Christ the Transformer – by Desmond Ford
Feb 2, 2016 2006
Each of the seven miracles in the Gospel of John reveals Christ as being able, not only to meet our peculiar problems, but all similar problems. In each mighty act we see him as the Transformer.
He transforms water to wine, disease to health, impotence to strength, hunger to satisfaction, danger to safety, darkness and blindness to light and sight, and death to life. All the miracles bespeak his divinity, for ‘these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name’ (John 20:31). Note how he is strong where we are weak:
- The miracle at the wedding feast reveals the power of Christ to bring a new quality of life into human existence. Water becomes wine.
- The feeding of the five thousand shows his power over quantity. A few loaves and fishes become enough to feed an army, and there is plenty to spare.
- The healing of a man who had been ill almost forty years shows Christ’s power over time.
- His sending of the word of healing from Cana to Capernaum shows Christ’s power over space.
- His walking upon the water reveals his supremacy over natural law.
- His healing of a man who was born blind illustrates his control over apparent chance, i.e., over non law.
- The raising of Lazarus testifies to Christ’s power over death. He is ‘The resurrection and the life.’
Thus each of these mighty works testifies that Christ is no mere man only. He is God! The divinity of our Lord is our assurance of eternal life and our guarantee that he is sufficient for all our needs in this present time, as well as in the world to come.
The Gospel of John has as its message the glorious truth that once we are united to Christ by living faith, our only limitation will be the welcome one of the will of God, which is always good. Despite our weakness and our sinfulness, all things—the failing of supply, of health, of strength, of apparent safety, etc.—work together for good. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But most of all, the Gospel is declaring that the spiritual ravages of our nature made by sin, can be healed by our contact of faith with the living Christ.
– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32. Adapted from “Eternal Life Now.”
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