In John 14:1212Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (John 14:12) we read of, “The works that I do.” What are these? And what also are “the greater works than these”? Please also explain the words in verse 20 of that chapter, “I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.”— Burma.
WHEN the Lord spoke of His works in this passage He did not in any way limit or qualify the word, so we must not limit it in our thoughts to the miraculous works which He did. It doubtless includes His miracles, because it embraces all His works. The thought of this passage may perhaps become clearer if we compare it with John 8:38-4438I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:38‑44). Our works are according to our origin and nature. If any are Abraham’s children, they do the works of Abraham. If any are the devil’s children, they do the works of the devil. Now, directly after speaking those words, in John 14, the Lord proceeded to show His disciples that very soon, as a consequence of His redemption work, they should share His nature and possess His Spirit. Hence they should do His works. His works should characterize them.
Some of His works were miraculous in their nature. So should some of theirs be. Some of their works of power, should be greater even than His, for He was straitened until His death and resurrection, as He himself said in Luke 12:5050But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! (Luke 12:50). When once however He was risen and acting from glory, through His people in the mighty energy of the Spirit given to them, there would be a fullness of power impossible before. We can see illustrations of this in the Acts of the Apostles, such as the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost when, in one day, 3000 were converted. No such mighty work as this was seen in connection with the preaching of our Lord.
In verse 20 the Lord was speaking of what the disciples should know in the day when the Spirit had been given, which is, as a matter of fact, the day in which we live. In the earlier day, the day of the Lord’s sojourn on earth, they ought to have known, as verse 11 shows, that He was in the Father and the Father in Him—that is, that He was in the Father as to life and nature, as being absolutely one with Him, and that the Father, as being one with the Son, was in Him as to manifestation and display.
The Comforter being given more than this could be known. They would still know that the Son is in the Father, but further, they should know that they were in the Son, as now sharing His life and nature. They should know also, that He was in them as to manifestation and display. Having the Spirit of Christ they should have the capacity to reproduce Christ, so that Christ should live in them.
What tremendous realities are these. Oh, that we had hearts to take them in!
Having received a tract with the title, “Come.” “Tarry.” “Go.” May I ask if you will explain these words, taken from John 1:39,39He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. (John 1:39) Luke 24:49,49And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:49) and Mark 16:35, respectively. — Bridlington.
We are not surprised that you find the Pentecostal literature which you have received rather confusing. We do not however think that you can have much difficulty as to the first and last of these words. “Come” is indeed the great Gospel word. To every awakened and inquiring soul, the Saviour says, “Come and see,” whether long ago, in the days of His sojourn here, or at the present time when He is in glory. When risen from the dead, He said to His apostles, “Go ye into all the word, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Carefully notice, that this was said to “the eleven” and not to all the disciples; though undoubtedly all believers, should have the missionary spirit, and carry forth the Gospel as much as in them lies, and as far as possible. These two things seem fairly plain.
The verse at the end of Luke’s gospel is the one that presents a little difficulty, but that is only because of the curious and unjustifiable use that has been made of the instruction the Lord there gave. It certainly presented no difficulty to the disciples who originally heard the words. The Holy Ghost, as coming from the Father, had been definitely promised by the Lord. He was the only adequate power for the service with which they had been entrusted. They were to wait in Jerusalem until He came. They were not to attempt to stir on their mission until He indwelt them. He duly came on the day of Pentecost and their tarrying time was over. After this we do not read of anyone being instructed to tarry for the reception of the Spirit.
All this, again we say, is really very plain and simple. It is also very important in its bearing upon all of us teaching us that no power avails far the work of the Lord but that of the Spirit al God. Every other qualification, compared with this is as nothing. Even apostles could not stir hand nor foot in this enterprise without Him. Where then lies the difficulty?
It lies in the making of unwarrantable assumptions and deductions from this verse. It is torn from its context. The fact is overlooked that the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost was an epoch-making event, no more to be repeated than was the giving of the law at Sinai. It is thereupon assumed that every Christian should “tarry” for the Spirit, if not exactly for the gift of the Spirit at least for some “baptism of the Spirit,” that phrase having in their minds a different force to that which it has in Scripture. The booklet you have been reading even assumes that at the beginning 380 disciples failed to tarry and “went to Egypt, and all the country round, preaching a limited Gospel.” This extraordinary idea is reached by a process of deduction. The 120 of Acts 1:1515And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) (Acts 1:15) is subtracted from the 500 of 1 Corinthians 15:66After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:6). That seems simple, does it not? Quite simple—yet quite fallacious. The author overlooks that great meeting of disciples in the mountain of Galilee, of which Matthew 28 tells us. It must have been there, that the 500 brethren saw Him, since there were only about 120 who believed in Jerusalem; most of the Lord’s converts being in Galilee, which was the main theater of His ministry. A few of that Galilean 500 besides the eleven apostles of course may have been amongst the 120 in Jerusalem; the bulk of them were not there, and any curiosity We may feel as to just exactly how these Galileans received the Spirit is not satisfied by the Scripture—the matter remains a blank as far as our knowledge is concerned. It is poor work to fill up the blank with unwarranted imaginations, as is done in this booklet.
The booklet however is an old one, and since the day when it was written the “Pentecostal” movement has gone forward with rapid strides into far greater extravagances. As you inquire concerning any literature reviewing the movement we are telling our publishers to send you Mr. Pollock’s latest paper, “Modern Pentecostalism, Foursquare Gospel, “Healings” and “Tongues” are they of God?” This of course, takes up the movement in its later manifestations, still it throws much light incidentally upon earlier papers, such as the one you have read.