After addressing their desire to follow Him and giving them the promise of a future journey to the place He now goes to prepare for them, He appeals to them a second time for continued faith in the interdwelling nature of Him and the Father. The ultimate witness to this was His works. Those works stemmed from their abiding relationship. They could not have been done under any other power, thus sufficient proof the Father was with Him. The only two alternatives to this power were: (1) Himself (to which He will deny), or (2) from Satan (which is blasphemy, or the Unpardonable Sin -- attributing to Satan the power in Christ's works). (We will address this point in Ch.15.) John has stated from the outset that Jesus had been given this power (authority from the Father) to be used expressly for securing souls from Satan's kingdom. Jesus will confess to the Father in a very short time that He has utilized it precisely for this purpose. It is this Work performed in this Power that verifies the Father-Son relationship. Jesus is doing on Earth only what the Father purposed and empowered Him to do. Through these works, there can be no question of both the Father's existence and His confirmation that this Son was sent from Him!

Follow with me for a moment. For the sake of convenience, speaking in the dual gender sense, merely by your presence I know that you are a son with a father, but I do not know which father. If I do not know you to trust you, then your word alone is not sufficient for me to believe you are the son of the Father with whom I am most familiar. But when you do those unique things that I know He alone is capable of doing, and that He would not impart that power to someone He did not authorize to act in His behalf, then I must accept you through the proof of your works. So what we have is the Son's mere Presence confirming a father, but his unique Performance confirming the Father. This Father is confirmed then by, (1) the Son's Mere Presence, and (2) His Indisputable Unique Performance. The Son is confirmed by, (1) His Authorized Public Performance, and (2) The Father's own words of acceptance (12:28). Finally, to not accept you based solely on your word is one thing, but if I refuse to accept you after seeing the conclusive evidence of your works, then I have rejected your father who sent and authorized you to do them; I am now at odds with him as well. Whatever my relationship was with him prior to my rejection of you is now in serious jeopardy. Is this not where it stood with Jesus and the Pharisees? Therefore, everyone must know that it is through Jesus' works that His Father-Son relationship is undeniable. Only this one will have the power to act in His behalf.

It is incumbent upon the disciples to grasp and embrace this concept for the works they must do after He is gone. Their works will not happen if they fail to abide in that Father-son relationship, as He is in the Father. But if they do (the many new adopted sons who will grow in number), through the gift and power of the Spirit, they will do greater works than He. His work was local, theirs is to be worldwide.

Our world today has yet to see one who has thrown off the yoke of tradition, been purged of the "leaven of the Pharisee," sold out to the Spirit, and who, with his or her whole life, serves God, not man, not accumulating unto himself treasures of this world to vie for his heart's affection, but daily serving and making deposits in that heavenly kingdom. The thought of the result in this one cowers most of us. For this individual would be radical, a "lunatic" in the eyes of most, gone beyond living on the fringe, no longer "one of us" and unaccepted by most. Do we need to ask ourselves, dare we ask ourselves: what are our "greater works" today? Who do we desire to be accepted by the most, man (like the Pharisee), or God? Tough question? We do like to "fit in," don't we? Jesus taught that in one totally sold out to Him, He has the net effect of a sword who separates, even among closest of family.

To this individual, all will be granted whatsoever he asks of the Father in Jesus' name. Know the lesson of the Laodicean Christians whose "works" causes Christ not to grant their prayers, but desires to expel them from Him. They no longer are abiding in Him, and the picture is of Jesus locked outside the doors of their Church and individual hearts and lives -- Prayerless, Powerless, Christians. No "greater works" here!

Obedience to the Father, motivated by love for the Son, results in receiving His Spirit of Power. Evidence of one's love for Him is seen only in obedience to Him. Failure to obey is failure in love. Love and obedience cannot be separated. To love Him is to serve Him. Know this truth:
( I Jn.3:24)

Grief in the Savior's heart is caused when one of His "little children" has seen Him and fails to serve Him. As with the disciples and the Laodiceans, He will employ all His methods to lovingly bring a resistant one into compliance with a humble heart.

So, He has given to us an Absolute Assurance: If we abide in Him as new sons, observing to do as He commands, a secret Power that the world cannot know will be in us, empowering us for service to others and battle against Satan. "SEE" = theoreo, meaning "to view, see." Not horao of vs.9, which means, "to discern", or "take heed," clearly stated in vs.7. Therefore, the world theoreos, "views," but does not horao, "discern" Him. He is hidden from the eyes of this antagonistic world (this is why skeptics just don't "get it"), the secret Agent of the Savior, a Spy sent among Satan's kingdom, wooing men, women, and children from his snares to Christ, whose hearts have been prepared through the message of the Cross. This is why the message of the Cross is not only central, but vital for the one to hear that the Spirit may access his heart for regeneration. He is on a top priority secret mission, and when He has wooed His last one, His mission through the believer on Earth will be done and Christ will then return, unseen to the world, to appear to His Host, leading them to that long-awaited topos prepared where Satan can never come! (Lk.16:26; Rev.20:10)