Miracles

I love the stories in the gospels that tell us about the amazing miracles of Jesus! Walking on water...turning water into wine...raising the dead...healing the sick...opening the eyes of the blind...the list goes on and on. In addition to preaching and teaching repentance and the “good news” of the kingdom, so much of Jesus’ ministry was a ministry of compassion for the physical  suffering of the people of Israel.

And yet the miracles of Jesus held purposes that went beyond the relieving  of the suffering of humanity. If we don’t understand this, we can lose sight of His primary purpose in coming to earth and instead become drawn in like so many of the people of  His time, into desiring to see the spectacle of the miraculous rather than the One to whom the miracles were pointing.

First of all, these miracles were a fulfillment of  Old Testament prophecy. They established and validated His ministry and His authority. They revealed that He  was indeed the Son of God and that He had power over creation.  They showed that He came from God, that He was working in cooperation with God. This is, indeed, a crucial point. For if Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth was to rescue and redeem a sinful fallen humanity, it was necessary to establish that He was indeed God in the flesh.

But His miracles also had another purpose. They point us to a greater reality, a greater healing that Jesus came to accomplish on behalf of a desperate humanity. Every human born on this earth since Adam and Eve, Scripture teaches us, is born dead in his/her sins and trespasses. So, as we read the stories of the dead being raised to life, we are being pointed to the power of God to raise the spiritually dead to life. Colossians 2:13 says “When you were dead in  your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, GOD MADE YOU ALIVE with Christ.”  I think it would be absolutely awesome to see a person that is physically dead come back to life! I would love to see it!!! BUT the reality is we have seen people resurrected from the dead. Do we get that excited when we look at our own salvation and the salvation of others around us. Do we realize what a miracle it is that God has made us alive with Christ???? Are we astonished and in awe that we have witnessed a resurrection?? I think we should be. It is nothing short of a miracle!

And the healing of blind eyes...another beautiful shadow pointing us to a spiritual reality. Again, we are spiritually blind. Spiritual sight is connected in Scripture to being able to understand the things of God. Deuteronomy 29:2-4 says, “Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understand or eyes that see or ears that hear.” In Isaiah 6, we read that the people of Israel are ever hearing, but never understanding, ever seeing but never perceiving. Unless God opens our eyes to see our sin, to see our Savior, to have understanding of the gospel, we will continue to walk around in darkness. Do you have sight? Have you seen your own sinfulness and has that sight led you to repentance? Then you have experienced a miracle of God! Have you seen and understand that you have been given forgiveness of that sin through the blood of Jesus? You again have been given the gift of sight! A true miracle. Have you begun the grasp the depths of the implications of Jesus in your life and how He changes everything? Has Jesus moved from being a theory into a reality to you? Have you begun to understand that Jesus is your life...that He is your treasure...that HE is the reward of the gospel?  Then you have experienced a miracle with eternal implication! Cherish that. Be in awe that God has touched you so personally like He touched the eyes of the blind on the pages of Scripture!

Be in awe that you have experienced a miracle and have life. Be in awe that your eyes have been touched and you have been given sight! Because the wonder of miracles is NOT in the miracles themselves...but in the ONE to whom they point. The wonder of all miracles is always to point us to the God of the miracles...so that we SEE HIM, LOVE HIM, and TREASURE HIM.

And don't be afraid to ask for such miracles in your life. Persistently ask Him to give sight to your eyes so that you can see Him, know Him, understand Him, love Him. Ask, seek, and knock and all these things will be added unto you!

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, and release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ (Luke 4:14-21)