Articles
Miracles
Miracles
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ~Arthur C. Clark
In Luke 7, messengers from John the Baptist come to Jesus and ask Him a question whether Jesus was “the One” or if they should look for another. His question likely stemmed from being in prison where, he thought, Jesus would set the righteous, like him, free as the Redeemer. (cf. Isaiah 61:1-3 and Malachi 4:2) Jesus’ answer lasts an hour as He starts working miracles. At the end, Jesus tells them to, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.”
Jesus tells them to “go and tell” what they had seen. The miracles were the answer to whether Jesus is who He says He is. Miracles define what is righteous and true because only one with the authority and power of God can make those miracles happen. Over the course of the New Testament, miracles continue to happen for that same purpose: to show that what the apostles were teaching and saying were true and in accordance with God’s word.
These spiritual gifts given to mortal men were specifically defined in I Corinthians 12 and spoken of in the chapters which followed. The Holy Spirit thought it particularly important that, through Paul, he “did not want you to be uninformed.” (I Corinthians 12:1) It is not a mystery! There are nine gifts, and they are described in verses 8-10:
“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”
Here we see (1) knowledge, the gift of knowing things beyond them, and (2) wisdom, the gift of being able to use and understand that knowledge. The gift of (3) faith being able to have an unnatural faith even in the most trying of circumstances, even beyond just belief in God, like Stephen in Acts 7. The gift of (4) healing, instantly healing people of their illness and wounds. The working of (5) miracles, instantly giving sight to the blind, or controlling weather, or other great work. The ability to (6) prophecy about the future. The ability to (7) see evil spirits operating in someone’s life or in their person. The ability to (8) speak in tongues unknown to them, and a companion to that the ability to (9) interpret those tongues.
In the bible, we find instances of all these which proved the authority of those who wielded the gift. These instances are recorded, necessarily, because these gifts would not continue long into the future. The completed (perfected) Word of God was being written as the first century went forward. These gifts were given by laying on of hands by the apostles, as we see in Acts 8:14-24. In this passage, Simon offered money for these gifts he had seen. He could only obtain it from the apostles, otherwise, he would have asked the ones he had seen performing the miracles who were not the apostles. The end of this exchange did not go well for him, but we can understand that the apostles were the only ones who could pass on this gift, and they could not pass on the ability to bestow the gift. Eventually, they would all end their pilgrimage in this life, and the workings of miracles would end because their purpose would be fulfilled. The bible would be completed, and, having already been proved, would continue to exist as our guide through the rest of time.
Lance Byers
April 5, 2025
- Miracles_4-5-25.pdf (30.69 kB)
