Greater Works You Will Do!

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father."

-John 14:12

Here is a good-short commentary on John 14:12 by John MacArthur:

"Maybe a good illustration is in John 14...John 14, and we won't spend a lot of time with this, but it's such a wonderful text. The disciples the night when Jesus was betrayed were struggling through all kinds of things, wondering about what their future was going to be like. So in John 14:12 Jesus says this, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also." That's pretty shocking. You put your trust in Me, you put your faith in Me and the works that I do you will do. He further says, this is even more shocking, "And greater than these." Not greater works, not works is not in the original. "And greater than these shall he do because I go to the Father." Not greater in terms of kind, but greater in terms of extent. You will be able to do things that change people's lives. As long as Jesus was on earth, His power was limited to His presence. Wherever He was, His power was expressed. Wherever the Twelve were, their power was expressed. When the seventy were sent out, wherever they were they was expressed but it was confined to the land of Israel and no further. But when Jesus went to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit, the Day of Pentecost, the explosion began and we have not done greater works, you couldn't do greater works than the greatest work Jesus does and the greatest work Jesus does is raise the spiritually dead, right? The greatest work is the work of regeneration, the work of salvation, the work of conversion, transformation, the new birth that's discussed in John 3. That's the great work of Jesus, that's what He came to do... to seek and to save that which was lost, to bring salvation. That work is the greatest work that He did, we can't do a greater work but we are used by God to do it at a greater extent. The limits are off and we have been used along with all the generations prior to this generation to take the gospel to the ends of the earth and to go to those places and to teach the truth and to live the truth and to live a gracious and forgiving life, to do all the things that seem impossible. We do them because when Jesus went back to heaven, it says if you follow the text, "I will ask the Father, He'll give you another helper that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth." Jesus goes back, He sends the Spirit, the Spirit comes and we are now empowered as we entrust our lives to the power of God and the indwelling Spirit. We can do everything that He asks. And that's what it says in John 14, "Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son." "In My name" means consistent with who I am, consistent with My will" (Four Hallmarks of Humility, Part 3).