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This series of studies will be looking at the subject “miracles”;
what they were, why they happened, other terms for them, who could,
can or cannot perform them, and the question, “Do they continue to
be performed today?”
Article 1—What is a miracle?
This may sound like
a strange question to you and you may think that everyone knows the
answer to it. However, you might be surprised to find that many
folks just think that they know the Biblical meaning of the
word.
We use the word
“miracle” pretty frequently and I might add pretty loosely in our
conversation and quite often to describe something that is not a
“miracle” at all! We hear someone say, “Oh! It was a miracle!”
regarding some happening especially where someone or something
suffered no harm when it appears that they should.
Do we really
understand what a miracle is? When we speak of “miracles” are we
using that term within the same frame of reference as scripture
does?
There are other
words used in the scriptures to denote what we call a “miracle.”
They are many times spoken of as “signs” and “wonders.” A key thing
to remember about them is that without exception they are always
spoken of as an event when God intervened in the natural order of
things and either suspended or superceded one of His own natural
laws!
The word itself
comes from the root word that means, “object of wonder or to wonder”
and we should never confuse things that transpire as a work of
nature, that is; an effect coming from a natural law of God, as a
miracle.
We see the natural
laws of God at work in our weather patterns and in the conditions
that bring on rain, snow, and in the formation of tornadoes,
hurricanes and the like. It is not unusual after a tornado to hear
some one say; “It was just a miracle that our home wasn’t
destroyed.” My question to that person would be, “Was it a miracle
then that your neighbors house was and the family killed in the
storm?” The answer of course is no and the fact that one was
destroyed and one was not is simply an effect of natural law.
Likewise, we should
not confuse works of providence which God works through natural
means with a miracle. For instance we pray; “Give us this day our
daily bread.” and then we go to work trusting God that He will
provide whatever is necessary in order that we might obtain the
bread for which we prayed. We obtain the bread through natural
means. This is not a miracle! There is a case or two in the Bible
where bread was given in a miraculous way. Most all of us are
familiar with the story of the “manna” that God sent down to the
Israelites. All they had to do was pick it up and this was a
“miracle.”
The two greatest miracles ever performed were when God
created the heavens and the earth and the birth and resurrection of
Jesus from the dead never to die again.
A skilled craftsman can take lumber, blocks, bricks, mortar, and a
number of other things and create a nice house. An artist can use
oils, brushes, and canvas, and create a beautiful painting. However,
there is a great difference in these acts of creation and the
creation by God in the beginning. These last creators used existing
things and material from which to form their creation.
God, on the other
hand, “created the heavens and the earth”. He created his work from
nothingness, out of no preexisting material. While all the work of
the craftsman and the work of the artist is certainly their
creation, theirs is not a miracle. Only one is and that is the
creation of God.
As we look at other events recorded in scripture we can see a
similarity between some events and might without thinking wrongly
call some of them “a miracle” when in fact they are not a miracle at
all.
Take for instance 1
Samuel chapter 1 where the story is told of a man who had two wives.
One was named Peinnah and the other Hannah. The first bore him
children while poor Hannah did not.
To be brief, Hannah
prayed to God for help, after which she and the husband, Elkanah had
sex and in due time she had a little boy and named him Samuel. This
is not a miracle! This is a case of God using natural means to bring
about what Hannah had prayed for; a man, a woman, the sex act = a
child. Scripture says that God “opened her womb”, this we spoke of
earlier as Gods’ providence in the using of the natural things.
The same thing is accomplished today many
times by surgical procedures and the use of fertility drugs and is
still Gods’ providence at work through natural means.
But then there is
another story recorded in Luke chapter 1 of another young woman
having a child that is most definitely a miracle. The young woman,
Mary, was probably no more than fifteen or sixteen years of age.
This young woman had never had sex with any man, even her husband to
be, yet she gives birth to a baby boy and names him Jesus.
The word tells us
that she was impregnated through the means of the Holy Spirit of
God. There is nothing natural about this birth!!!
While we see many
occurrences like the experience of Hannah how many have you
known of like the experience of Mary?
I believe we should be able to begin to see
the difference between a miracle and some of the things we
mistakenly refer to as one.
When we see
something happen that perhaps we can’t explain or understand
immediately, let us not be too quick to label it as a “miracle.”
Stay with us on this subject, much more to come.
God Bless--Gerald
If you would like to contact me please email me @
thornsandnails@avsia.com
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