John 14:12-14:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Notes on John 14:12-14:
Jesus said we would do the works He did. He was not talking about helping little old ladies across the street. Jesus’ works were preaching, teaching, healing and casting out demons. We will do these works also. There is no sense fighting with God over this. It is plainly what Jesus said in the Bible. I think that Jesus said “verily” twice because He knew how few people would actually believe these amazing words.
Jesus said that we would do His works because He was going to His Father. In other words, He would not be around in a physical body to do miracles in person that way that He had been doing them up until then. Therefore, it would be up to US as His Body on the earth to do in person the works that He would not be able to do in person. Jesus still works miracles, but today He uses believers to accomplish them.
He went on to assure us that we could ask for anything in His name, and HE would do it. This is another way to see His works done; we can ask the Father for things in the name of Jesus and receive them. Jesus said that if we ask anything in His name, He will do it, so we can ask for healing in His name and He will do the healing, because healing is a subset of anything. Anyone can go to the Father and receive healing in the name of Jesus for himself. In verse 12, He talked doing works that meet the needs of others. In verses 13 and 14, he talked about what receiving WE want (within the confines of Scripture) when we ask the Father for things in His name.
You don’t have to feel like you’re full of power when you use the name of Jesus to command sickness to leave. All YOU have to do is command the healing to be done in the name of Jesus and HE backs up His name by doing the healing. It’s so simple! Don’t make it hard.
I have heard the statement that the Greek word translated ask here really means demand or require. While that Greek word CAN mean these things, it is also used in more traditional cases that really do just mean ask, so I consider the Greek evidence for that statement at best inconclusive.
Many other things that need to be said about this passage are found in the discussions below.
See also:
Notes on John 15:16
The Works He Did You Can Do: Here’s How
YOU Can Do Miracles
Authorized Distributors
Jesus the Healer Has Never Changed
Your Authority over Sickness
We Hold the Keys
Different Ways to Get Healed
Power, Then and Now
The Power in the Name of Jesus
Healing and the Holy Spirit
God Uses Real People
Preparing to Minister Healing
BEING Anointed vs. FEELING Anointed
Conformed to Christ’s Image
Laying Hands on the Sick
All About Healing Services
The Insecure Preacher
Who You Are and What You Have
Healing and God’s Glory
What Galatians 2:20 Really Means
What if I Lay Hands on People and They Don’t Get Healed?
Is Deliverance a Dangerous Practice Best Left to Trained Exorcists?
Objection: John 14:12 Does Not Mean That We Can Heal as Jesus Did Because NO ONE Has Ever Duplicated His Ministry
Objection: John 14:12 in the Greek Is Collective – We Collectively Do Jesus’ Works but No One Person Will Do Them
Objection: John 14:12 Was Fulfilled in the Ministry of the Apostles
Objection: The Greater Works Jesus Talked About Were Spiritual – Raising the Spiritually Dead to Life
Objection: To Say that You Received Your Healing by Your Faith Glorifies You Instead of God
Objection: We Cannot Expect to Heal as Jesus Did Because We Are Not the Son of God
Objection: We Cannot Heal as Jesus Did Because He Had the Spirit Without Measure, While We Have the Spirit Given by Measure
Objection: Christ’s Command to HEAL THE SICK Stopped Before the Cross and Has Never Been Repeated Since Then, Even in Other New Testament Writings
Objection: Jesus Healed and Did Miracles to Prove His Deity
Objection: Signs Were Only to Follow Those Who Were There to Hear the Original Apostles
Objection: Teaching That Jesus Healed as an Anointed Man Is Heresy Because It Denies His Deity
Objection: Not All of “Those Who Believe” Will Pick Up Snakes, So Not All of “Those Who Believe” Are Supposed to Lay Hands on the Sick and Have Them Recover (Mark 16:17-18)
Objection: Mark 16:17-18 Can’t Mean that All Believers Can Lay Hands on the Sick Because Not All Believers Did So in the Bible
Objection: Mark 16:9-20 Was Not in Some Early Manuscripts
Objection: We Cannot Say That We Can Do the Acts That the Apostles Did, Because We Cannot Write Scripture, and They Did
Objection: Christ’s Healings Were Mostly Instantaneous; We Cannot Claim to Be Able to Do His Works When We Have So Few Instantaneous Miracles
Objection: If Everyone Could Perform Miracles, Paul’s Signs of an Apostle Would Be Meaningless – He’d Be Just Like Everyone Else