Article 2—Whom has God Worked MiraclesThrough ?

            As we study this aspect of the subject of miracles closely, we will find some interesting and strange (to us) things. In this study let us keep in mind a fact we learned in the first article as to how God many times is working through his natural laws and these should not be confused with a miracle. We saw that a miracle was when God either suspended a natural law or a natural law was superceded.

When we speak of natural law we speak of things God has set in motion at the creation that are perpetually repetitive and will take place when pre-set conditions are met, such as occurs with the “law of gravity” or “the law of centrifugal force”, or; “sunrise” and “sunset.”

As we mentioned before, in the beginning God created our universe from nothing. This was a miracle. Then from the dust of the earth he created man. This was another miracle.

Man since that time has been propagated through natural law, that is, a man + a woman + a sex act = children. This clearly shows the difference between a miracle and the working of God through natural law.

Now as we begin to look at those through whom miracles were worked in times past, the ones in the Old Testament that are so outstanding of course are Moses and Aaron. These two men were sent to confront the ruler of Egypt. They carried with them the power to work mighty miracles whose purpose was to make Pharaoh understand that they had been sent by the true God in order to secure the release of Gods’ people.

One of the differences in them and modern day “miracle workers” is that they did not set up a meeting with their fellow Israelites and invite outsiders to come and receive or observe a miracle. It also becomes obvious as we study this case that if you were an Israelite it did not mean that you could cause a miracle to occur through prayer or otherwise.

Another lesson to be learned here is that others besides Gods’ people could and did duplicate some of the same things that occurred at the bidding of Gods’ men, or at least it appeared so to the observers.

Just here we might ask a question; “Why does no one today that claims God works miracles through them perform any such as these?”

Another interesting and somewhat amazing miracle is recorded in Numbers 22. The story goes that the King of Moab wished to employ the prophet Balaam to come and curse the Israelites. Balaam refused to accept “the call” until such a time as the price was made right. Boy, does that sound familiar?

On his way to “fill his appointment” an angel of the Lord, seen only by the donkey he was riding, blocked the way. The donkey persisted in turning aside and Balaam persisted in beating the little animal to turn her back into the way. The story goes on that the donkey began to speak to Balaam (evidently in the Hebrew tongue) and actually carried on a conversation with him!!! THIS WAS A MIRACLE, nothing natural about this!!!

As far as I know this would be the first recorded case of “speaking in tongues” as certainly the donkey could not speak in human language, nor had it studied it in any school. Neither is there ever another case of such a miracle.

A thought just here; if “speaking in tongues” is the evidence of salvation, as some teach, then was this donkey saved?

Please notice that in all the miracles of the Old Testament when the purpose of the miracle had been accomplished the miracles ceased. Thus Moses and Aaron did not continue working the same miracles as at first, this evidently was gone.

Neither did the donkey continue to elucidate in the Hebrew vernacular.

As an observant student of scripture it will strike you that as time progressed in Old Testament times, and the more fulfilled Gods’ plan for the Jewish people became, the less of miracles we see. We eventually come to a time when even prophecy was suspended for a period of roughly four hundred years, from Malachi until the days of Jesus.

The conclusion we reach then is that God used specific people for specific purposes and gave specific miracles to accomplish specific ends. It is important as we continue that we remember this principle.

The discussion of those through whom miracles were worked will continue in article three and we will look at those whom God worked miracles through in New Testament times.

                                    God Bless--Gerald
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