As Christians, we are dualists – that is, we think there are two parts to reality in our universe: the natural and the supernatural. We are open to the supernatural as an explanation when things at times happen that are beyond our ability to explain scientifically or naturally. It could be that we don’t understand nature and the “laws” God gave it properly yet….but it could be that the explanation will require something supernatural. These are both live options for us dualists.
Those who do not believe in the supernatural here us say something like this cartoon shows (“Then a miracle occurs.”) They see it as a giving up too easily, or trying to find places for God to fit in a world where science makes God unnecessary.
As Christians, miracles matter a lot to us. The heart of our faith is the Resurrection. That is the miracle that must have occurred in order for our faith to be valid. For a Resurrection you need an Incarnation – and that’s a miracle. For the world in which the Incarnation occurs, you need a Creation – and that’s a miracle. For the new life the Christ offers to all of us – we need a miracle. It’s not just the life of Jesus or what’s recorded in the book of Acts. This has been part of church history for over 2,000 years.
Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch speak of the miracles
Origen: exorcisms, healings, and fulfilled prophecy
Irenaeus: magic-workers of his day "cannot give sight to the blind nor hearing to the deaf, nor put to flight demons; and they are so far from raising the dead as Our Lord did, and the Apostles, by prayer, and as is frequently done among the brethren, that they even think it impossible."
Justin Martyr: his speech to the Roman Senate appealed to miracles done publicly in Rome.
Tertullian: challenged the local magistrates to work the miracles which the Christians perform.
Augustine: wrote a long list of miracles he saw, with names and details, described them as well known, and said they happened within the previous two years.
Gregory the Great: told Augustine of Canterbury not to be elated by the many miracles God was doing through him for the conversion of the people of Britain.
Craig Keener (who we will mention later) has a fantastic two volume set on verified modern miracles.
Unfortunately, we use “miracle” in so many different ways that we can become confused concerning what we are actually talking about. We talk about the miracle of birth and miracle finishes for sports matches; I use Miracle Grow for my garden. When roundabouts get done 10 weeks early we say, “It’s a miracle!”
Here’s our definition that reflects the biblical view: “A supernatural interaction with the natural world in which an event that would not have otherwise occurred does occur.” Now that we have a definition, let’s look today at three main objections before we move into the stories.
Objection #1: Miracles are so unique, so unusual, so improbable, it is more probable that the testimony against ‘uniform experience’ is false than that the event is true. (#David Hume) It is more likely that the witnesses lied than that the uniform laws of nature were broken. However, uniform experiences (‘laws’) are like an “average”; they tell us a lot about life in general, but not necessarily about life in detail. Here are some actual modern events recorded in Craig Keener’s book:
Keener tells of of “a young woman on her deathbed, almost completely paralyzed from multiple sclerosis. She heard Jesus’ voice calling her to rise and walk, and she was instantly healed so thoroughly that she didn’t even have to contend with atrophied muscles. All three of her doctors have confirmed the account in writing, laying their own reputations on the line. She lived for 40 more years with no recurrence.”[1]
Another story he documents is of a woman blind for 12 years, instantly healed during prayer, a fully documented case now written up in a medical journal.
The laws of nature (dead people don’t come back to life; there is no medical cure for MS or blindness) are called laws not because they are actual laws, but because they are so overwhelmingly common that we know what’s going to happen in the ordinary course of human events (people who die stay dead; people who are blind or have MS will always have these things).
However, we reached that conclusion based on observation. If observation were to reveal that there are instances where the dead do, in fact, come back to life, then the ‘law’ needs a new definition, something like this: “Barring supernatural intervention, the dead do not come back to life in the natural course of events.”[2]
C.S. Lewis noted this with Hume’s argument. Not only is experience not his friend, but also there is something illogical in Hume’s argument:
“If there is absolutely “uniform experience” against miracles, in other words, they have never happened, why then, they never have. Unfortunately, we know the experience against them to be uniform only if we know that all the reports of them are false. And we know all the reports are false only if we know already that miracles have never occurred. In fact, we are arguing in a circle.” C.S. Lewis
Objections to Miracles #2: Natural explanations can be provided for most miraculous claims. If not, it’s just because we don’t understand the world well enough yet (i.e., quantum physics).
Say a person is medically documented to have been healed of blindness. I and the person objecting to miracles are both filling in a gap. We both agree the event lacks a known natural explanation; we both are offering a way to fill in that gap with a plausible scenario. Because I believe in God as portrayed in the Bible, I think there are two possible explanations, neither of which should be dismissed out of hand. Miracles are on the table. Tim McGrew[3]gives a great response to the idea that miracles should be dismissed out of hand:
“Deep in the heart of a great forest, a bird who has never seen a human being lives in contentment at the top of a large and flourishing tree. One day he flies miles to the north and spends a day eating grubs in a marsh. The day is clear and fine, with scarcely a cloud.
When the bird returns in the evening, the tree where he has lived lies flat upon the ground, neatly severed at the base. Our bird knows that trees with dead branches sometimes snap and fall in the wind or even collapse under their own weight. He knows that severe storms can split or knock down even an apparently healthy tree.
But in his experience, without exception, healthy trees do not suddenly fall on sunny days. Yet there the tree lies. What is the bird to think, and what should his skeptical friends think of his testimony that the tree did, indeed, fall? In all of the bird’s experience up until now, man has never played a role.
But now his world has been invaded by a higher order of being that can make things happen the bird has never experienced or imagined. The generalization he has formed — that healthy trees, left to themselves, do not fall down on sunny days — is true as far as it goes. But this tree was not left to itself.”
I asked a skeptical friend once what it would take to believe miracles. It became clear NOTHING would convince him. No matter how much scientific evidence I suggested or how many eyewitnesses I could produce, he said he would always believe that we just didn’t understand something about the natural world. No matter what, we have been left to ourselves.
If no natural criteria can explain an event, it’s at least worth considering that a supernatural explanation - something (or someone) - has interacted with our world. We have not been left to ourselves.
Objections to Miracles #3: Miracles make the efforts of science useless, because science relies on a predictable, cause/effect universe.
I’ve heard an analogy comparing God’s miraculous intervention in the world to the way events are influenced inside a fishbowl. If someone bumps the fishbowl, the pebbles will shake and the water will ripple. If the fish are committed to seeking an explanation only inside the fishbowl, they will never find an adequate explanation for what happened. Maybe they think believing otherwise allows for a “God” who violates the laws of the nature in the fishbowl.
We, however, know that if the fishbowl hadn’t been reacted to the bump, laws governing a reality much bigger than just the fishbowl would have broken. In other words, an orderly and predictable world still demonstrates ‘cause and effect’ when miracles occur. Had the fishbowl not responded, that would actually be the problem. I like C.S. Lewis’s response from his book Miracles:
“Miracles, if they occur, must, like all events, be revelations of that total harmony of all that exists... In calling them miracles we do not mean that they are contradictions or outrages; we mean that, left to her [Nature] own resources, she could never produce them… there are rules behind the rules, and a unity which is deeper than uniformity."
I put this foundation in place because the next four stories in the life of Jesus involve miracles (and we’ve already seen the water turned into wine). If we plan to take the Bible seriously, we must take the reality of miracles of seriously. Miracles are foundational to the story line over and over. There are implications for us today (more on this at the end).
I’m putting these four together because as a group they tell us something important about Jesus, as well was as how God works in the world.
Healing the Royal Official’s Son – Cana, Galilee (Jn 4:46-54)
Now Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official, an officer in Herod’s service, whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people in Galilee see signs and wonders you will never believe!”[4] “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” Jesus told him, “Go home; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him,[5] and set off for home. While he was on his way down, his slaves met him and told him that his son was going to live.
So he asked them the time when his condition began to improve, and they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon the fever left him.” Then the father realized that it was the very time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household.
Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign[6] when he returned from Judea to Galilee.
Calling Four Disciples - Sea of Galilee (Mt 4:18-22; Mk 1:16-20; Lk 5:1b-11)
As Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother,[7]casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen).He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear. So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they were about to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For Peter and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s business partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.” So when they had brought their boats to shore, they immediately left everything and followed him.
Going on from there Jesus saw the two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. Then he called them.[8] They immediately left the boat and their father and followed him.
Casting Out an Unclean Spirit – Capernaum, Galilee (Mk 1:21-28; Lk 4:31-37)
Lk 4:31 Then Jesus and his disciples went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee. When the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people there were amazed by his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, not like the experts in the law.Now in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon,[9] and he cried out, “Ha! Leave us alone, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us?[10] I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him: “Silence! Come out of him!” After throwing him into convulsions in their midst, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him, without hurting him.[11]
They were all amazed so that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching with authority and power![12] He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him and come out!” So the news about him spread quickly throughout all the region around Galilee.
Healing at Simon Peter’s House – Capernaum, Galilee (Mk 1:29-34; Lk 4:38-41; Mt 8:14-17)
Now as soon as they left the synagogue, they entered Simon Peter and Andrew’s house, with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law was lying down, sick with a high fever, so they spoke to Jesus at once about her and asked him to help her.Standing over her, Jesus rebuked the fever, raised her up by gently taking her hand, and the fever left her.[13]Immediately she got up and began to serve them. When it was evening, as the sun was setting, the whole town gathered by the door. Those who had any relatives sick with various diseases or demon-possessed brought them to Jesus.
He placed his hands on every one of them and healed them, and drove out the spirits with a word. Demons came out of many, crying out, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
In this way what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled, “He took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.”
* * * *
Through these miracles, Jesus demonstrates his power:
over death
over nature
over evil spirits
over sickness
All of this to make clear that He is the prophesied Messiah. There is nothing left over which to demonstrate power. He has covered both the seen and unseen world. There is nothing that has been left alone. He also defies being placed neatly in a formula box when he intervenes miraculously in people’s lives:
Showed power over death to a wealthy despised Gentile[14] who asked for a miracle.
Showed power over nature to ordinary, believing Jewish laborers (the disciples) who didn’t ask for a miracle.
Showed power over evil spirits to a demon-possessed man (in a synagogue, no less) who actively tried to push Jesus away.
Showed power over sickness to an honored woman on whose behalf others asked for a miracle
If I look at these 4 stories and ask myself, “What does it take for someone to experience a miraculous intervention in their life?” the answer is, “Jesus.” He was demonstrating that the Kingdom of God had been inaugurated in Jesus.
I believe God still works miracles today. Many of you have experienced it in your own life. At minimum, it’s the miracle of the new birth and the process of Holy Spirit sanctification. Things have happened in us that could not have happened just in the course of the natural world unfolding. God has not left us alone.
Perhaps you have seen more than that. Perhaps it has been something you could see with your eyes that happened in the ‘seen’ parts of the world, events that demonstrated God’s power and reminded you that God can do miracles in the unseen parts of the world (emotional, mental and spiritual healing of soul and spirit). Even if you haven’t seen those, the Bible records Jesus’ miracles of the seen that demonstrate his power in the unseen, and that alone is a faithful and sufficient witness.[15]
This morning, I want to encourage us to pray for the supernatural intervention of God in our lives and in the world.
Pray for the war in Ukraine to end.
Pray for salvation and righteousness for the leaders in our nation.
Pray for those you know who are far from Christ.
Pray for your family and friends in all kinds of need.
Pray for the work of the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Pray holiness and righteousness to rise.
Pray for wisdom, patience, peace, joy, love, hope…
Pray for….
And when we experience in ourselves that supernatural work of God, or when we see or hear of the power of God’s presence at work in others around us, may it remind us that we have not been left alone. The King of the universe is near.
Recommended Resources:
Miracles. C.S. Lewis.
Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. Craig Keener.
“Miracles: Is Belief in the Supernatural Irrational? “John Lennox at Harvard
“A Defense of the Rationality of Miracles,” Brett Kunkl
MBA Episode 64: Explaining Miracles To Kids with Matthew Mittelberg (Hillary Morgan Ferrer, Mama Bear Apologetics)
“Miracles Are Outlasting the Arguments Against Them.” Craig Keener, in an interview at Christianity Today
Miracles in Church History, by William Young. https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/churchman/102-02_102.pdf
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[1] Craig Keener, interviewed at https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/january-web-only/craig-keener-miracles-today-supernatural-god.html
[2] Irenaeus, (late 100s) wrote, “As I said. even the dead have been raised and remained with us for considerable years… Nor does the Church do anything by angelic invocations, nor incantations, nor other perverse meddling. It directs prayers in a manner clear, pure, and open, to the Lord who made all things, and calls upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/churchman/102-02_102.pdf
[3] Christian philosopher at Western Michigan University
[4] “In general, we find that the Lord Jesus was not as pleased with a faith that was based on miracles as He was with that which was based on His Word alone. It is more honoring to Him to believe a thing simply because He said it than because He gives some visible proof.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)
[5] “Long-distance miracles were rare by Old Testament, other Jewish, and Greco-Roman standards; people generally believed prophets and Greek magicians more easily if they were present in person. The rare stories of long-distance miracles suggested to ancient readers that these miracle workers had extraordinary power.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)
[6] John will record 7 signs.
[7] Andrew and Simon Peter had earlier left John the Baptist to follow Jesus (Jn 1:35-51). This account, appears to be the formal calling of these men… “This is actually the second time Jesus called Peter and Andrew. In John 1:35–42 they were called to salvation; here they are called to service.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)
[8] “The normal pattern in Israel was for a prospective disciple to approach a rabbi and ask to study with him. Perahyah said, “Provide thyself with a teacher and get thee a fellow disciple,” which Rabban Gamaliel echoed, “Provide thyself with a teacher and remove thyself from doubt.” At the inauguration of his kingdom mission Jesus establishes a new pattern, because he is the one who takes the initiative to seek out and give a call.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)
[9] “Judea, in our Lord's time, abounded with demoniacs. First, [the people] were then advanced to the very height of impiety. See what Josephus, their own historian, says of them: There was not (said he) a nation under heaven more wicked than they were. Secondly, Because they were then strongly addicted to magic, and so, as it were, invited evil spirits to be familiar with them.” (Adam Clarke commentary)
[10] “Only God could destroy demons. In Jewish tradition God’s inbreaking reign meant the destruction of Satan and his minions.” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)
[11] Justin Martyr, in the mid 100s, wrote to the Roman rulers: “You may learn from what goes on under your own eyes. For many devil-possessed all over the world, and in your own city, many of our men, the Christians, have exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate. When all other exorcists and sayers of charms and sellers of drugs failed, they have healed them, and still do heal, sapping the power of the demons who hold men, and driving them out.” https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/churchman/102-02_102.pdf
[12] Jesus’ authority over impure spirits characterizes his ministry (vv. 32, 34, 39; 3:11, 22; 5:1–20; 7:24–30; 9:14–27; cf. 3:15; 6:7, 13; see note on v. 24) and here reinforces the authority of his new teaching. It demonstrates that he has already bound Satan (3:27) and is “the one more powerful” whose coming John proclaimed (v. 7).” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)
[13] “Just as Jesus “rebuked” the demon (see 4:35; cf. also 4:41), so now he “rebukes” (epitimaō) the fever. This does not mean that the fever is a demonic presence. Though illness was often associated with spiritual oppression in the ancient world and is sometimes so linked in Luke’s Gospel (8:29; 9:39; 11:14; 13:11), elsewhere in Luke Jesus’ healings are distinguished from his exorcisms (see 4:40–41; 7:21; 13:32).” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)
[14] The commentaries I read believe this man lived among the Jewish people but was not Jewish.
[15] “The most dramatic miracles happen most often (though not by any means exclusively) on the cutting edge of evangelizing unevangelized areas, a setting similar to the one in the Gospels and Acts. They also happen where they are most needed—not to entertain us, not to get us to neglect other resources God has provided, but because of the Lord’s compassion for our need.” https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/january-web-only/craig-keener-miracles-today-supernatural-god.html