Part II
MIRACLES AS SIGNS
Illustrative Miracles from the Gospel of John
The Gospel of John discusses more explicitly how the miracles of Jesus are signs of redemption. So we may begin with several miracles recorded there.
The Bread of Life
Let us first look at John 6, which records the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1–14). The same miracle is recorded in the three other Gospels (Matt. 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17), but John alone includes later in the same chapter Jesus’s discourse about the bread of life (John 6:25–59). This discourse took place on the day after the miracle (v. 22).
Jesus began his discussion by mentioning the miracle: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (v. 26). He then continued the discussion in a way that makes clear the parallel between the physical food from the loaves and the spiritual food that gives eternal life: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (v. 27). At one point the crowd mentioned the manna from heaven (v. 31). Jesus then picked up on the theme of manna and used it to direct them to the true bread from heaven:
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (vv. 32–33) He then declared, “I am the bread of life” (v. 35).
Jesus thus indicated that both the manna from the time of Moses and the miracle of feeding the 5,000 have symbolic significance. The manna came in a miraculous way, but even its miraculous character did not make it a source of eternal life; it served only to sustain temporal life. Similarly, the bread that multiplied to feed the 5,000 men sustained physical life (vv. 26–27), but Jesus indicated that both point to something deeper, namely to eternal life. Jesus himself is the one who supplies eternal life. Eternal life belongs to those who “feed on” him: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (v. 54).
Thus the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 has a symbolic significance beyond the fact that it displays divine power. Its significance goes beyond confirming and testifying to the fact that Jesus is an authentic messenger of God, like one of the Old Testament prophets. The miracle shows in symbolic form what Jesus is doing spiritually through his life, death, and resurrection—he is bringing eternal life, and giving lasting spiritual nourishment to everyone who comes to him in faith. (See fig. 3.1.)
Fig. 3.1: Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6)
The Light of the World
Consider a second miracle, the healing of the man born blind, recorded in John 9. This miracle shows divine power. But it is also a sign. It signifies what kind of person Jesus is and what he has come to earth to do. Note that it follows chapter 8, where Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Just before healing the blind man, Jesus made a similar declaration, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). By the end of the chapter, Jesus has made it clear that physical healing is symbolic of spiritual healing from spiritual blindness:
Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” (John 9:39–41)
The fundamental illumination consists in knowing the Father through the Son: Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:8–11)
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:18)
The physical miracle of healing the blind man went together with a spiritual work in the blind man, so that the man came to believe in the Son of Man (Jesus, the Messiah): He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9:38). The blind man received spiritual sight, by which he believed in Jesus and was saved. Thus the physical miracle illumines the whole purpose of Jesus to redeem people and give them a saving knowledge of God. (See fig. 3.2.).
Fig. 3.2: Jesus as the Light (John 9)
The Resurrection and the Life
The last miracle recorded in John as part of Jesus’s public ministry is the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1–44). In the middle of the story, Jesus made a declaration about himself:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)
Jesus here promised that believers will enjoy bodily resurrection: “though he die, yet shall he live.” But bodily resurrection is the fitting accompaniment for the spiritual life that a believer already possesses: “everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” The present possession of eternal life is confirmed elsewhere in the Gospel of John:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:54)
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
What is the basis for this eternal life? It clearly comes from being united with Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. (See fig. 3.3.)
Fig. 3.3: Jesus as the Resurrection (John 11)
The Crucifixion and the Resurrection
As we observed, the raising of Lazarus is the last public miracle recorded in the Gospel of John—except for Jesus’s resurrection. In response to the miracle with Lazarus, Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders took counsel together and plotted to kill Jesus, and to kill Lazarus as well (John 11:47–53; 12:10–11). The Gospel of John then continues with an account of Jesus’s last days in Bethany and Jerusalem, culminating in his crucifixion and resurrection.
The whole account in the Gospel of John is leading up to the climax of Jesus’s work in the crucifixion and the resurrection. Jesus himself described the importance of these coming events:
“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:31–33)
The raising of Lazarus has a particularly close tie with Jesus’s resurrection. It is a picture beforehand of his resurrection. But it is not on the same level as Jesus’s resurrection. Lazarus, when brought back to life, was brought back to the same kind of life that he had before he died. He was still subject to meeting with death again in the future. Jesus, by contrast, has eternal life; he is never to die again (Rom. 6:9):
Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Cor. 15:20)
Christ is the “firstfruits.” He is not the first human being ever to be restored to life. A restoration to life happened with the widow of Zarephath’s son (1 Kings 17:17–24), with the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:18–37), and with Jairus’s daughter (Matt. 9:18–26), as well as with Lazarus. So in what sense is Jesus first? Jesus in his humanity was the first to enter into the everlasting and unfailing life of the resurrection. The raising of Lazarus is thus a type or shadow of something greater to come. It is only a shadow in comparison with Jesus’s resurrection. But it is at least a shadow. It offers us a small-scale picture of the eternal, spiritual life that Jesus will give as a result of his resurrection. (See fig. 3.4.)
Fig. 3.4: The Resurrection of Jesus
If the raising of Lazarus has a link forward to Jesus’s resurrection, is the same true of other miracles in the Gospel of John? It is. Think of the feeding of the 5,000. This miracle depicts on a physical plane the reality that Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35). Jesus went on in John 6 to explain that he offers nourishment by giving his own body and blood (vv. 53–56). These words point forward to Jesus’s crucifixion and death, where he gave his body and blood as a sacrifice for sins. Spiritual nourishment takes place when we trust in Christ. By faith we are united with his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
Jesus is always the bread of life. But the crucifixion and resurrection are the focal point of his work. Particularly in these climactic events he achieved what was necessary in order for the people of God to receive nourishment at all times.
Consider next Jesus’s healing of the man blind from birth, and the associated claim, “I am the light of the world.” John 1:4 indicates that even before his incarnation he was “the light” in a broad sense, by virtue of his role in creation: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In his incarnation he offered himself as the light of redemption in an intensive way:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
The light of revelation and of glory have their climax in the crucifixion and the resurrection, which reveal supremely the redemptive plan of God:
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. (John 13:31–32)
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:5)
Thus, several miracles point forward to the great miracle of the resurrection of Christ. (See. fig. 3.5.)
Fig. 3.5: The Miracle of the Resurrection
The other miracles in the Gospel of John also point forward to the crucifixion and resurrection. We will consider them briefly, one by one.
The Man Sick for Thirty-Eight Years (John 5)
Let us consider the healing of the sick man at the Sheep Gate, in John 5. Jesus chose this occasion to give another discourse, John 5:19–47, which indicates the close relationship between the works of the Father and the works of the Son. The Son has healed the man as a “work” in which he is working the works of the Father (v. 17). The fact that Jesus performed the healing on the Sabbath day corresponds to the fact that God continues to work on the Sabbath day: “my Father is working until now” (v. 17). Jesus was thus inviting people to see his work of healing as a sign of his identity—he was performing the works of God, which the Father had given him to do. His works revealed his union with the Father: “the Father who dwells in me does his works” (14:10).
Moreover, an even greater work is coming:
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. (John 5:20–21)
The raising of dead human beings is based on Jesus’s resurrection. So the earlier works that Jesus has done point to this greater work. Jesus’s works of healing address the various kinds of physical consequences that exist in an imperfect world, a world affected by the fall. In this world, human beings get sick. And sickness is a forerunner for death, the complete destruction of the functions of the body. The restoration of a man from sickness thus points to the greater restoration, the restoration of full bodily health in a resurrection body. And the foundation for this fuller restoration lies in Christ’s resurrection.
Healing is also a kind of metaphor for healing from sin. Christ forgives our sins; through the Holy Spirit he gives us the power to live new lives that are free from the dominion of sin (Rom. 6:7, 14). Moreover, the freedom that we now have is a foretaste of the complete freedom from all sin that we will have in the new heaven and the new earth. We will be perfect in holiness, and also perfect forever in our new bodies. The healing of the sick man in John 5 functions to foreshadow this perfection, which Christ will bring us by virtue of his resurrection.
The Theme of New Creation
The healing in John 5 is part of a larger pattern of new creation. Jesus’s ministry was a ministry of the kingdom of God that brought about new creation:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17). In its final form, new creation includes the new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21:1. But new creation also has preliminary anticipations. Eternal life with Christ begins within our time period, because new spiritual life comes to individuals who are united to Christ. New life begins now, and comes to completion later. We say that it is inaugurated now, and consummated in the new heaven and new earth. We who belong to Christ are adopted as sons of God now (Rom. 8:15–17; Gal. 4:5–7; Eph. 1:5). This adoption comes to full realization in the future, at the time when creation is renewed (Rom. 8:23).
In the light of this relationship between inaugurated life and consummated life, we can see many signs of new creation in the New Testament. Being born again as described in John 3 is a kind of new creation. It represents the inaugurated stage of new creation. The resurrection of Lazarus is an anticipation of the final resurrection of the body, and this final resurrection is part of the larger picture of the creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). The resurrection of the body is the consummated form of new creation.
The word "eschatology" is a label for biblical teaching concerning the last things. In a narrow sense, eschatology has to do with teaching about the second coming of Christ, the last judgment, and the new heaven and new earth. But it can be used more broadly to label any events that belong to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about “the last days.” The coming of the kingdom of God during Jesus’s earthly ministry is the beginning of that fulfillment, so it too belongs to eschatology. It is inaugurated eschatology, while the new heaven and new earth and the resurrection of the body belong to consummated eschatology.
We can see the pattern of inaugurated eschatology in John 9, with the man born blind. He received spiritual sight when he came to have faith in Jesus. That spiritual sight was an inaugurated form of spiritual sight. It anticipated the final form of sight, when God’s servants will “see his face” (Rev. 22:4). They will see the glory of God in a fuller way than what is true today (Rev. 21:23; 22:5).
We can see the same pattern of inaugurated and consummated new creation with the miracle of feeding the 5,000. The miracle depicts the way in which Jesus is the bread of life to those who believe in him. But the food that we have from him now is also an anticipation of the consummation of being fed fully: we look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).
Water into Wine
Consider next the miracle of water turned into wine. This miracle is also a “sign”:
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (John 2:11). So in what way is this miracle a “sign”? The meaning of this miracle is less obvious than with the miracles that we have already considered. But there are hints. The final verse, verse 11, says that Jesus “manifested his glory.” The word glory has connections with the later discussion in John, concerning the way in which the glory of the Father and of the Son are shown through the events of the crucifixion and resurrection (John 13:31–32).
Earlier in the story, Jesus said to his mother, “My hour has not yet come” (2:4). It sounds as if Jesus was giving a refusal to his mother. But then he did answer his mother’s concern. The saying about “my hour” is cryptic. But it becomes clearer in the course of the Gospel of John that the “hour” in question is preeminently the time of his crucifixion and resurrection:
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23).
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (John 12:27–28)
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world,he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, . . . (John 17:1)
In effect, Jesus was saying in John 2 that, though his “hour” was not yet at hand during the wedding at Cana in Galilee, it would eventually be at hand. And when it is at hand, it will become appropriate to ask him to provide wine for the feast—the feast of the kingdom of God. This feast fulfills the Jewish festivals, as well as the eschatological promise in Isaiah 25:6:
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
The wine is, in fact, his blood given to us to drink (John 6:53–56). The provision of physical wine for the wedding anticipates and foreshadows this greater festive provision, which Jesus accomplished in his crucifixion and resurrection.
This tie between the wedding miracle at Cana and the crucifixion and resurrection is reinforced by another, more subtle connection. Before the water became wine, it was water contained in “six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification” (John 2:6). The water has a symbolic association with the Jewish rites of purification, which belong to the Old Testament. These rites have to do with symbolic purification, which is a type of the real purification that God will bring in eschatological salvation. The symbolism in the miracle at Cana includes a symbolic representation of the transition from the Old Testament level of types and shadows to the New Testament level of fulfillment.
And how is fulfillment accomplished? Through Christ the Messiah. Just as Christ changed the water into wine, so he changed the entire course of history from one era to another.
The “water” of shadows in the Old Testament became the “wine” of fulfillment in the New Testament. The preceding chapter in John (chapter 1) contains an account of the ministry of John the Baptist, and this account is also relevant. John baptized with water. The water signified purification. But it was only a sign. John observed that it pointed to something greater that was going to follow him:
John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” (John 1:26–27)
The one coming after John, that is, Jesus, is the one “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33).
John the Baptist represents the terminus of the whole Old Testament order. He stood on the brink of the dawning of the eschatological kingdom of God, which came in Jesus. But what John did had to be superseded by what Jesus would bring. The miracle at Cana in Galilee symbolically signifies this transition, pointing backward to John as the last of the Old Testament prophets, and forward to the feast of the kingdom of God. This feast takes place by miraculously transfiguring the old, not by straight-line continuation of or addition to the old.
The miracle of water into wine has significance both for inaugurated eschatology and for consummated eschatology. The provision of eschatological wine by Jesus began with his “hour,” the hour of his crucifixion and resurrection. The wine is his blood, through which we have eternal life even during the present age. This provision of wine is a form of inaugurated eschatology. At the same time, we look forward to the final form of eternal life in the new heaven and new earth, and the final marriage feast, namely the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). This final feast is consummated eschatology.
Healing the Official’s Son and Walking on Water
There remain two more miracles in the Gospel of John, about which less is said. One is the healing of the official’s son, in John 4:46–54. John explicitly says that it is a sign and links it with the sign at Cana:
So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. (John 4:46)
This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. (v. 54)
The official’s son was healed after being at the point of death. This healing from near death clearly foreshadows the complete victory over death that Jesus achieved. When he was crucified, Jesus actually died; he was not merely near death. As usual, the significance of the miracle of healing the official’s son includes both inaugurated eschatology and consummated eschatology. Inaugurated eschatology came when Jesus was raised from the dead; consummated eschatology will come when those who follow Jesus are raised, with resurrection bodies no longer subject to death.
We also have the miracle of Jesus walking on water, in John 6:16–21. It is closely connected with the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, so John does not provide a separate commentary. At first glance Jesus’s discourse on the bread of life in John 6:25–65 seems to have connections only with the feeding of the 5,000. But Jesus talked about having eternal life through communion with him. Jesus rescues people from eternal death, and large bodies of water can become symbolic of death, since a person can drown in them, and since sinking into the water is akin to “sinking” into the underworld of the grave. Thus Jonah’s three days below the surface of the sea become a fitting symbol for death and resurrection:
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matt.12:40)
Jesus’s walking on water is a fitting symbol not only for mastery over nature but also for mastery over death. In this way it prefigures his resurrection. His resurrection constitutes inaugurated eschatology. He also provides new life for us, through his Spirit. Consummated eschatology comes with the resurrection of the bodies of believers.
Summary
Thus, each of the miracles in the Gospel of John foreshadows and points forward to the great miracle of Christ’s resurrection. (See fig. 3.6.)
Fig. 3.6: Miracles Pointing to the Resurrection of Christ
MIRACLES AS SIGNS
Illustrative Miracles from the Gospel of John
The Gospel of John discusses more explicitly how the miracles of Jesus are signs of redemption. So we may begin with several miracles recorded there.
The Bread of Life
Let us first look at John 6, which records the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1–14). The same miracle is recorded in the three other Gospels (Matt. 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17), but John alone includes later in the same chapter Jesus’s discourse about the bread of life (John 6:25–59). This discourse took place on the day after the miracle (v. 22).
Jesus began his discussion by mentioning the miracle: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (v. 26). He then continued the discussion in a way that makes clear the parallel between the physical food from the loaves and the spiritual food that gives eternal life: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (v. 27). At one point the crowd mentioned the manna from heaven (v. 31). Jesus then picked up on the theme of manna and used it to direct them to the true bread from heaven:
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (vv. 32–33) He then declared, “I am the bread of life” (v. 35).
Jesus thus indicated that both the manna from the time of Moses and the miracle of feeding the 5,000 have symbolic significance. The manna came in a miraculous way, but even its miraculous character did not make it a source of eternal life; it served only to sustain temporal life. Similarly, the bread that multiplied to feed the 5,000 men sustained physical life (vv. 26–27), but Jesus indicated that both point to something deeper, namely to eternal life. Jesus himself is the one who supplies eternal life. Eternal life belongs to those who “feed on” him: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (v. 54).
Thus the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 has a symbolic significance beyond the fact that it displays divine power. Its significance goes beyond confirming and testifying to the fact that Jesus is an authentic messenger of God, like one of the Old Testament prophets. The miracle shows in symbolic form what Jesus is doing spiritually through his life, death, and resurrection—he is bringing eternal life, and giving lasting spiritual nourishment to everyone who comes to him in faith. (See fig. 3.1.)
Fig. 3.1: Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6)
- Jesus provides bread for 5000 - Jesus provides eternal life through his flesh.
The Light of the World
Consider a second miracle, the healing of the man born blind, recorded in John 9. This miracle shows divine power. But it is also a sign. It signifies what kind of person Jesus is and what he has come to earth to do. Note that it follows chapter 8, where Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Just before healing the blind man, Jesus made a similar declaration, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). By the end of the chapter, Jesus has made it clear that physical healing is symbolic of spiritual healing from spiritual blindness:
Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” (John 9:39–41)
The fundamental illumination consists in knowing the Father through the Son: Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:8–11)
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:18)
The physical miracle of healing the blind man went together with a spiritual work in the blind man, so that the man came to believe in the Son of Man (Jesus, the Messiah): He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9:38). The blind man received spiritual sight, by which he believed in Jesus and was saved. Thus the physical miracle illumines the whole purpose of Jesus to redeem people and give them a saving knowledge of God. (See fig. 3.2.).
Fig. 3.2: Jesus as the Light (John 9)
- Jesus heals the blind man - Jesus provides spiritual light.
The Resurrection and the Life
The last miracle recorded in John as part of Jesus’s public ministry is the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1–44). In the middle of the story, Jesus made a declaration about himself:
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)
Jesus here promised that believers will enjoy bodily resurrection: “though he die, yet shall he live.” But bodily resurrection is the fitting accompaniment for the spiritual life that a believer already possesses: “everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” The present possession of eternal life is confirmed elsewhere in the Gospel of John:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:54)
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
What is the basis for this eternal life? It clearly comes from being united with Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. (See fig. 3.3.)
Fig. 3.3: Jesus as the Resurrection (John 11)
- Jesus raises Lazarus - Jesus provides resurrection life.
The Crucifixion and the Resurrection
As we observed, the raising of Lazarus is the last public miracle recorded in the Gospel of John—except for Jesus’s resurrection. In response to the miracle with Lazarus, Caiaphas and the Jewish leaders took counsel together and plotted to kill Jesus, and to kill Lazarus as well (John 11:47–53; 12:10–11). The Gospel of John then continues with an account of Jesus’s last days in Bethany and Jerusalem, culminating in his crucifixion and resurrection.
The whole account in the Gospel of John is leading up to the climax of Jesus’s work in the crucifixion and the resurrection. Jesus himself described the importance of these coming events:
“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:31–33)
The raising of Lazarus has a particularly close tie with Jesus’s resurrection. It is a picture beforehand of his resurrection. But it is not on the same level as Jesus’s resurrection. Lazarus, when brought back to life, was brought back to the same kind of life that he had before he died. He was still subject to meeting with death again in the future. Jesus, by contrast, has eternal life; he is never to die again (Rom. 6:9):
Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Cor. 15:20)
Christ is the “firstfruits.” He is not the first human being ever to be restored to life. A restoration to life happened with the widow of Zarephath’s son (1 Kings 17:17–24), with the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:18–37), and with Jairus’s daughter (Matt. 9:18–26), as well as with Lazarus. So in what sense is Jesus first? Jesus in his humanity was the first to enter into the everlasting and unfailing life of the resurrection. The raising of Lazarus is thus a type or shadow of something greater to come. It is only a shadow in comparison with Jesus’s resurrection. But it is at least a shadow. It offers us a small-scale picture of the eternal, spiritual life that Jesus will give as a result of his resurrection. (See fig. 3.4.)
Fig. 3.4: The Resurrection of Jesus
- Jesus raises Lazarus - The resurrection of Jesus as firstfruit.
If the raising of Lazarus has a link forward to Jesus’s resurrection, is the same true of other miracles in the Gospel of John? It is. Think of the feeding of the 5,000. This miracle depicts on a physical plane the reality that Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35). Jesus went on in John 6 to explain that he offers nourishment by giving his own body and blood (vv. 53–56). These words point forward to Jesus’s crucifixion and death, where he gave his body and blood as a sacrifice for sins. Spiritual nourishment takes place when we trust in Christ. By faith we are united with his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.
Jesus is always the bread of life. But the crucifixion and resurrection are the focal point of his work. Particularly in these climactic events he achieved what was necessary in order for the people of God to receive nourishment at all times.
Consider next Jesus’s healing of the man blind from birth, and the associated claim, “I am the light of the world.” John 1:4 indicates that even before his incarnation he was “the light” in a broad sense, by virtue of his role in creation: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In his incarnation he offered himself as the light of redemption in an intensive way:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
The light of revelation and of glory have their climax in the crucifixion and the resurrection, which reveal supremely the redemptive plan of God:
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. (John 13:31–32)
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:5)
Thus, several miracles point forward to the great miracle of the resurrection of Christ. (See. fig. 3.5.)
Fig. 3.5: The Miracle of the Resurrection
- One miracle - the great miracle of the resurrection of Christ
The other miracles in the Gospel of John also point forward to the crucifixion and resurrection. We will consider them briefly, one by one.
The Man Sick for Thirty-Eight Years (John 5)
Let us consider the healing of the sick man at the Sheep Gate, in John 5. Jesus chose this occasion to give another discourse, John 5:19–47, which indicates the close relationship between the works of the Father and the works of the Son. The Son has healed the man as a “work” in which he is working the works of the Father (v. 17). The fact that Jesus performed the healing on the Sabbath day corresponds to the fact that God continues to work on the Sabbath day: “my Father is working until now” (v. 17). Jesus was thus inviting people to see his work of healing as a sign of his identity—he was performing the works of God, which the Father had given him to do. His works revealed his union with the Father: “the Father who dwells in me does his works” (14:10).
Moreover, an even greater work is coming:
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. (John 5:20–21)
The raising of dead human beings is based on Jesus’s resurrection. So the earlier works that Jesus has done point to this greater work. Jesus’s works of healing address the various kinds of physical consequences that exist in an imperfect world, a world affected by the fall. In this world, human beings get sick. And sickness is a forerunner for death, the complete destruction of the functions of the body. The restoration of a man from sickness thus points to the greater restoration, the restoration of full bodily health in a resurrection body. And the foundation for this fuller restoration lies in Christ’s resurrection.
Healing is also a kind of metaphor for healing from sin. Christ forgives our sins; through the Holy Spirit he gives us the power to live new lives that are free from the dominion of sin (Rom. 6:7, 14). Moreover, the freedom that we now have is a foretaste of the complete freedom from all sin that we will have in the new heaven and the new earth. We will be perfect in holiness, and also perfect forever in our new bodies. The healing of the sick man in John 5 functions to foreshadow this perfection, which Christ will bring us by virtue of his resurrection.
The Theme of New Creation
The healing in John 5 is part of a larger pattern of new creation. Jesus’s ministry was a ministry of the kingdom of God that brought about new creation:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17). In its final form, new creation includes the new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21:1. But new creation also has preliminary anticipations. Eternal life with Christ begins within our time period, because new spiritual life comes to individuals who are united to Christ. New life begins now, and comes to completion later. We say that it is inaugurated now, and consummated in the new heaven and new earth. We who belong to Christ are adopted as sons of God now (Rom. 8:15–17; Gal. 4:5–7; Eph. 1:5). This adoption comes to full realization in the future, at the time when creation is renewed (Rom. 8:23).
In the light of this relationship between inaugurated life and consummated life, we can see many signs of new creation in the New Testament. Being born again as described in John 3 is a kind of new creation. It represents the inaugurated stage of new creation. The resurrection of Lazarus is an anticipation of the final resurrection of the body, and this final resurrection is part of the larger picture of the creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). The resurrection of the body is the consummated form of new creation.
The word "eschatology" is a label for biblical teaching concerning the last things. In a narrow sense, eschatology has to do with teaching about the second coming of Christ, the last judgment, and the new heaven and new earth. But it can be used more broadly to label any events that belong to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about “the last days.” The coming of the kingdom of God during Jesus’s earthly ministry is the beginning of that fulfillment, so it too belongs to eschatology. It is inaugurated eschatology, while the new heaven and new earth and the resurrection of the body belong to consummated eschatology.
We can see the pattern of inaugurated eschatology in John 9, with the man born blind. He received spiritual sight when he came to have faith in Jesus. That spiritual sight was an inaugurated form of spiritual sight. It anticipated the final form of sight, when God’s servants will “see his face” (Rev. 22:4). They will see the glory of God in a fuller way than what is true today (Rev. 21:23; 22:5).
We can see the same pattern of inaugurated and consummated new creation with the miracle of feeding the 5,000. The miracle depicts the way in which Jesus is the bread of life to those who believe in him. But the food that we have from him now is also an anticipation of the consummation of being fed fully: we look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).
Water into Wine
Consider next the miracle of water turned into wine. This miracle is also a “sign”:
This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (John 2:11). So in what way is this miracle a “sign”? The meaning of this miracle is less obvious than with the miracles that we have already considered. But there are hints. The final verse, verse 11, says that Jesus “manifested his glory.” The word glory has connections with the later discussion in John, concerning the way in which the glory of the Father and of the Son are shown through the events of the crucifixion and resurrection (John 13:31–32).
Earlier in the story, Jesus said to his mother, “My hour has not yet come” (2:4). It sounds as if Jesus was giving a refusal to his mother. But then he did answer his mother’s concern. The saying about “my hour” is cryptic. But it becomes clearer in the course of the Gospel of John that the “hour” in question is preeminently the time of his crucifixion and resurrection:
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23).
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (John 12:27–28)
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world,he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, . . . (John 17:1)
In effect, Jesus was saying in John 2 that, though his “hour” was not yet at hand during the wedding at Cana in Galilee, it would eventually be at hand. And when it is at hand, it will become appropriate to ask him to provide wine for the feast—the feast of the kingdom of God. This feast fulfills the Jewish festivals, as well as the eschatological promise in Isaiah 25:6:
On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
The wine is, in fact, his blood given to us to drink (John 6:53–56). The provision of physical wine for the wedding anticipates and foreshadows this greater festive provision, which Jesus accomplished in his crucifixion and resurrection.
This tie between the wedding miracle at Cana and the crucifixion and resurrection is reinforced by another, more subtle connection. Before the water became wine, it was water contained in “six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification” (John 2:6). The water has a symbolic association with the Jewish rites of purification, which belong to the Old Testament. These rites have to do with symbolic purification, which is a type of the real purification that God will bring in eschatological salvation. The symbolism in the miracle at Cana includes a symbolic representation of the transition from the Old Testament level of types and shadows to the New Testament level of fulfillment.
And how is fulfillment accomplished? Through Christ the Messiah. Just as Christ changed the water into wine, so he changed the entire course of history from one era to another.
The “water” of shadows in the Old Testament became the “wine” of fulfillment in the New Testament. The preceding chapter in John (chapter 1) contains an account of the ministry of John the Baptist, and this account is also relevant. John baptized with water. The water signified purification. But it was only a sign. John observed that it pointed to something greater that was going to follow him:
John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” (John 1:26–27)
The one coming after John, that is, Jesus, is the one “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33).
John the Baptist represents the terminus of the whole Old Testament order. He stood on the brink of the dawning of the eschatological kingdom of God, which came in Jesus. But what John did had to be superseded by what Jesus would bring. The miracle at Cana in Galilee symbolically signifies this transition, pointing backward to John as the last of the Old Testament prophets, and forward to the feast of the kingdom of God. This feast takes place by miraculously transfiguring the old, not by straight-line continuation of or addition to the old.
The miracle of water into wine has significance both for inaugurated eschatology and for consummated eschatology. The provision of eschatological wine by Jesus began with his “hour,” the hour of his crucifixion and resurrection. The wine is his blood, through which we have eternal life even during the present age. This provision of wine is a form of inaugurated eschatology. At the same time, we look forward to the final form of eternal life in the new heaven and new earth, and the final marriage feast, namely the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). This final feast is consummated eschatology.
Healing the Official’s Son and Walking on Water
There remain two more miracles in the Gospel of John, about which less is said. One is the healing of the official’s son, in John 4:46–54. John explicitly says that it is a sign and links it with the sign at Cana:
So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. (John 4:46)
This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. (v. 54)
The official’s son was healed after being at the point of death. This healing from near death clearly foreshadows the complete victory over death that Jesus achieved. When he was crucified, Jesus actually died; he was not merely near death. As usual, the significance of the miracle of healing the official’s son includes both inaugurated eschatology and consummated eschatology. Inaugurated eschatology came when Jesus was raised from the dead; consummated eschatology will come when those who follow Jesus are raised, with resurrection bodies no longer subject to death.
We also have the miracle of Jesus walking on water, in John 6:16–21. It is closely connected with the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, so John does not provide a separate commentary. At first glance Jesus’s discourse on the bread of life in John 6:25–65 seems to have connections only with the feeding of the 5,000. But Jesus talked about having eternal life through communion with him. Jesus rescues people from eternal death, and large bodies of water can become symbolic of death, since a person can drown in them, and since sinking into the water is akin to “sinking” into the underworld of the grave. Thus Jonah’s three days below the surface of the sea become a fitting symbol for death and resurrection:
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matt.12:40)
Jesus’s walking on water is a fitting symbol not only for mastery over nature but also for mastery over death. In this way it prefigures his resurrection. His resurrection constitutes inaugurated eschatology. He also provides new life for us, through his Spirit. Consummated eschatology comes with the resurrection of the bodies of believers.
Summary
Thus, each of the miracles in the Gospel of John foreshadows and points forward to the great miracle of Christ’s resurrection. (See fig. 3.6.)
Fig. 3.6: Miracles Pointing to the Resurrection of Christ
- Water in wine (John 2:1-11)
- Healing the official's son (John 5:1-9)
- Feeding the 5000 (John 6:1-15)
- Walking on water (John 6:16-21)
- Healing the blind man (John 9:1-7)
- Raising Lazarus (John 11:1-44)
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