By Randy Nettles
In the Bible, a ‘sign’ is an outward, sensory event or object—natural or miraculous—that serves as evidence of God’s presence, power, covenant, or message. A ‘miracle‘ is an extraordinary event that manifests divine intervention in human affairs.
Jesus performed many miracles during his ministry. They included healings of all sorts, raising the dead, casting out demons from demon-possessed individuals, and power over nature (feeding the multitudes, walking on water, rebuking the storm, the miraculous catch of fish, etc.). Jesus’ miracles should have been a sign to the Jews that Jesus was who he said He was, “the Son of God” and their Messiah.
Paul said, “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:22). Early in Jesus’ ministry, the people wanted to see a sign from heaven, as in Moses’ time. The people said, “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat (they quoted Moses as recorded in Exodus 16:15).
Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world” (John 6:32-33). Jesus then said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
Even after Jesus performed countless miracles, the Jews still wanted a new, more miraculous sign from him to prove he was sent from God. In Matthew 12 (and again in Matthew 16), the ruling religious elites of Israel asked Jesus for a sign from heaven.
Jesus told them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39-40). Here, Jesus prophesied His death, and said the only sign he would give them would be His resurrection after three days and three nights in a tomb.
THE SON OF GOD
After Jesus walked on water and then calmed the storm, the disciples “came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth, thou art the Son of God” (Matthew 14:33). When Jesus asked Peter, who he thought Jesus was, Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). This truth that Peter spoke is the ‘rock’ (the foundation stone) that the Church is built upon (Matthew 16:18).
Even “unclean spirits” called Jesus “the Son of God” (Mark 3:11 and Luke 4:41), as did a demon-possessed man (Luke 8:28). Jesus himself said he was the Son of the heavenly Father in Luke 10:21-22, Matthew 11:25-27, John 5:17-47, John 6:37-40, John 10:25-38, and John 17. John the Baptist declared Jesus as the Son of God in John 3:22-36.
However, the religious elites and most of the Jews did not believe Jesus was their Messiah (John 12:37-41). Most of those who did believe in him did not confess him. “But because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:42-43).
THE MESSIAH (CHRIST) AND THE SON OF MAN
Jesus told the Jews several times who He was. In John 4:25-26, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman and those around them that he was the Messiah. “The woman said to Him, I know that the Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.” Peter also told Jesus, “Thou art the Christ” in Mark 8:29.
When Jesus was on trial before his crucifixion, the high priest, Caiaphas, asked him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed (God)? Jesus said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:61-62). Jesus was quoting from Daniel 7:13-14.
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14).
Jesus also spoke of “the Son of man” as mentioned in Daniel’s prophecy in his Olivet Discourse. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:30-31). Jesus called himself the “Son of man” 87 times in the New Testament.
MIRACLES AND SIGNS
In the Textus Receptus version of the New Testament, the words ‘miracles’ and ‘signs’ are both used as translations of the Greek word (transliteration) ‘sēmeion’ (Strong’s G4592), which is mentioned 77 times. The KJV translates Strong’s G4592 in the following manner: sign (50x), miracle (23x), wonder (3x), token (1x). John has the most mentions of ‘semeion,’ with 17 (14 ‘miracles’ and 3 ‘signs’ in the KJV).
A ‘miracle’ and a ‘sign’ describe the same events from different angles. A miracle points to the power, an act that the created world cannot produce on its own. A sign points to the meaning behind the designated event.
John stresses the deity of Christ. As the Son of God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus performed many miracles. John gives us seven miracles that serve as signs that Jesus is the miracle-working Messiah. In the Bible, seven is the number for spiritual perfection and completion. It is God’s perfect number.
Turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11)
Healing an official’s son at Capernaum (John 4:46-54)
Healing a man at Bethesda (John 5:1-15)
Feeding 5,000 plus women and children with five loaves and two fish (John 6:1-15)
Walking on water (John 6:16-21)
Healing a man born blind (John 9:1-41)
Raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44)
Here is a good article that explains the meaning behind these seven recorded miracles in John. The Seven Miracles In John :: By Jack Kelley - Rapture Ready. Near the end of his gospel account, John explained, “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).
John presents Jesus as the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. John’s record is amazing in revealing Jesus’ divinity and in recording the pre-incarnate life of Jesus as the Word and his role in creation as described in Genesis 1.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5). John then tells how the Word became flesh in human form and that His name is Jesus.
John records seven statements from Jesus that begin with “I am,” one of the Hebrew names for God. The Hebrew word (in Exodus 3:14) is ‘אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה’ (the transliteration is eh-yeh). The standard gematria of these four letters is 21 (3 × 7). The ordinal gematria (the order of letters) is 21 as well. In the Bible, 3 is the number of divine perfection (the Trinity), and 7 is the number of spiritual perfection (the sevenfold Holy Spirit). There are 21 chapters in John.
1. “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
2. “I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
3. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7).
4. “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
5. “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
6. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
7. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman” (John 15:1).
THE LAST TRUMPET ON THE LAST DAY
Paul explains the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, in which he mentions “the last trumpet.” “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (ESV - 1 Corinthians 15:52).
I believe the main reason the trumpet that is sounded at the Rapture is called the last trumpet is that it occurs on the last day of the Church. The Church began on the day of Pentecost (known as Shavuot to the Jews) and will end on the day of the Rapture. It will be the last day for Christians on the earth in our earthly bodies and the last day for Christians in heaven without a body. It will be such a magnificent and joyous event that even Jesus and the archangel will give a great shout of victory.
“The last day” (not “last days”) is mentioned seven times in the New Testament, all of them in John. I believe John is referring to the Rapture in several of these verses. John wrote the book of John in approximately 95 AD. He was familiar with Paul’s teachings and writings, including 1 Corinthians, which was written in 56 AD, so he would also have been familiar with the concept of the Rapture.
The seven references to “the last day” are found in John 6, 7, 11, and 12:
1. “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39).
2. “And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40).
3. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).
4. “Whomsoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54).
5. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37).
6. “Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24).
7. “He that rejects me, and receives not my words, hath one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).
There are two main Scriptures in John that record Jesus’ words regarding the resurrection and the rapture (”raising up”), which Jesus hinted at but didn’t teach extensively. The first is a conversation between Martha and Jesus before Lazarus’ resurrection. “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).
Compare John 11:25-26 (and John 14:1-3) to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
The second Scripture in which Jesus mentions the Rapture is found in the 14th chapter of John. “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).
During Jesus’ ministry, he raised three people back to life. In Luke 7:11-17, Jesus raised a widow’s son from the dead. In Mark 5:21-43, Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. The third resurrection was when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He had been dead and in a tomb for four days.
“Each of these was a real death and a real return. But none of them were permanent. The widow’s son, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus all died again eventually, as everyone does. That is the quiet point the gospels make about this group. These three raisings were signs, not the main event. They were rehearsals, pointing ahead to the one resurrection that would not be undone, when Jesus himself walked out of his own tomb never to die again. The three he raised reclaimed their lives for a while. He gave his away and took it up for good.” {1} The Miracles of Jesus: A Complete List by Type · The Bible Well
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS
Jesus predicted his death to his disciples at least four times in the Gospels. The first time Jesus predicted his death is detailed in Matthew 16:21–23, Mark 8:31–32, and Luke 9:21–22. Jesus predicted his death a second time in Matthew 17:22–23, Mark 9:30–32, and Luke 9:43–45. In all of these verses, Jesus told his disciples he would be killed and be raised on the third day.
The third time Jesus predicted His death was in Matthew 20:17–19, Mark 10:32–34, and Luke 18:31–34. This occurred on the road to Jerusalem, where Jesus and the disciples were traveling for Passover (Jesus’s last Passover). This time Jesus gives the most detailed prediction of how he would be killed. Jesus told them, “The Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again” (Matthew 20:18-19).
In the Book of John, Jesus alludes to the crucifixion as the means of his death by saying he would be “lifted up“ (John 3:14, John 8:28, and John 12:32-33). He also alludes to being killed and raised on the third day by saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19).
“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life”(John 3:13-15). In these verses, Jesus compares his being lifted up on a cross to Moses lifting up the bronze serpent, as described in Numbers 21:4-9.
In Moses’ case, whoever was bitten by a snake and looked upon the serpent of brass lived (v. 9). Likewise, whoever looks upon the cross and believes on Jesus as their savior will live eternally. We may be bitten by sin, but there is a remedy: by believing on the one the Father sent (John 6:29), Jesus Christ, who was lifted up on a cross so we could be saved.
Jesus then reveals His divinity and the purpose of His life and death. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-19).
I believe Jesus’ greatest miracle was raising Lazarus from the dead after four days in a tomb. Earlier, upon hearing that Lazarus was sick, Jesus deliberately did not go to Lazarus to heal him. Instead, he waited a few days until Lazarus had died before going to him. Jesus chose not to heal Lazarus, as he had something far greater in mind. He wanted to demonstrate once and for all who He really was and what He was sent to do.
When Jesus arrived at the home of Martha and Mary, Martha told Jesus, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:21-24).
“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25-26). Jesus is basically telling Martha that there is no need to look forward to the last day; He is (not ‘will be’) the Resurrection and the Life. Jesus has power over life and death. He who is life can surely restore life.
Martha replied, “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world” (John 11:27). When Mary came, she repeated what Martha had told Jesus: that if he had come earlier, he could have saved Lazarus. When Jesus saw her weeping along with the Jews there, his spirit groaned with sadness. John 11:35, the shortest verse in the bible, simply says, “Jesus wept.” Here, Jesus shows his humanity.
Lazarus’ body had been prepared and placed in a cave for burial, with a huge stone placed at the entrance. Jesus told the men to take away the stone. Martha told Jesus that Lazarus would stink as he had been dead for four days. Jesus replied, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).
Jesus then cried with a loud voice and said, “Lazarus, come forth!” And Lazarus came forth bound in his grave clothes. Jesus told them to remove his wraps and let him go. This miracle, more than any other, shows Jesus’ Godhood. Jesus said, in John 5:21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”
After this miracle, some of the Jews went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. The Pharisees and the religious elites convened a meeting and said amongst themselves, “What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” (John 11:47-48).
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, “Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (John 11:49-50). From that day forward, the Jews plotted to kill Jesus. Caiaphas had unintentionally prophesied about Jesus’ sacrificial death. God used him to explain Jesus’ death, even though Caiaphas didn’t realize the true reason.
Yes, one man, Jesus, died not only for the Jewish nation, but for the whole world, and not for the self-righteous reason Caiaphas imagined. Jesus once said, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 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. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18).
Lazarus is mentioned again in John 12. Six days before Jesus’ last Passover, he stopped at the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, and ate supper with them. Many Jews knew that Jesus was there, and they went to Jerusalem not only for Jesus’ sake, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead (John 12:9). “Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus” (John 12:10).
The raising of Lazarus publicly reveals Jesus’ sovereignty over death, confirming His central claim to be “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). This miracle confirms Jesus’s teaching that He and the Father are one. “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Lazarus’ resurrection prefigures the ultimate victory Jesus will display in His own death and resurrection a short while later.
CHRIST, THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THE DEAD
Jesus’ death was accompanied by at least four miraculous events: a supernatural darkness over the land for three hours (Matthew 27:45), the splitting of the curtain in the Temple (Matthew 27:51), an earthquake where the rocks were rent and the graves were opened (Matthew 27:52), and “many bodies of the saints arose, and came out of the graves after Jesus’ resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matthew 27:52-53).
Paul said that “Christ is the firstfruits of them that slept“ (1 Corinthians 15:20). Have you ever wondered why Jesus and Paul referred to death as sleeping? It’s because death is but a brief loss of consciousness (like sleep), followed by an awakening to life. Our souls and spirits do not die and stay dead.
“Firstfruits were the first part of the harvest that faithful Jews brought to the Temple as an offering. Although Christ was not the first to rise from the dead (he raised Lazarus and others), he was the first to never die again (with the possible exception of Enoch and Elijah). He is the forerunner for us, the proof of our eventual resurrection to eternal life.” {2} Life Application Study Bible (KJV). Pg. 2295.
Paul then says, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming“ (1 Corinthians 15:21-23).
Christ is the firstfruits of the righteous to be resurrected into eternal life with God. I believe Christ’s ‘coming’ in verse 23 refers to both the Rapture and the Second Coming. The next ‘firstfruits’ to be raised up will be the Church at the Rapture. The last ‘firstfruits’ (that the Bible mentions) will be the Old Testament saints and Tribulation saints after the Second Coming.
Just as Lazarus’ resurrection was the forerunner of Jesus’ resurrection, so will the Rapture be the forerunner of the Second Coming.
Sometime in the very near future, there will be a great ‘sign‘ to the Jews that their long-awaited Messiah (whom they missed the first time) is coming. It is a sign that will take place in the heavens and is commonly referred to as the Rapture. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
This heavenly sign will precede Jesus’ return to the earth by at least seven years (the long-delayed 70th week of Daniel 9:24, 27). So, to all you Jews and those who require a sign, when you see the heavenly sign (and miracle) of the Rapture, you know your Messiah is near; “so look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Randy Nettles
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Thanks for another great article, Randy. It was an eye-opener to read about the many references Jesus made to “the last day”!
I wonder how Lazarus, Mary, and Martha handled Jesus’ crucifixion and rising up again on the third day. A question for when we meet them. 🥰