John 11:23-44

Number Seven

Chapters two and four of John each say something odd. When Jesus changes the water in to wine it says, “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.” Then in chapter four after He heals the official’s son it says, “This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.”

There are two reasons this is odd. The first reason is that while changing water wine may have been His first miracle the healing of the official’s so was certainly not the second. We know this because at the close of chapter two when Jesus was at the Passover feast in Jerusalem we read, “...many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.” The second reason is because nowhere else do we find anyone else numbering Jesus’ miracles. What’s up?

John doesn’t record many miracles. He gives us much more of Jesus’ dialogue than the other gospel writers but only a few miracles. This doesn’t mean that John didn’t see Jesus do many miracles. John himself writes, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.” (20:30) Yet, John only recorded eight and for reason he wanted us to count them.

Changing water to wine.
Healing the official’s son.
Healing the cripple at the pool of Bethesda.
Feeding the five thousand.
Walking on water.
Healing the man born blind.
Raising Lazarus from the dead.

That’s right. Number seven, the number of perfection and of completion, was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. I wouldn’t make too big a deal out of this because it is somewhat conjecture, but to me this is John’s way of saying, “The ultimate reason Jesus came was to give life to the dead.” We were all dead in our sins and while it may seem that He came too late, in fact He came at the perfect time. He came and called the dead to life!

Of course there is one more that goes even beyond our concept of perfection. Number eight? The resurrection. Jesus not only calls the dead to life. He has defeated death itself. I have a feeling that in eternity we will find that there are even greater numbers beyond eight, but first things first. He is the resurrection and the life. Because He lives, we can live also.