1:19–21. What about the miracle of having this Bible? Do you know how many people died so that we could have a Bible? And I’ll tell you one story. And I’ve got the book. I guess I didn’t bring it up. I have it over there. But it’s called The Divine Origin of the Bible. I found it in a library where I was going to school before. It was on a book sale. Fifty cents. The Divine Origin of the Bible, written by R.A. Torrey—T-O-R-R-E-Y—who was a follower of Moody, D.L. Moody, the Moody Institute, where they created these films that honor and glorify God.

The Divine Origin of the Bible. I’ve got the quote here, so I don’t need it. That’s what it is. I can show it to you. I bought this back in 1958 or 1959 before I went to Ambassador College. Fifty cents. That’s what he marketed it for—even in the front of it—it was fifty cents. That’s how much he spent for it. What a wealth of information. What a wealth of information is in here.

I’m just going to share one thing with you on this—but share the other thing, and I will read the other one to you. You know what he says? The Bible withstood all the sciences and philosophers who wanted to get rid of the Bible. All their attacks on it. And finally, the Roman Empire under Diocletian—one of the meanest, toughest, strongest emperors up till that time—made a decree that if you have a Bible, you need to turn it in. You need to turn it in and we’ll take it away from you.

And then when that didn’t seem to work, he said, anybody found with a Bible or a portion thereof would be put to death. And the Bible beat the bite of the Roman Empire. What you have on your lap—and you know that certain people who did translations into English were put to death, burned at the stake—because they valued God’s Word.

What about this Bible? What is it like? Well, first of all, we know that holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). God inspired the Scriptures. He let each man have his own personality. There are different personalities used as you translate. You can read them. They’re different in the way they present things. James is different from Peter. Peter is different from Paul. They all are different. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. But you know the one thing they don’t do? They don’t differ in purpose and plan. No, they do not.

Let me read this to you—excerpts on pages 24 and 25. It has been said that the Bible is not merely a book, but literature. This is true.

Marvelously composite literature it is. And they're quoting from page 24 and 25 on The Divine Origin of the Bible by R.A. Torrey. There are 66 books composed by about 40 different authors in three distinct languages—preserved in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic—exhibiting many styles of literary composition: epic poetry, lyric poetry, erotic poetry, elegy, which is sadness, dirge, really being down, didactic poetry, rhapsody, prose, history, prophecy, vision, allegory, parable, and proverb.

These books extend over a period of 1,500 years. Fifteen hundred years over that period of time, written by 40 different men who never met each other—most cases did not even know each other. And yet, you know what he says? They wrote with such singular unity. He said they were composed in lands far remote from one another. The writers lived under very differing forms of civil government and were from every class of society—from the king upon his throne, down to the shepherd, the fisherman, the herdsman, the cheap politician, and the prisoner in his cell. A prisoner wrote part of this.

He said now, in such a conglomerate literature as that, what would we naturally expect? The widest diversity, disagreement, and contradiction. He said, in point of fact, what do we find? The most singular harmony and unity from the first verse of the first book to the last verse of the last book. Now, here is the fact clamoring to be accounted for. How is it to be accounted for rationally and fairly, except on the ground that at the back of the human authors was the all-governing, superintending mind of God?

And the more one studies, the more evident it becomes that this superintendence of God extended down to the phrases, words, and minutest shadings of meanings. The character, he says in summarizing, of this unity is significant. The character of this unity. He talks about one of the chapters as the difficulties of the Bible. He covers the three days and three nights exactly as we would do it. Three days and three nights. Not just three days, not just parts of three days. Three days and three nights, he said He was put in the grave on Wednesday, and He was resurrected Saturday night—three days and three nights later.

Isn’t that amazing? And he said he gives a list of why people think the way they do and criticize the Bible and how these higher critics do. And by the way, he was a graduate of the Yale Divinity School. He was a graduate of the University of Yale when they were still religious—not now, but when he was still religious. And he was a pastor of churches in various parts of the world. Well known. Lectured all over the world, especially talking about the greatness and goodness of God and the authority of the Bible.

You know what he said? It’s amazing—if you have difficulties in the Bible—it’s amazing how they sort themselves out when one looks at them on his knees. When one looks at them on his knees. It’s amazing that people can have that kind of understanding and teach that. And I’ve used that. I’ve sometimes given it to students who come in and say, do you believe the Bible? Do you have any reason to believe? Here’s some. He gives all these different proofs—the unity of it—and how these men all spoke with such unified... there are about seven of them that he gives—really good ones.

So again, God gave us the Bible to guide us. And He inspired every word as 2 Timothy 3:16–17 says: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." To help you walk in the way that we need to go.

But the greatest miracle of all is found in Hebrews 2:9–10. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory..."

Many sons to glory. And the word there is sons, but sons sometimes is used as descendants. That’s not children. There are other ones that say children of God. And also in 2 Corinthians 6:18, He says, “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.

Because a lot of women have a hard time figuring out, okay, I’ve been a woman all my life, and I’m going to be a boy—a man—I mean, a son of God? You’re going to be a child of God. Children of God. God made them male and female. He didn’t make them all males. Wouldn’t that be a dull world, guys?

I went to college real quickly where it was all male. The school I went to my first year—well, it was an all-male school. Civil engineering was there. Amen! That is awful. That is awful. You don’t realize how much you brighten up the life—how much better guys will dress and smell when they know there’s going to be a female in the room. God made them male and female. I don’t think you practice all your life... now there’s a queen—if she’s made a queen—and I’m only a prince, my wife becomes a queen in the Kingdom and I’m a prince. Yeah, she could tell me where to go if she wants to.

As spirit beings in the family of God, we will have the love of God. We will have the care of God. We aren’t going to remember things and put people down because we remember what that husband did to you, or how he treated you. I don’t get you down. I’m over you. Because many women do pray a lot. Many women do study a lot. And many men don’t. It’s not going to be because you’re the head of the home. You’ve got to have character, too. The greatest miracle—He’s going to make us children of God.

Psalms 139:13–14. "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." God made human beings wonderful. Fearfully and wonderfully made.

Spiritually speaking, God had to open our minds to understand. Remember, a lot of the people couldn’t understand. He said, they can hear, but they don’t understand. They can see, but not perceive. But I can do that for you. He leads us to repentance. He washes us thoroughly from our sins. He makes us righteous with the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit to make us a new person in Christ—having had the old one buried in baptism—and to come up to walk in newness of life in a new covenant relationship with Christ, with the anticipation of being a part of that new covenant that’s going to be extended to all the world. First with Israel, I believe, and secondly to the whole world.

As God does it. He talks about Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). In Romans 8, he talks about we’re carnally minded. But chapter 8 and verse 7 of Romans 8: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." How does God take someone who’s anti-Him and make them love Him, and make them change, and make them repent, and make them understand that the law is important—but that Christ is important, too? And the only way you walk in the law—stay in the paths of righteousness—is to stay in Jesus Christ. Walk in His ways. Glorify and honor Him.

Christians are called children of God in 1 John 3:1–2. And God says in Philippians 1:6—Paul said—“God will be with you.” What is the promise in Matthew 28? God wants you in His Kingdom. You have to work pretty hard not to be there. But you still have to do something. You don’t get on a tram and ride into the Kingdom because it’s headed for the Kingdom. God brings you there, but you’ve got to want to be there. You’ve got to do all in your power to represent Him now, with the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ.

So in conclusion, with Passover just six weeks away, let’s remember Christ’s admonition to “do this in remembrance of Me.” And I hope this sermon has given you a sense of awe. And I hope you’ll take the handout that I gave, go through it yourself, and read about it. I’m going through Matthew. I’m awestruck with almost every chapter I read—14, 15—all these people that are healed and amazed that He could calm the wind. Amazed that this man who never spoke can speak. Amazed that this person has had his ear—remember when Peter cut off the ear of that servant of the high priest?

What did Jesus do? Now give Me the thread, and I can suture this on for him. Picked it up. Slapped it on his head. He’s got an ear again. How’d He do that? I hope you’ll see that. I hope you’ll come to say, I serve an awesome God.

So the world did not know Him when He came. And He only called a few initially, and some small flocks of Christians through the years. And yet somehow, some way, God decided to call us 2,000 years later. Isaiah in his prophecy in Isaiah 53 puts it this way. “He was a Man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3)—Amplified Version—“and pains… acquainted with grief, sickness. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” And this is the last part of it—the last part: “And like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised,” Amplified Version, “and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.”

I hope in our preparation for Passover, in addition to searching ourselves to see—eliminating the sins that that old man has tried to bring back or has brought back—let’s also study and meditate on the life and awesome, miraculous events and teachings of Jesus Christ, and come to greatly appreciate Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, as we prepare to remember Him at Passover and to commit our lives to following Him until that greatest miracle becomes a reality in our lives. May God be with you, and thank you for allowing me to take this extra time. Have a great race to the Sabbath day, and may God be with you as you prepare for Passover.