GREATER WORKS THAN THESE (PART III)

“Witnesses to the Uttermost Part of the Earth”

By Akin Ojumu

It’s Thursday of the week of His crucifixion. The Lord Jesus is having His very last meal with his chosen disciples. There in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, the Master, with whom they’ve been for the past three years, has just announced to them that the end has come and that He would soon be arrested and put to a sham trial that very night, and crucified the very next day. 

Five days earlier, they had made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Their Master had ridden into town in style, on a donkey no one had ever ridden before. Large crowds of excited people had welcomed Him. And in a scene reminiscent of a conqueror King returning from victory in war, the crowd laid down palm branches in His path, singing in jubilation, believing the King of Israel had come to vanquish their Roman oppressors and take His throne in Jerusalem.

John 12:13

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

Mere five days later, from this height of exhilaration of the triumphal entry, the disciples had sunk into a funk of despondency. Shattered was their hope that the Messiah, their Teacher and Lord, was now going to take His rightful place on the throne as King and restore the glory of the kingdom of Israel. Instead, what they were hearing from Him was that the hour had come for Him to depart out of this world, and that He would soon be crucified like a common criminal. 

This sudden and unexpected turn of event was simply too overwhelming for them to process mentally and emotionally. Sensing their sadness and sorrow, the Lord was moved with compassion. So, He spoke to comfort their troubled hearts.

First, He told them that it was necessary for Him to go away so that he can go and prepare a place for them in His Father’s house. He assured them that He would come back again to be with them.

John 14:2-3

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Then, the Lord Jesus promised to grant whatever request they make in His name. If they asked Him of anything, He will do it for them, as long as what they are asking was consistent with His Person, consistent with His nature, consistent with His identity, consistent with His character, consistent with His will, consistent with His purpose, consistent with His glory, and consistent with his perfections.

John 14:13-14

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

The Lord Jesus went on to reassure them that He would not abandon them as orphans, that He would send them the Parakletos, i.e., a Comforter or Helper, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, who would come alongside them and live inside of them to empower them for the work of the ministry.

John 14:16-18

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Not only was the promised Holy Spirit going to be their Comforter, but he also was going to be their Teacher who would remind them of everything they’ve heard the Lord Jesus say and saw Him do.

John 14:26

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

It was on top of all these promises and words of comfort that the Lord Jesus then told them that they were going to do the works that He did, and that they were going to do even greater works. 

John 14:12

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

This particular promise that they would do greater works is the subject of this commentary. In order to understand what the Lord Jesus meant by this promise, it must be considered within the larger context in which it was made.

As we said earlier, the jubilant and exuberant mood of the disciples had, by this time, dissipated from where they were earlier in the week when the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with the crowds hailing and hooting. Now, they had just been told by their Lord and Teacher that He was going to be put to death. This was the man whom they had come to believe was the promised Messiah who would be crowned King of Israel, who would restore the kingdom of Israel, and who would defeat the gentile enemies of their people. 

Sensing their disappointment and understanding that their disillusionment was informed by their failure to fully grasp the bigger picture of the plan of God for redemption even after three years of Him being with them and teaching them, the Lord Jesus not only sought to provide them succor, but He also wanted the purpose of His coming ingrained in their subconscious mind. It was critical that they understood that the Son of Man came to seek and to save what had been lost not only of Israel but also of the gentiles as well.

So, when the Lord Jesus promised His disciples that they were going to do greater works, He was essentially giving them the brief of their assignment, i.e the Great Commission. This statement was meant to commission them for the mission, which was to go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel.

Matthew 28:19-20

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

By telling them they would do greater works, the Lord Jesus was signaling to His disciples the extent and reach to which they were going to spread the Gospel of salvation. The disciples would be witnesses to Him to the uttermost part of the earth. They were going to go much further than He ever did with the Gospel.

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Anyone who reads the Bible would know that as spectacular as the 3-year ministry of the Lord Jesus was, He never traveled beyond the 60-mile radius of Judea and Galilee. The furthest away from the land Israel He went was to the surrounding areas such as Perea and Samaria. Contrast that with the disciples. They were going to go far beyond Judea and Samaria. In fact, through them, the Gospel would be spread to the outer reaches of the world.

You being a Christian today is an attestation to the fact that this promise of greater works did come to pass. That I, a gentile offspring of idol worshipers, am even writing a commentary on this subject is a testament of the fulfillment of the greater works by the disciples. 

Because the disciples performed greater works, the Gospel has now encircled the globe and it’s being preached in all the seven continents of the world today. By the enabling power and ability given to them by the Holy Spirit, the disciples succeeded in planting the flag of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ on every nook and cranny of the earth.

And that’s not all. 

The greater works of the disciples can also be measured by the number of people who name the Name of the Lord in the world today. Throughout His entire ministry, the number of people who believed and followed Christ were, by all estimate, a total of about one hundred and twenty. These were the same 120 people gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem after the Lord’s ascension, waiting for the Day of Pentecost. 

Then came the Day of Pentecost, and the one hundred and twenty people were filled with the Holy Ghost and power. After Peter, the hitherto cowardly Peter, boldly preached the first sermon of the Christian faith, and he called out to the crowd that had gathered around and asked them to repent of their sin and by baptized in Jesus’s name, guess how many people got saved.

Acts 2:38-40

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.””

The number of people who were cut to the heart, and who responded to the call to repentance, and were added to their number that day alone were about three thousand souls. In three whole years, the Lord Jesus managed to win 120 converts. In one single day, the number of Christians skyrocketed to more than 3,000 believers after Peter preached the Good News. 

Now, if that’s not greater works, I don’t know what is. But we’ll stop here for now and take it from there next time.