John 14:12 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Our most gracious and kind and loving Lord, knowing and feeling the despair that His Disciples were suffering at that time, He began to strongly comfort and reassure them. He told them that, yes, He was going to the Father, but they would be empowered to do mighty “works”, that He would answer their prayers, that “another Comforter” would come to them, that He would abide with them, that they would be taught by the Holy Comforter, and that He was leaving His Peace with them (John 14:13-31). The degree of these blessings was unique to the Disciples/Apostles, for it would be their duty, as arms of the Lord, to initially propagate His Church-Kingdom upon the foundation that He had established. In explaining what was ahead of them, our Lord refers to them “that believeth”, which requires careful examination! The root of the word “believeth” is the same word that is otherwise translated, “faith”, and we are clearly told that Jesus is both “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2); that is, He exclusively originated it within us, and He empowers us with it. Furthermore, this word is in the ‘historical present tense’, meaning that they’ve been in the state of belief, are in a state of belief, and will continue in a state of belief; for they didn’t develop or acquire it for themselves, neither did another person secure it for them; but, it was endowed within them by their Lord. So, the point is, that within them they already had the Spirit of God, and at the time appointed (Acts 2), the Holy Spirit would come upon them and would endow them with such power and wisdom that they would indeed be able to do the mighty “works” assigned to them as Apostles. He tells them that they would be empowered to do “greater works than these”; that is, “greater” because their “works” would extend far beyond Jerusalem and Judea, they would reach many more people among both the Jews and Gentiles, they would extend the Church and Gospel all over the known world, and Churches would be established for worship and for the joy of the Lord’s Children of many different languages. And, down to this very moment, we are benefiting from and rejoicing in the “greater works” that our Lord empowered His Apostles to do in their day.