g them as the representative of the
Father, uttering His will, doing His works. These works might have
convinced them even if they were not spiritual enough to perceive that
His words were Divine utterances. But a time was coming when a
satisfying conviction of the truth that God had been present with them
in the presence of Jesus would be wrought in them. When, after His
departure, they found _themselves_ doing the works of God, greater works
than Jesus had done, when they found that the Spirit of truth dwelt in
them, imparting to them the very mind and life of Christ Himself, then
they should be certified of the truth that Jesus now declared, that the
Father was in Him and He in the Father. "At that day ye shall know that
I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." What their
understanding could not at present quite grasp, the course of events and
their own spiritual experience would make plain to them. When in the
prosecution of Christ's instructions they strove to fulfil His commands
and carry out His will upon earth, they would find themselves
countenanced and supported by powers unseen, would find their life
sustained by the life of Christ.

Jesus, then, speaks here of three grades of conviction regarding His
claim to be God's representative: three kinds of evidence--a lower, a
higher, and the highest. There is the evidence of His miracles, the
evidence of His words or His own testimony, and the evidence of the new
spiritual life He would maintain in His followers.

Miracles are not the highest evidence, but they are evidence. One
miracle might not be convincing evidence. Many miracles of the same
kind, such as a number of cures of nervous complaints, or several
successful treatments of blind persons, might only indicate superior
knowledge of morbid conditions and of remedies. A physician in advance
of his age might accomplish wonders. Or had all the miracles of Jesus
been such as the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, it might, with
a shade of plausibility, have been urged that this was legerdemain. But
what we see in Jesus is not power to perform an occasional wonder to
make men stare or to win for Himself applause, but power as God's
representative on earth to do whatever is needful for the manifestation
of God's presence and for the fulfilment of God's will. It may surely at
this time of day be taken for granted that Jesus was serious and true.
The works are given Him by the Father to do: it is as