[Editor's note: the first few minutes of the audio was lost. Brother Junkin introduced the topic for the lesson and presented the question: what is a miracle?]
I do believe that when we get in the conversation, especially about this particular subject, sometimes we come into it with a perspective that is different from the world's perspective, and as such, we need to clarify what it is that we're talking about. I believe our modern day would define miracles as these types of things. Miracles are marvelous natural phenomenon such as sunsets that are just absolutely gorgeous, childbirth, beautiful colors in the landscape. Those types of things are miraculous to so many in the world today. There may be those who would say that answered prayers are miraculous, those who look at special Providence as miraculous, those who see salvation from sin as miraculous. But do these events fit the criteria of a biblical miracle? When we read the word miracle in the Bible, are we discussing these types of things, or are we looking at something else completely? We would all agree that there is numerous things in this world, and even the things in which I've already mentioned, that are awe-inspiring. But does that necessarily mean that they are miraculous in nature? And that's the question that we have before us this evening.
So, when we begin to think about, well, what is a miracle from a biblical definition, and not even biblical, let's just look at it from a college dictionary this is the way in which miracle is defined. It is a surprising and welcoming event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws, and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency. Now that's just, you know, straight out of a you know, college dictionary, what is a miracle. But then, luckily, Sewell Hall wrote an article back in the 1980s about miracles, and this is how he defined what a biblical miracle is, "It is the extraordinary events manifesting the supernatural power of God for the fulfilling of his purposes." And I really like the emphasis there of the super natural operating in over the natural. And following in a similar article a little bit later, by D eeBowman, he said, "it is the suspension of the natural order of things." That is what would define a miracle. Another man defined it as simply an event that so transcends ordinary happenings that it is to be viewed as a direct result of a supernatural power. And we begin to realize that with that type of definition, what we see is, what we've talked about earlier, just earlier, is the way the world views miracles, that's not necessarily the way that the Bible would specifically define a miracle. Miracles have specific purposes to play in the will of God. Miracles were demonstrated in the creation. In Genesis, one and following. Miracles are often used by God, even in the discipline of his people in Genesis, chapter seven. Numbers chapter 16, when Korah, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses and his leadership, what happened? The earth opened and swallowed them up. That's a miracle. That's something that cannot be explained by natural phenomena. Miracles are used by God to both certify his spokesman, or women, and to certify the message that they are speaking.
But yet, when we look at the Bible, and specifically when we look at the New Testament, the best verse that contains all of the different words that are used continuously in the New Testament to define what a miracle is is Hebrews chapter two, and in verse four, where the Hebrew writer said this, "God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His will.' So, here, God gives to us what it is that a miracle is, or what it is that these things are. They are signs, wonders and miracles. Well, how do we find these things? How do you see these things throughout the New Testament? How do we see these three individual things manifested in other portions of the New Testament text to help us understand what they are? In Matthew the 12th chapter and at verse 38 some of the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus, and they said, We want to see a sign from you. Well, what does a sign mean? Well, we understand what a sign is. How did you get here? You went to different road signs and you made turns that brought you to this place. You understand that. We know that the sign is not the, is not the actual thing. It's just pointing you towards something. When you're driving down the road in the middle of the night, and you see the Golden Arches ahead, what do you know is there? You just know it's there. That's what the signs are for. They are to point you towards something. And you look at Jesus's response, he answered and said to them, "an evil and an adulterous generation, craves for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it. But the sign of Jonah, the Prophet." Hold on to that, because we may come back to that in just a little while. The Gospel of John uses this term almost exclusively in his portion of talking about Jesus, and we're going to talk about that definitely in just a little bit.
Well, what about wonders? What are the wonders? What does that mean, that God worked in wonders? Well, in Luke, the fifth chapter, if you remember with me, the story and the event there, Jesus is teaching in a house, and it is become so crowded in the house that some friends have brought a paralyzed man to see Jesus, to be healed by Jesus. But they could not get to Jesus through going through the house. So, they had to go up to the roof of the house. They dug a hole, and then they lowered him down in the midst of that. And Jesus said to him, "man, your sins are forgiven you." And then, of course, that discussion occurs between Jesus and the Pharisees. You know, this is blasphemous. How does Jesus forgive sins? And he says, Well, "what is more powerful for me to tell him to get up and walk, or for me to tell him that his sins are forgiven? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, son, arise, get up and walk." And when he got up and walked, look at how the people responded, "immediately he got up before them, and he picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. And they were all struck with astonishment." There's the word, there's the idea of wonder. They were amazed by what has just occurred, this man who had been paralyzed, that apparently they knew was paralyzed. They knew who this man was, and yet, all the sudden, this man who was paralyzed, is able to get up and walk. That would have struck them with amazement. That was the wonder of the power of God at work.
And then, when we come to that third and final term, and this is the term that is often used in the Gospel of Matthew and Mark and Luke and other places you find this term miracle. And often times it, turn with me somewhere real quick, and I want to see if y'all have the same footnotes that my translation does, and I'm reading from the New American Standard. But Go with me to Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven, and I and I want you to look at verse 22. Many of you know these, this section, where Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, Who is in heaven, will enter," verse 21. And then in verse 22 you have the excuses that will be given. "Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in Your name cast out demons and in Your name perform many miracles." Now, you may not have a footnote there for that word miracles, but at least my translation did, and in the footnote, it said, works of power. Works of power. So I'm getting a couple responses that y'all have that footnote. And really that's the idea behind the term there that's used there. I don't want to get off into the Greek, first and foremost, because it's Greek to me, just as it's Greek to you guys. I don't know that stuff. That's not what I've schooled myself in, but I do understand that that's what the term necessarily means. That's what it essentially means. It means that the power of God is being manifested through the work that is being occurred. And that's why, when we come to passages such as this in First Corinthians one and verse 24 where Paul says, "but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Christ is the power of God. He is the physical manifestation, the literal manifestation of God's power. He is the exact representation of his nature, as the Hebrew writer would say in Hebrews one and in verse three.
So, as such, I want to use Jesus. I want to specify and draw our attention primarily to the Gospels into the ministry of Jesus and how miracles operated through the ministry of Jesus, and what that means to us. Hopefully, we can draw some some conclusions that will help us to answer the question that we have before us this evening. Well, that same thing that was said over in Hebrews, chapter two and verse four is stated by Peter in Acts chapter two and in verse 22. As Peter begins his sermon there, really, he's already been talking about the fulfillment of the gift of the baptism of Holy Spirit that the apostles had received back in Acts chapter two and verse four. He's talked about how that is the fulfillment of Joel chapter two. But then in beginning at verse 22, Peter begins to direct their minds and hearts toward Jesus. And he says, "Men of Israel, listen to these words, Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know." The mountain of evidence that could have been, you know, cited here it is beyond our comprehension. Peter is saying that you all know very well about the man from Nazareth, whose name is Jesus. And you know that while he was here, and in those three and a half years that he was present in his public ministry, you know the multitude of wonders, miracles and signs he performed. And what was the purpose of all of these miracles? What was the purpose of all of these things that Jesus did? The purpose of the miracles in the ministry of Jesus was to confirm the messenger and his message.
So, think about this, in the Gospel of Matthew, when you think about the miracles and ministry of Jesus, and what's interesting to me is, is when I look at the miracles in the way in which the gospel writers use them, they use them in a variety of ways. The Gospel of Matthew uses miracles to provide evidence that what had been foretold in the Old Testament has been fulfilled in Jesus. You think about these passages. Just listen to these passages. Isaiah 29 and verse 18, "On that day, the deaf will hear words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see." In Isaiah 35 and verse five, "then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the death will be unstopped." In isaiah 42 and verse seven, "to open the blind eyes." In Isaiah 61 and verse one, "to bring good news to the afflicted." All of these Old Testament passages are pointing them towards something and someone specific. And what Matthew is doing as he's writing his gospel is he's saying, Do you not realize this is he? This is the one in whom Isaiah had been talking about. In Isaiah, excuse me, in Matthew 11 and in verse five, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. I am the fulfillment of that. That's the point. And the purpose of Matthew's Gospel is to present to us Jesus as the Son of God, and the miracles attest that. They give to us validation of that. What's also interesting about the Gospel of Matthew is that often times, in the same arena in which Jesus operates a miracle, the one in whom is calling for the healing, they say to him, "Lord." When the leper was in needing healing from his leprosy, he said, "Lord, if you are willing." And that, again, the word Lord implies so much more than just what we read sometimes. It is that he is the master, that he is the one in control, that he is the universal power.
Well, that's the Gospel of Matthew, what about the gospel of Mark? The Gospel of Mark is also excellent in presenting to us the miraculous works of Jesus. And really, when you think about the gospel of Mark, it's the shortest of the four Gospels. It may be the easiest for us to read through in a quick setting. But something also that should strike us is that in it, while yet it is the shortest of the Gospels, it contains the highest percentage of miraculous accounts. 18, to be precise. 18 different miracles are recorded for us in the Gospel of Mark by itself. Well, why does Mark include so much of this? What is Mark trying to teach us? You know, when you think about the Gospel of Matthew, why does he talk about Isaiah so much? Because Matthew was predominantly writing to a Jewish audience. But Mark would have been writing to a Gentile audience, and as such, he is presenting to us the power of Christ, through His miracles. The cleansing of demons are found predominantly at the beginning of Mark, in Mark chapter one and verse 25 and in verse 31. A general sense of him cleansing and casting out demons in chapter three and verse 12. Again, casting out demons in Chapter Five and verses one through 12, you have the Gerasene demoniac who comes to Jesus with that whole legion of demons who are possessing him. And in each case, Jesus drives them out, and what we see there is the power that Jesus has even over the things beyond physcial eyesight. All of these miracles in Mark's gospel really drives a man to ask the question, who then, is this? Who is this man? And even when Jesus asked his own disciples that in Mark eight and verse 29 he says, Well, who do you say that I am? Peter's response is, Jesus, you are the Christ.
Well, Mark's gospel has its part to play in this, and the Gospel of Luke has a part to play in that he emphasizes the power that Jesus manifest through his miracles, and primarily he does that through the Holy Spirit. In Luke four and verse 14, Jesus returns from the wilderness temptations in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that implication is found throughout the Gospel of Luke, and that authority, the power that Jesus exhibits in his miracles, are seen and made evident throughout that gospel.
But then we finally come to the Gospel of John, and really, when we come to the Gospel of John we ought to look at the Gospel of John vastly different than the other three. The other three have overlapping narratives. They have overlapping chronological things that at times can cause at least me as a teacher of God's word, difficulty, trying to keep everything in its right order in the life of Jesus. But then when you come to the Gospel of John, John is just kind of so different than the other three. And why is John so different than the other three? It's because John's written with a different purpose. And we don't have to guess what John's purpose is. No, John tells us specifically in John chapter 20 and verses 30 and 31 when he told us, "therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name." I've often thought to myself, Why? Why? Why did God not give us an account or a catalog of every single miracle? Why didn't God do that? He has the power, he has the wisdom, he has the ability to do that. Why didn't God just give us every single miracle, instead of at the end of Matthew chapter four, where you just have multitudes who are being brought to Jesus and being healed, left, you know, on the left and right. Instead of just telling us multitudes are brought to Jesus, why didn't he tell us every single account? I think John tells us why in John, chapter 21 and verse 25 when he says that if we were to contain, if we were to write it all out, well, this world would not contain the whole. There's too many to count. But then you think about what John says in this previous chapter, in John chapter 20, when he says, many other signs were performed, but these, these seven signs. Two of which are found in the Synoptic Gospels, John, chapter six, the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on the water, those are found in the other gospels. But the other five miracles that are contained in the Gospel of John are not found there. And as such, why does John write in such a specific manner? Why does he write so differently than the other gospel account writers?
Well, first, John writes to imply to us, through his language, his vocabulary, that Jesus's miracles were signs. They were not the end all. But rather they were just, but the signs, they were the markers that Jesus was who He said He was. They were pointing us to him. They were drawing us to him. And then you think about that specifically with the signs to faith. Quite often in the Synoptic Gospels, when someone is healed, Jesus would say to them, your faith has made you well. We don't see that terminology in or that type of vocabulary in the Gospel of John. Why? Because John is not writing the signs to talk about another person's faith. He's writing about the signs to evoke faith from the audience that is reading his gospel. "But these have been written so that you may believe." Not the person who had the miracle done upon them, but that you, who did not see it, would believe that Jesus is who he said he is. And then you think about the absolute, just, there is no deliverance miracles. And when I say deliverance miracles, I'm talking about specifically demon possession. There is none in the Gospel of John. There's multitude of examples in the other gospels. Why not in John? Is it possible, is it possible that John wrote the greatest of all of deliverances from the demon and from Satan himself, when he wrote about Jesus's death, burial and resurrection? That's what John is pointing us to. That is the great demise of Satan is when Jesus is put to death, buried and on the third day, resurrected.
And then, often times, the signs are used in the Gospel of John to bring about a discourse. You think about that in John chapter six, why did Jesus feed the 5000? If you're reading from Matthew, Mark, or Luke, you would say Jesus fed the 5000 because he was moved by compassion. Yes, those Gospel accounts say that being moved by compassion, he wanted to feed them. But really, what is it behind the sign that drives Jesus to feed the 5000? I believe we find the answer in John, chapter six, in verse 35 when Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." That's the impetus, that's the importance, that's what we need to see. But yet, there's another sign that I believe is overlooked in the Gospel of John. And you may be saying to yourself, I thought this lesson was on miracles occurring today. Just hold on with me. Hold on with me. I, you know, when I was working through this, just this is how my brain works. If I get you lost, you know, you're not the first one, you're probably the second one. I've been lost multiple times. But just hold on to me, because I want to come to this question, but I want to come to it through the back door, possibly. But there's another sign in the Gospel of John that I often think is the overlooked, the forgotten sign, of the Gospel of John, and that's the sign of John chapter two. Not Jesus turning water into wine. That's the sign we all know. But following from that wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus went to Jerusalem, why? For the first Passover. And when he arrived to Jerusalem, for that first Passover, what did he find in the temple, but those who were money changers? And how did Jesus respond to those individuals in his father's temple? He went in with a scourge of cord and drove them out. And because of that, what we see is here, Jesus is asked a question about this authority. He says, "What sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things?" And this is his response, "Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will build or raise it up." Immediately, they think of the temple, right? We've been renovating the temple since 39 AD, you know, or 39 BC, how are you going to do this in three days? We've been renovating this, and they're going to continue to renovate it until 67 AD, how are you going to do it in three days? What is Jesus really talking about? He's not talking about the temple. He's talking about his body.
You see, my brethren, I believe that's the greatest miracle of the New Testament. That's the miracle that everything is built upon and predicated upon, and everything that we look back to, that's the miracle. It's His death, burial and resurrection. If we believe in that one miracle, if we believe that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we believe of a first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that He was buried and that he was resurrected on the third day according to the Scriptures, if we believe that, that then gives me the answer to the question, do miracles occur today? Let me ask it a different way. Why do I need a miracle today if I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Why do I need another miracle if I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sufficient, because what we have in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is eyewitness testimony. Go back and read verses four through eight of First Corinthians chapter 15. The eyewitness testimony is abundant there. Numerous individuals, 500 brethren, at one time, saw him resurrected. Saw him. And then every one of the apostles, minus John, possibly, but minus him, all of them suffered what type of death and why did they die? They went to death defending what? The resurrection. If they were willing to stake so much upon this, we ought to see that the gospel of Jesus Christ, this is what we hinge upon. This is the miracle that we put all of our emphasis. Without it, we are, of all men, most to be pitied. Without it, Jesus has no authority.
I don't have the time but I would give you the cross references if you wanted them. In the book of Acts the next time you read or study through the book of Acts, I would just encourage you to focus upon the name of Jesus in the book of Acts. And ask yourself this question, what were the Jews more afraid of in the book of Acts? Were the Jews more afraid of the miracles, or were they more afraid of the preaching in Jesus's name? They were not afraid of the miracles. They were afraid of preaching in Jesus's name. Why? Because preaching in Jesus's name after the resurrection has authority. It has eternity within its boundaries, and as such, we ought to revere the name of Jesus in the same way.
So, do miracles occur today? I don't. I don't believe they do, and I don't believe they need to. And the reason I believe that they don't need to is because, first and foremost, the word of God is all that we are in need of. The word has given us everything that is essential so that we can live a life that is good, not defined by the world, but good defined by God. "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." Thoroughly furnished for every good work, if you're reading from the New King James. When I read in Hebrews, chapter two and verse three, "the word has been confirmed to us by those who've heard and that they were testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and various miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His will." The word that they revealed, the word that they preserved or wrote down, the word that has been preserved, the word that we read. This word is validated. Is tested, attested. This word is all that we are ever in need of. The word can be read, it can be understood, it can be believed and it can be obeyed, Ephesians, three verses, three through five.
But what about the work of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit accomplished what he had been sent to do. In John 16 and verse 13, following,Jesus said that I will say, if I go away, it's to your advantage, because then I can send the comforter, and when He comes, He will guide you into all truth. And that's exactly what the Holy Spirit did for those apostles and prophets, and know all of those others who had had received the miraculous gifts. They had received these things. But then I think about what the Apostle Paul says in First Corinthians, 13 and in verse nine, beginning when he says, "For we know in part, we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with." All of those spiritual gifts that Paul had talked about in First Corinthians, chapter nine, enumerating them there, giving to us at least nine different gifts that the church in Corinth had and had operating within them at that point in time, Paul says, later, just three chapters later, he says, but understand that when the perfect comes, this partial will be done away with. There will no longer be need of prophecy or word of knowledge or word of wisdom or tongue speaking. All of these spiritual gifts served a purpose, and that was to reveal the truth. But now that the truth is come, now that the truth has been given, these things are no longer needed. I believe history confirms to us that miraculous spiritual gifts would have ceased shortly after the beginning of the second century, because that would have been the time frame in which those who had had the apostles hands laid upon them, they themselves would have started passing away.
But let us say, in these final few moments together, let us say that there is someone that we're talking to, a neighbor, about this question, that that's just unwilling to accept some things that we've already discussed. They're not willing to accept that miracles are no longer needed, because the resurrection is the greatest of all, and that's what we have in the Word. But we need that person that is just driven to the fact that, well, if God would just make these stones in the bread, if God would just work miraculously in my life, then I would believe. Have you ever had somebody say something like that or similar to it? You know, if God would just speak to me, or if God would just show me something miraculous, then I would believe. Right? My question to that individual is simply this, how many miracles do I need to believe? How many miracles? Just last week, we were studying in the book of Judges, in Judges, chapter six, seven and eight, about a man named Gideon. And I'll just be completely honest with you, I studied it, I taught it, and I still don't understand Gideon. Gideon is an enigma to me because he's contained in Hebrews chapter 11, but when I read through his life in Judges six, seven and eight, I come away from that just going, Whoo man he is, he is littered with flaws. But I believe so many people in the 21st century are walking around just like Gideon, asking God for a sign. Just give me a sign. In Judges, chapter six and verse 17, when the angel of the Lord had appeared and was talking to him and called him the "Oh, valiant warrior. You are, the one that has been chosen by God to to conquer the Midianites." What did he say? Give me a sign. And the angel of the Lord gave him a sign. He struck the rock, fire, consumed the unleavened bread and the meat, and then the angel disappeared. A sign was given. But yet, on the very following night, when God had called him again to go against the Midianites, what did Gideon need? He needed another sign. You need to make my fleece wet and everything else dry. God does it. Well, you know, that was just, you know, you need to make everything else wet and my fleece dry. God does it. And even on the evening of them taking the Midianite camp, he goes down into the camp with his servant, Purah., and what does he hear? A man randomly talk about a dream about a barley loaf that comes down into the midst of the camp, past the camp, or this tent, and it falls down. Well, that's Gideon, again and again and again and again, Gideon is given sign after sign after sign after sign, and still, yet at the end of his life, what did Gideon do? He made a gold ephod, and he set his sons up for utter failure, because he had 70 sons, not including the one from the concubine from Shechem, whose name was Abimelech, who would then, in turn kill the 70 sons.
See, when somebody says, Well, I just need a sign. I need God to show me one sign. Well, is one sign going to be enough? No. Is two signs going to be enough? I don't believe so, because at the end of the day, if they're not willing to believe in the resurrection, what else do we offer? What else can we offer? Because you see, my good brethren, do miracles occur today? No. And as such, we walk by faith. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. It is the conviction of things not seen. And without it, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him," Hebrews 11, verse one, and in verse six. Paul said it simply in Second Corinthians five and verse seven, "we walk by faith, not by sight."
Do we have miracles today? No, do we need miracles today? No. Why? Because all I ever need is right here. All I ever need is right here. If I'm not willing to trust in it, then no sign, and no amount of signs, will ever have me trust in them. Our world will continue to have those who promote their miracles and faith healings, but these things will only distract and endanger those who are captivated by their shows and experiences. My aim and desire is not to capture one's attention by strange devices, but rather preach the Word. Preach the gospel and sincerity, boldness and love. Preach the unadulterated Word of God. Preach the doctrine of Christ that leads men to faith, obedience and eternal salvation. Preach the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as historical and theological fact. Miracles ceased at the completion of the Word because the Word is sufficient and fallible and complete. And on that, I hang everything. That is my answer to the question. I appreciate so much your kind attention this evening and in this study together.
