By Pastor Stephen Hess –
This year our church has been taking a journey through the Book of Exodus. One of the things that has always stood out to me in the early chapters of Exodus is the ability that God gives Moses to perform miracles. By turning his staff into a serpent, turning his hand leprous, and turning water into blood, Moses would prove to the Israelites and to Pharaoh that he was sent by God (Exo. 4). Quite often when people come across miracles like these in the Bible they ask, “Do miracles still happen today?”
To answer that question, we must first define the word “miracle.” Many people use this word to describe ways in which they have seen God’s supernatural hand at work in their lives through providence or through prayer. By this definition miracles are happening constantly all around us. But technically the word “miracle” refers to something much more specific. As R.C. Sproul writes, “A miracle is an extraordinary work by the immediate power of God in the external perceivable world against the laws of nature.” Biblical examples of this include Moses parting the Red Sea, the prophet Elijah raising a widow’s son, and Jesus walking on water.
By this definition miracles are quite rare even in Biblical history. In fact, when we look at the entire Bible, miracles (or what the Bible often calls “signs and wonders”) seem to occur only at key points in God’s redemptive plan. The first time they occur is during the ministry of Moses as God is preparing to lead his people out of Egypt and give them the law. The second time they occur is at the beginning of the prophetic era in the ministry of Elijah and Elisha. The next time they occur is during the ministry of Jesus where he performed a variety of signs and wonders. The final time they occur is during the ministry of the Apostles.
This overview shows us not only that miracles occurred at specific moments in redemptive history but that they played a specific role in God’s redemptive plan. In every case where miracles occur, they served the purpose of proving that God’s messengers truly spoke for him. As Nicodemus says to Jesus in John 3, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (Jn. 3:2). The miracles in the Bible were never ends in and of themselves but were meant to validate God’s messengers, authenticate their message, and point people to the Messiah.
This should caution us against seeking after miracles in the church today. In some Christian circles there is a growing obsession with signs and wonders, with some people arguing that such things are true signs of the Holy Spirit. Yet this ignores the fact that miracles are quite uncommon throughout redemptive history. God never promised that such phenomena would be normative for the church today, and in fact, Scripture suggests quite the opposite.
Yet to say that miracles are not normative for today is not to say that God is not at work today. God is just as active in our world today as he was in the days of Moses, most often accomplishing his purposes through seemingly ordinary means. When we obsess over miracles, we tend to neglect the more ordinary ways that God works in our lives, not the least of which is the power of prayer (Jas. 5:13-18). Although we may not have the power to perform signs and wonders like Moses, we do have the power to pray. Throughout Scripture we see God accomplishing extraordinary things through ordinary people who turn to him in prayer, and he is still doing the same thing today.
Miracles may come and go but God’s presence in our lives never changes. Jesus rebuked those who sought signs (Matt.16:1-4) and instead told his followers to seek him in prayer (Matt. 7:7-11). Those who do will not fail to see his supernatural hand at work.