Faith and the Miraculous

Faith and the Miraculous

Modern man wants a religion that will provide him comfort, fellowship, counsel and consolation. His education, pride and culture often drives him to question the existence of a personal God that created the universe and that on occasion intervenes in it. Especially does he resist the idea that God has rules that he expects man to obey and that he will punish those who rebel against his will.

Man much prefers to believe in a distant, uninvolved God who perhaps created matter but left all things to evolve without his attention or involvement. The idea of miracles he finds too hard to believe since he cannot see such things demonstrated today. The idea of a supernatural book, given to man from God, perfect in content seems incredible to him. Jesus, he accepts and admires but he cannot bring himself to believe in his virgin birth, his perfection, his miracles, etc.

The question of miracles rests squarely upon the existence and nature of God. If there is no God there is no need to discuss miracles. When discussing this topic with skeptics and unbelievers we must first convince them it is entirely reasonable to believe in God. When discussing it with Christians we approach it on the assumption that they believe in the God revealed in the Bible. If God exists he is by definition fully capable of doing all these miraculous things recorded in the Bible. The fact that God is almighty means that nothing is too hard for him (Gen. 18:14). If he cannot work in a supernatural way, then he is not God.

The cosmos has not always existed, else it would have run down and deteriorated into dust. The second law of thermo-dynamics says that all things are gradually wearing out and deterioating. Just as bodies grow old and wear out so do the major things of the universe. The sun will gradually consuming itself. Great boulders are crushed and broken by glaciers, gravity , freezing, floods, and wind and erosion. Someone or something had to have created the cosmos. That someone is God. The creation was a grand series of miracles occasioned by his spoken word (Ps. 33:6, 9). He tells us that "what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear" (Heb. 11:3).

When he created the cosmos and set it in motion God instituted an untold series of laws to govern all things in it, whether living or non-living. Once enacted, these rules are static, unchangeable and universal in nature and man must comply with them. The progress of civilization has consisted of man discovering these laws, conforming to them or learning how to temporarily overcome them. The ability to fly is one of these accomplishments. If God could create the cosmos and make the laws of nature that govern it, he would have no difficulty in suspending those rules suspending those laws when he so desired in order to punish him enemies or bless his people.

If he is God and he wanted man to do his will, he would have no problem communicating that will to humanity He designed language. It is no marvel that God then would communicate to man in the language he made. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that "God...hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son" (Heb. 1:1).

When we contemplate the miracles, of the Bible we need to distinguish between the three avenues through which God works in our world. First and most commonly, he governs the world by his natural laws. Thus Jesus said he sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Sunshine and rain, seed time and harvest bless all alike, be they saints or sinners ( Matt. 5:45). Likewise disasters, caused by nature, are indiscriminate, harming both good and bad. Second, God manages the affairs of the world to work all things together for good to those who love him (Rom. 8:28). Thus he responds to the prayers of his children and sends judgements on the wicked. Third, God has on rare occasions intervened in the affairs of man with miraculous demonstrations of his power. Among these were his judgements on Egypt, the opening of the Red Sea and his preservation of and provision for the Hebrews in their wilderness wanderings; His protection of his fledgling nation against their heathen enemies; the birth and ministry of his Son and the founding and initial expansion of the church. The miracles of the apostolic age faded and disappeared following the completion of the New Testament documents and the death of the apostles (I Cor. 13:8-10). Their purpose had been accomplished.

While we affirm and defend the miracles revealed in the pages of the Bible, we do not see such miracles being performed by man today. We do not say that God cannot do such if he so desires, but observation tells us that the miracles claimed by modern faith-healers are poor imitations of the genuine miracles done by Christ and his apostles. Compared with the mighty wonders recorded in Scripture they are found wanting and we reject them as counterfeit.

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