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A number of times Jesus discouraged those who only believed or followed Him because of miracles alone.
Skeptics of the Gospel can tell me why?
Case #1 John 2:23-25
"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed into His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man."
They believed in Him because they witnessed some miraculous sign He performed. But He would not entrust Himself to them.
Why not?
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But we thought Jesus only wanted to WOW everyone with supernateral signs.
The more who believed because of these the better. Right?
No not always.
Case #2 - John 6:15
"Then Jesus knoiwing that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him King, withdrew again to the mountain, Himself alone."
Why didn't Jesus seize the moment to be made their King? All these were astounded at His feeding the multitude with very limited food supply. Instead of submitting to their demand that He be made a miracle performing king, He withdrew from them to be alone.
Why did Jesus discourage the miracle chasers here?
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@sonship saidInterestingly, Jesus Christ in another part of the Gospels implied He performed miracles so people would know He was the Messiah.
A number of times Jesus discouraged those who only believed or followed Him because of miracles alone.
Skeptics of the Gospel can tell me why?
Case #1 John 2:23-25
[b]"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed into His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to t ...[text shortened]... witnessed some miraculous sign He performed. But He would not entrust Himself to them.
Why not?
“Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”
(Matthew 11:2-6)
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It has been stated that the Bible is too full of supernatural funny stuff that people just are foolish to believe. Yet sometime Jesus seemed to scold those who saw miracles but didn't grasp the deeper meaning behind them.
Case #3 - John 6:26
"And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did You get here? Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, You seek Me not because you have seen signs, but because you ate of the bread and were filled." (v.26)
Jesus had walked on the water to get to the boat to take Him to the other side. Here He mentions nothing of that. And here He says they saw the miracle but only cared about having their physical stomachs filled. They didn't see or perceive, or really understand with wisdom the spiritual significance behind His miracle working.
Apparently the New Testament is not soley about - "Hey, just believe in supernatural things vor their own sake. And God will be satisfied. You know He can do great supernatural feats."
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Interestingly, Jesus Christ in another part of the Gospels implied He performed miracles so people would know He was the Messiah.
That's certainly true also. Jesus does the right thing, with the right spirit, at the right time - always.
John the Baptist's implied question was "If You're the One we've been waiting to free us and heal us and stuff, how come I am still here in prison ? We're looking for You or . . .um . . .we're expecting someone else here? "
The candidness of the account is very realistic.
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@sonship saidI never thought of John the Baptist’s implied question within a question. That’s interesting.
@PB1022Interestingly, Jesus Christ in another part of the Gospels implied He performed miracles so people would know He was the Messiah.
That's certainly true also. Jesus does the right thing, with the right spirit, at the right time - always.
John the Baptist's implied question was "If You're the One we've been waiting to free us and heal us and s ...[text shortened]... .um . . .we're expecting someone else here? "
The candidness of the account is very realistic.
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Interesting the criticism - " I just cannot believe all those supernatural things about Jesus in the NT. I'm a scientific minded modern man."
Sometimes He was disappointed that some believed ONLY because of the miracles.
Case # 4 - John 4:47,48
"When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea unto Galilee, he went to Him and asked Him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die. Jesus therefore said to him, Unless you see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."
Why not " Oh Boy! Here's yet another opportunity to show supernatural power to convince people."
His priorities was apparently not only with people knowing He was God's Son because of signs and wonders.
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@PB1022
He said - Are you the One to come OR shall we look for another? (Another to free him from jail).
I think he was almost stumbled that Jesus was leaving him there in prison.
Jesus said in essence, You're blessed if you're not offended in Me doing what I think is best.
John was strengthened, I think, by the reply Jesus sent to him.