Understanding Christianity and Islam - Part 2 (Jesus’ Miracles: A Prophet or the Lord?)

Jesus’ Miracles: A Prophet or the Lord?

Jesus of Nazareth is honored across various faiths as a figure of awe and strength. One of the most extraordinary parts of His ministry was the miracles He performed, healing the sick, opening blind eyes, calming storms, and even raising the dead. But what do these miracles reveal about His identity?

Was Jesus merely a great prophet working by the power of God, or do His miracles reveal something far more?

1. A Shared Recognition of Miracles

Both Christianity and Islam affirm that Jesus (known as Isa in Islam) performed miracles. The Qur’an attributes several miraculous deeds to Him:

  • Speaking from the cradle (Surah 19:29-33)

  • Creating a bird from clay and breathing life into it (Surah 3:49)

  • Healing the blind and the leper (Surah 3:49)

  • Raising the dead, all “by Allah’s permission”

In Islam, these miracles authenticate Jesus as a great prophet, a servant of God endowed with divine support. However, He is not considered divine Himself.

In contrast, the New Testament presents Jesus’ miracles not just as signs of prophetic power, but as revelations of His divine identity.

“These are written so 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 20:31

2. The Nature of Jesus’ Miracles in the Gospels

Jesus didn’t just heal or deliver; He did so with divine authority and without appealing to a higher power, as prophets typically do. Consider these examples:

  • He forgave sins before healing (Mark 2:5-11), something only God can do.

  • He calmed the storm with a word, and His disciples asked, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:41)

  • He raised Lazarus after four days in the grave, saying, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25-43).

  • He cast out demons with a command, and the demons recognized Him as the “Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24).

These acts were not just signs of power; they were windows into His identity. He didn’t say, “In the name of God, be healed.” He said, “I say to you, get up.”

3. Miracles as Signs of His Divine Mission

In the Gospel of John, miracles are called “signs,” pointing beyond the acts themselves to the nature of Jesus as the Son of God:

  • Turning water to wine (John 2): Authority over creation.

  • Feeding 5,000 (John 6): He is the Bread of Life.

  • Healing a blind man (John 9): He is the Light of the World.

  • Raising Lazarus (John 11): He is the Resurrection and the Life.

These weren’t just wonders to impress; they were theological statements.

4. Prophet or Something More?

In the Bible, prophets prayed, waited, and operated under God’s leading. But Jesus often acted as the source of the miracle itself.

Prophet

Action

Jesus’ Distinction

Moses

Parted the sea by lifting his staff

Jesus walked on water by His own will

Elijah

Called on God to raise the dead

Jesus raised the dead by His command

Elisha

Healed through intercession

Jesus healed by speaking or touching

All prophets

Pointed to God

Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)

No prophet ever claimed to be the resurrection, the life, or the way to the Father. Jesus did, and He proved it through His miracles.

 5. Scholarly Observations

  • Craig Keener, a New Testament scholar, documents in his two-volume work on miracles that the Gospel accounts reflect credible patterns of eyewitness testimony.

  • Richard Bauckham affirms that the Gospel writers preserved firsthand reports, making Jesus’ miracles part of verifiable memory, not legend.

  • N.T. Wright and Larry Hurtado both point out that the earliest Christians didn’t just admire Jesus, they worshipped Him, a fact hard to explain unless His miracles were understood as divine acts.

 Why It Matters

If Jesus' miracles were only those of a prophet, then He joins a noble line of God’s messengers. But if they were acts of divine self-disclosure, then we are faced with someone unlike any other.

He did not come to merely point the way to God, but to show that He is the Way.

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  John 14:6

Final Thought: What Will You Do With Jesus?

Miracles can astonish, but they are meant to lead us to worship. Jesus' signs demand a response, not just awe, but faith.

He invites not just admiration, but surrender.
 Not just belief in His power, but trust in His person.

A prophet can bring healing,
 But only the Son can say,
 “Your sins are forgiven.”

 

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