Signs, Wonders, and Miracles
Signs, wonders, and miracles serve to reveal the character and nature of Jesus. The miracles recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John not only authenticate the ministry of Christ, but reveal the nature of God and His kingdom.
The gospel accounts are brilliant and multi-layered, serving as testimonies to the spiritual, political, and social realities of the first-century Jesus movement. Their main intent, however, is to reveal Jesus and His kingdom come to earth. In Jesus, the natural and spiritual realms collide. Miracles reveal the heart of the Father and prophetically disclose heaven’s secrets.
Take, for example, the healing of the blind man in Mark 8:22-25. Jesus spits and puts His hand on the blind man. Jesus asks the man, “What do you see?” The man responds with, “I see people, they look like trees.” When Jesus puts his hand on the man a second time, his eyesight is totally restored.
The point isn’t that Jesus’ spit wasn’t powerful enough to heal the man in one go. Mark is showing that the man’s spiritual eyes were opened before his natural eyes. His response that people look like trees is an obvious allusion to the blessed man of Psalm 1 (Psalm 1:3). The healing power of Jesus allows the man to see in two realms - first the spiritual, and then the natural. The miracle is revealing the kingdom principle that Jesus opens both the spiritual and natural eyes of man. Our spiritual vision directly influences how we interpret and experience life in the natural (Matthew 6:21-23).
The Father grants all of humanity access to heavenly signs and wonders because they reveal His glorious heart (John 14:12-14). They are prophetic signposts pointing to the Father. Miracles lay bare the kingdom.
I will illustrate with a testimony. This summer, I opened my wallet to discover money, which had not previously been there, had mysteriously appeared. A single $20 bill had become two $50 bills. I asked Him what this meant and He said, “I am showing you in the natural what will be given to you this year in the spiritual: five times more of Me.”
A few months later I felt the Lord ask me to share this testimony in a meeting and give an activation. I shared the testimony and pulled out of my pocket a $20 bill I had just been given. I felt the Spirit highlight someone who would take the bill and declare multiplication over it. She did so. I asked everyone to check their wallet. Someone in the meeting discovered a new $5 bill had suddenly appeared in their wallet. This person now had two $5 bills in his wallet. It was becoming evident the Lord was doing something with twos and fives. A little while later, I was in the restroom sharing the testimony with a friend who had not been present for this unusual miracle. Suddenly, I felt prompted to have him check his wallet. He pulled out his wallet and, to his amazement, discovered two $1 bills ($2) and a $5 bill.
The unusual divine focus on twos and fives continued for hours, with a friend discovering a $5 bill in his backpack and me receiving a $250 missions donation. I asked the Lord to clarify what He was doing. He reminded me of Himself feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. This divine focus on twos and fives had Biblical precedence! The Lord reminded me, “I am supplying all of your needs, including financial provision. I am showing you in your experience that I am Jehovah Jirah.”
The Lord reveals His spiritual attributes through unusual miracles manifest in the natural realm. He is Immanuel - God with us. Our relationship with Him can be as tangible and experiential as we want it to be - it is just a matter of embracing childlike faith and renewing our minds to believe for the unusual and “impossible.”
Moving in miracles requires an awareness of our identity in Christ. Through the blood Jesus, we have been born again as a new humanity that walks in intimacy with God by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23). We are able to do all of the things Jesus did, not for the sake of ourselves, but to reveal the kingdom on earth (Mark 16:18; John 14:12). A signs and wonders lifestyle flows naturally when we simply rest in the heart of Jesus (John 13:23). As we approach Him with child-like faith, He reveals Himself to us in ways that captivate our imagination and instill lasting wonder.
