The other thing in which the miracles of Christ are different from those performed by other persons, is the way in which they were done.  The prophets and apostles did their mighty works in the name of God, or of Christ.  Thus when Peter and John healed the lame man at the gate of the temple they said:—­“In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”  Acts iii:  6.  But Jesus had all the power in himself by which those wonderful things were done.  He could say to the leper,—­“I will; be thou clean.”  He could say to the sick man:—­“Take up thy bed and walk.”  When speaking of his death and resurrection, he could very well say that it was his own power which would control it all.  His life was in his own hands.  It was true, as he said, “No man taketh it from me; but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.”  John x:  18.  And it was the same with all his other mighty works.  He had all the power in himself that was needed to do them.

And these miracles of Christ were the proofs that he was the Messiah, the great Saviour, of whom the prophets had spoken.  This was what Nicodemus meant when he said to Jesus:—­“We know that thou art a teacher come from God:  for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”  John iii:  2.  And Jesus himself referred to his miracles as the proof that God had sent him.  John v:  36; x:  25.

And this was what he meant by the message which he sent to John the Baptist, when his disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Are thou he that should come, or look we for another?” Jesus answered and said unto them, “Go, and show 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 unto them.”  Matt, xi:  2-6.  These were the very things which the prophets had foretold that Christ would do when he came.  Is. xxix:  18. xxxv:  4-6. xlii:  7.

It is clear from these passages that all the miracles performed by our Lord were intended to teach this lesson, that he was the great Saviour of whom the prophets had spoken.  But then, in addition to this, these wonderful works of Jesus were made use of by him to show that he has power to do everything for his people that they may need to have him do.

It is impossible for us to speak of all the miracles of Christ.  We can only make selections from them, as we did with the parables in the last chapter.  In looking at these we may see Jesus teaching us that he has power to do four things for his people.

In the first place some of the miracles of Christ teach us that he has great power to—­HELP.

We see this in the account given us of the miraculous draught of fishes.  Luke v:  1-11.