Why miracles

The Bible hints that the miracles themselves were not the point. When the wonders ceased, Jesus understood that the crowds would turn elsewhere for their entertainment. So rather than impressing the crowds, Jesus actually requested silence of those he healed. And then he used the occasion of a miracle to teach his closest followers about his vocation as the Savior who would suffer, die, and rise again. Jesus recognized that the hope of the world did not rest on a few isolated healings in rural Galilee, but rather on the climatic miracle of his death and resurrection from the grave.

The miracles, as signs pointing to the deeper truth about Jesus, should cause us to place our faith in him. Are we paying attention to the signs? A final purpose for miracles that I will mention is this: Jesus performed miracles to provide us with a glimpse of the world that is to come.

The supernatural acts of Jesus are like a flash of lightening that illuminates a dark night for a few moments, allowing us to see clearly. In the Garden of Eden, humankind existed with God in perfect harmony and peace.

When Jesus healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and calmed the storm, he was taking us back—even just for a moment—to the perfection of Eden.

The supernatural acts of Jesus are also a taste of the future Eden, the world that is to come described in Revelation At prior points in history, many capabilities we take for granted today would have seemed miraculous.

Human flight, the wireless transmission of the human voice, and the transplantation of human organs would have struck men like Hume and Jefferson as impossibilities. It is likely that as history continues to unfold, new capacities in nature will be identified, and human beings will command new powers that we cannot imagine today. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that the course of history inexorably moves unusual events from the domain of the miraculous to the scientific.

Augustine also famously wrote:. Nay, all the miracles done in this world are less than the world itself, the heaven and earth and all therein; yet God made them all, and after a manner that man cannot conceive or comprehend. Augustine does not argue that human understanding cannot advance, or that science is impossible.

Nor does he regard science and miracles as opposed to one another. To the contrary, Augustine is highlighting an account of science and the human desire to know that treats the world as we experience it every day as no less miraculous than any event that science cannot explain. From this point of view, daily life is full of wonder, if only we see it rightly. As a physician, I regularly experience this sense of wonder in the practice of medicine. We know a lot about how babies are made, how human beings grow and develop, how infections and cancer arise, and what happens when we die.

In my experience, deepening our scientific understanding of such events and processes does not diminish our sense of wonder at their beauty. To the contrary, it deepens and enriches it. Inspecting cells through a microscope, using CT and MRI to peer into the inner recesses of the human body, or simply listening carefully as patients offer up insights on their lives — these experiences open up the realm of wonder to which Augustine is pointing.

Frame concludes:. When young Christians become more mature, they often wonder why such things happen to them less often or not at all. That may be so, but it may also be the case that in their individual lives, as often in Scripture, the extraordinary has been a preparation for the ordinary. On one occasion, Jesus spends an evening healing many people.

The following morning the disciples come to find him because everyone is looking for him. People are queuing up, as it were, to see a miracle. But Jesus avoids the crowds. He would doubt my ability. But there are no doubts about the ability of Jesus. Preaching is his priority and miracles are a distraction. So what happens? The same is true today. These purposes have come to a climax in the Lord Jesus Christ and the record of his work in the New Testament.

God is still active in his world. He is still a God who is full of compassion. So he does intervene through miracles to provide for his people. But he does so less often now that the primary purpose of miracles has been fulfilled.

What matters is that we have faith in the resurrection of Jesus, which is the ultimate sign and the promise of eternal life. This is an extract from Do Miracles Happen Today?

The book is a part of the Questions Christians Ask series. This growing series is ideal for helping you get to grips with some of the biggest questions you may have found yourself asking.

Tim Chester is a pastor, author and teacher. Tim is a faculty member of Crosslands Training and has written and contributed to over 40 books. Tim is a trustee of Keswick Ministries, and lectures and teaches widely on Missiology and Christian spirituality.