“Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to My coming. He saw it and was glad. The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can You say you have seen Abraham?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!” At that point they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple (John 8:56-59).

While studying the Bible, I have discovered that there were people who rejected Jesus because they didn’t believe Him; but, in the verses that followed, Jesus would confirm to those that remained with Him that He had spoken the truth. Just imagine for a moment; there will be people in hell that talked to Jesus face to face and walked away from their only way to heaven, because they just wouldn’t believe Him. Yet, we know that if they had hung out with Him a little longer, they would have seen the confirmation of the truth. Doesn’t the Bible tell us that God confirms His Word with signs and wonders following?

There were people in Jesus’ day that sought a sign from Him that would prove to them His true identity. Jesus told those who sought signs that there would be none given except for His burial and resurrection. Yet, we see where Jesus would confirm to those who did BELIEVE on Him that He was the Son of God. So what can we conclude by these truths so far? Signs and wonders won’t make a doubting Thomas believe. But if we will take Jesus at His Word, then He will confirm to us that His Word is the truth that saves us from our sins.

Example: God has never, nor will He ever give the Holy Spirit to someone who doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God in the flesh. However, for those who place their faith in Jesus as the Christ, God will confirm their faith by imparting into their hearts the Holy Spirit to confirm to them that they are now His children. So, without faith, we can’t please or agree with God, but when we believe in Jesus, He will give us His witness.

To fully appreciate what I’m about to share, please read the last part of chapter 8 and the first part of chapter 9. Throughout chapter 8, the Pharisees are opposed to Jesus and tried to make Him out to be a liar and a blasphemer; they did this because Jesus told them that He was the Son of God, and that they weren’t the children of Abraham. Finally, He told them that He existed before Abraham was even born. When they heard this truth, it caused them to be filled with rage and violence, and they tried to stone Him. As Jesus was departing from the temple, He saw a man that had been blind since birth. Remember, He has just been threatened by a group of religious zealots, and now He is about to confirm His true identity, but they won’t be a part of it. Jesus spit on the dust of the ground and made clay; He then took the clay and placed it on the sockets where this man’s eyes were supposed to be and told the man to go and wash at the pool of Siloam. Once the clay was washed off of his eyes, the man had sight for the first time in his life. The Jews knew how God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and, here Jesus is, using dust to form eyes for this blind man. Do you suppose the people put the two things together and realized that they were standing in the presence of God that day? Through this creative miracle, Jesus confirmed what the religious Pharisees wouldn’t even hear.

What are you faced with in your life today? Do you have faith that Jesus is Lord of your life? If we will only believe, then He will confirm His Word with signs and wonders on our behalf. What a mighty God we serve!  —submitted by Asa Dockery, US