 |  |
John the Baptist would then know that Christ was the Messiah for this was exactly
what the prophets had foretold; see, for example, Isa.xxix.18; xxxv.5,6; xlii.7; lxi.1,2.
In fact, at the very start of His ministry the Lord Jesus Christ quoted from Isa. 61: 1, 2:
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was,
He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was
delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias (Isaiah). And when He had opened
the book He found the place where it is written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book,
and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in
the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, This day is this
Scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4: 16-21).
The first recorded miracle of Christ is found in Matt. 4: 23, 24 and there we can see
the close association between miracles and teaching:
"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the
gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease
among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria, and they brought unto Him
all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were
possessed with demons, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and
He healed them" (Matt. 4: 23, 24).
The result of these miracles of healing was that:
"There followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis,
and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan" (Matt. 4: 25).
These miracles were not mere exhibitions of pointless power. They attracted people
from all parts of the country and were a complement to the teaching and preaching.
Again, as in the O.T., God was using miracles to help the people, to guide them, and to
teach them. This is so throughout the Gospels. For example, in Matt. 10: 7, 8 we find the
same principle demonstrated in the Lord's words to the twelve:
"As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils" (Matt. 10: 7, 8).
Even the last reference in the Gospels, to miracles states exactly the same thing. Here
the risen Christ instructed the disciples and . . . . .:
"They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and
confirming the word with signs following" (Mark 16: 20).
Throughout His ministry on earth, the Lord Jesus appealed to the miracles--signs,
wonders and displays of power--that He performed. For instance:
"But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath
given Me to finish, the same works bear witness of Me that the Father sent Me"
(John.v.36).