The Nature of Miracles
A miracle is traditionally understood as an inexplicable, extraordinary event that defies scientific and natural law. We should understand this is perhaps not the best definition of a miracle. The main purpose of miracles in the Bible was not to authenticate or validate the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. Miracles were a sign that the kingdom of heaven had come to earth in and through the person of Jesus. Signs and wonders invited those to see - spiritually and naturally - the reality of the kingdom. Miracles reveal the nature of Christ.
Jesus Christ as the Word of God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is scientific law embodied. The miracles He performed - changing water into wine, calming the storm, raising the dead, multiplying food, etc. - were not extraordinary events to Him. They were simply His reality. His miracles invited those around Him into an experience of God’s realm, accessible by faith. God’s reality is far more real than what we perceive as our reality.
The first thing to understand is that miracles happen around us every single day. The natural Creation order is a sign and a wonder. Human childbirth is a miracle. Countless and innumerable miracles, both small and large, occur every single moment. Science is what helps us to understand and grasp these miracles that are already present in our lives. As we grow in faith - intuitive, experiential faith - our eyes open to see God’s intimate involvement in every moment of our lives. Our awareness and recognition of these “natural miracles” increases as our faith increases.
Miracles affirm (not confirm) the present reality of salvation, the kingdom, and the overflowing grace of God. They testify. To testify is to bear witness. Jesus did not need to perform miracles to accomplish His mission on earth. Rather, the miracles were a testimony to the greater reality of God’s presence, now in the midst of the people on earth. They are a revelation of a reality: in Christ, there is no longer any separation between God’s realm and ours.
Hebrews 2:3-4 (NIV) “how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”
John 2:11 (NIV) “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
Acts 14:2-3 (NASB) “But the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands.”
There are two main types of miracles in the Bible: those wrought by God alone and those wrought by God through human agents. Most, if not all, will agree that God can do anything, anywhere, at any time. There is no question about the miracles performed by God Himself in both the Old and New Testaments. However, questions and opposition always arise when miracles become associated with human agents.
Does God need humans to perform miracles? Of course, the “correct” theological answer is no. So why did (and do) miracles happen through the means of human vessels? The answer is that miracles done through humans reveal the nature of Christ. How? A miracle, in essence, is the partnering of the divine will with the human will in order to accomplish a (beneficial) change in the natural realm. Thus, Jesus is the greatest miracle of all time because He is both fully God and fully man. Two natures - that of the divine and that of the human - unite in Him.
Peter writes that we have become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). When a human “accomplishes” a miracle, Christ is revealed, because God’s divine power flows through human nature in order to influence the natural realm. The result is a manifestation in the natural of the spiritual reality of the kingdom of heaven. Miracles done by men have both a divine nature and a human nature. It pleases God to involve us in miracles because they ultimately point to His Son.
The idea that God wants to use humans to accomplish miracles is wildly offensive to many. Yet, this idea is clearly supported by the Bible. Throughout history, God has used ordinary men and women to accomplish His extraordinary purposes on earth. The disciples and apostles were not gifted with a temporary endowment of supernatural power to “prove” the deity of Jesus. They were, by faith, accessing a greater reality that was already making itself known through the person and work of Jesus Christ. God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11; Galatians 2:6; Acts 15:9). We have the same access to the Holy Spirit that they did. What is different is the quality of our faith (See Hebrews 11).
However, miracles in and of themselves do not lead anyone to belief. Rather, they are an invitation into a relationship with the living God, who is in all and through all things. Miracles do not prove the gospel message, and they are not exclusive to Christianity. They have been recorded, seen, and heard in many different faiths and spiritualities throughout the centuries. For example, the Jewish exorcists in Jesus’ time were able to cast out demons, prophesy in God’s name, and perform miracles, yet Jesus rebuked them because they had no true relationship with the living God (See Matthew 7:22-23). Although they were able to access and manifest the laws and realities of the spiritual world, their authentic belief was non-existent.
Where sin increases, grace increases all the more. We are living in an age of the miraculous. God is increasing our ability to manifest and access the realities of heaven in order to shine the light of His Son into the earth. A generation hungry for spiritual truth needs to see a Church that lives in and manifests an experience of God. Religious and spiritual ideas are useless unless their application can truly and dramatically change lives. Our theology must always lead us into His greater reality, of which it is a servant.
Miracles need not be extraordinary or uncommon. For God they are normal, and they should be for us as well. In Christ, we live in a greater reality - His reality. Our eyes are fixed not on what is seen, but what is unseen. Miracles are an overflow of a life lived in true intimacy with Christ. They are a fruit of faith that is not merely logical and intellectual, but experiential and intuitive. As authentic faith grows, so does the presence of the miraculous in our lives. Authentic faith is faith built not on arguments and facts, but an experience of a Person.
