Throughout the Gospels, when the Pharisees encountered Jesus, they sought “signs” that proved He was Who He said He was. But Jesus worked within His divine timeframe and not at the whim and wiles of the Jewish religious leaders. Where do we see Jesus’ power and authority on display in the Bible?
Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?
No doubt Jesus exposed His power and authority in the Bible. A look at why He said He came will give us fuller realization and wonder when we regard the Bible passages which record His acts of power and authority. The Gospels and epistles are filled with mentions of Jesus’ purposes. In them, Jesus and then His Apostles reveal why He came. A few are listed here:
- To fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).
- To testify to the truth (John 18:37).
- To preach the Gospel of the kingdom (Mark 1:38).
- To seek and save the lost (John 19:10).
- To usher in eternal life to those who believe in Him (John 3:16).
- To serve and give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
- To display God’s righteousness (Romans 3:25-26).
- To destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Fully human and fully God, Jesus shared in our frailty (Isaiah 52:14; 53; Hebrews 2:17), but did not relinquish His divine power, for humility is not abandonment. Dr. Stephen Nichols observes, “He did not empty Himself of His divine nature. Jesus is truly God. He could not stop being God.” For every purpose in the list above, Jesus presented His power and authority for each one.
Given all the reasons He came, the Bible gives us many instances where Jesus displayed His power and authority. Jesus’ works of power always connected with His mission — to testify about who He is and about His work (Luke 7:18-23; John 10:25; John 21:24-25).
Where Do We See Jesus’ Power and Authority on Display in the Bible?
To begin our investigation of Jesus’ revealed power and authority, we’ll look at His self-designations.
Jesus referred to Himself most often (100+ times) as the Son of Man—His Messianic title, and a title author Mike Nappa says, “emphasized the awesome power of His divine nature” (Daniel 7:13; Mark 14:62).
Other titles used for Jesus which allude to His sovereignty include but are not limited to:
- Lord (1 Corinthians 8:6)
- Christ (Matthew 1:16; 16:16)
- Son of God (Romans 1:3-4)
Jesus did not veil His power or His authority; we see it shown in the following accounts:
Jesus Turned Water to Wine (John 2:1-11)
This was the first of His signs (miracles). “This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory. And his disciples believed in Him.”
Jesus Knows Men’s Hearts (John 2:25, Romans 8:27)
In this account of the interaction between Jesus and many who believed, Jesus “did not entrust Himself to them,” i.e., He didn’t “believe in them.” They were witnesses to His great signs and understood a little of who he is, but they didn’t fully believe in Him for salvation. Theirs was an experiential-based faith and was not grounded upon the Gospel. Jesus, as our omniscient God, knew this about them because of His knowledge of all men’s hearts.
Jesus Forgave Sins (Luke 5:17-26)
As Jesus taught in Capernaum (Mark 2:1), “Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Him to heal.” The crowds so pressed into the house there was no more room for people to enter through the door. Some men brought a paralyzed man for Jesus to heal, but seeing the crowd, they opened a way on the house’s roof and lowered the paralytic before Jesus. “And when He saw their faith, He said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’”
The Scribes and the Pharisees accused Jesus of blasphemy, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” The text tells us Jesus perceived their thoughts and replied, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he said to the man who was paralyzed — “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
Jesus Fulfilled the Prophecies from the Old Testament (Luke 4:16-30)
While in His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and, as was His custom, read from a scroll. That particular day, He read the passage from Isaiah 61:1-2a, “perhaps the most important of over two-thousand Old Testament prophecies that point to the coming Redeemer and Messiah.” And when He finished, he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
The standard for synagogue sermons was the teacher would sit down to give his sermon, with the people at his feet. For Jesus to have read the Isaiah passage while standing and then to sit down was to raise the expectation of the crowd for the sermon to come. What followed was what R. C. Sproul called the shortest sermon ever preached. Sitting, Jesus then declared, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
The audience was shocked that Joseph’s son said these things, but Jesus dispatched the Jewish leaders’ wrong thinking by pronouncing condemnation on the Jews with two historical accounts from the Old Testament. They illustrated how Elijah didn’t go to the widows or the lepers of Israel. Therefore, Jesus inferred, He wasn’t going to come to Israel’s sinners.
The crowd was so filled with wrath, they sought to kill Him, but “passing through their midst, He went away.” They were left to chew on what Jesus had just taught them.
Jesus Cleansed Lepers (Matthew 8:1-4)
Immediately following the greatest sermon ever preached (Matthew 5-7), Jesus descended the mountain, and great crowds followed Him. Among them appeared a leper who implored Jesus to help him, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” The leper was not arrogant or demanding; he displayed great humility and faith that Jesus could do what he’d heard. Jesus displayed His will to heal, and stretched out His hand and touched the leper, saying, “‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”
Jesus then told the now former leper, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. He is not contrary to God’s law; He brings it to completion. The whole point of Jesus cleansing the leper according to God’s law is this; Jesus declares him clean by His own authority, and that would be the proof to the priest of Jesus’ assertion.
Jesus Exorcized Demons (Luke 8:26-39)
When Jesus and His disciples arrived by boat in the land of the Gerasenes, He was met by man possessed by not only one demon, but many. “Jesus then asked him,‘What is your name?’And he said, ‘Legion,’ for many demons had entered him.” Jesus, with but a word, commanded the demons to leave the man.
Jesus Healed the Sick (Matthew 8:16)
“That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word andhealedall who were sick.”Jesus’ ministry included healing.
Jesus Raised the Dead (John 11:1-44)
No human can raise the dead by our own power — that supernatural act belongs only to the sovereign Lord.
Jesus Proclaimed He and the Father Are One (John 8:58; 10:30; 17:11)
Jesus identified Himself as God when the soldiers came to seize Him from the Garden of Gethsemane. “Before Abraham was, I AM,” (John 8:58-) was a bold proclamation made by Jesus that He is God! Jesus, in His high Priestly prayer, declared He and the Father are One.
Jesus Created the Heavens and the Earth (John 1:1)
As the Apostle attested, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So too he testified to this truth in His Gospel account and, no doubt, as he witnessed to others. John also stated, “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3).
Jesus Has Ultimate Power over Creation (Luke 8:22-25)
One day while in a boat with His disciples, a fierce storm arose on the Sea of Galilee, filling their boat with water. Yet Jesus slept until the disciples awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Jesus first “rebuked the wind and the raging waves,” and then rebuked the disciples by asking them, “Where is your faith?” It’s possible Jesus only needed to say, “shhh” for the storm to abate.
Jesus Alone Lived a Sinless Life by the Power of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)
His sinless life paved the way for those who believe in Him to be declared righteous by God.
Jesus Said the Only Way to the Father Is through Him (John 14:6)
No mere mortal, no works, nothing save the grace of God through Jesus Christ can draw a person to God and salvation.
On the Cross, Jesus Took the Full Wrath of God (Isaiah 53:10-11; Mark 10:38; Galatians 3:13; 1 John 2:2).
The Isaiah passage is the prophecy of God’s wrath being poured out on Christ. The passage in Mark references the “cup of God’s wrath” which Jesus is about to endure, and 1 John 2:2 specifically mentions propitiation – which appeases God’s wrath. This is the power of Christ on the cross, for only God could bear the full brunt of His own eternal wrath and do so in a matter of hours.
Jesus Was Resurrected unto Eternal Life (Luke 24:1-12)
Jesus was not resurrected to have to face death again; His is an eternal state of life.
Jesus Openly Ascended to Heaven (Matthew 28:16-20)
When His disciples saw Jesus in Galilee after His resurrection, He charged them with the Great Commission (one of all power and all authority). “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe 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.”
Jesus Intercedes for Christians (Hebrews 7:25)
Jesus never pauses in His intercession for Christians.
What Is the Ultimate Manifestation of Jesus’ Power and Authority?
Revelation 19-22 shows us the glorious appearing of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Who ultimately and eternally judges the sinner and eternally saves the elect.
So what should we do with these truths? In short, we are to believe and obey His Gospel (Acts 17:30-31; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-10).
We are also to obey Jesus’ greatest and second greatest commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
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