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Miracles Part 2 – “Signs and Wonders” in the New Testament
Episode 69 – Miracles Part 2 – “Signs and Wonders in the New Testament”
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script: (Bible quotes from the New Living Translation)
When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
The Gospel of John, Chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, New Living Translation
But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they answered.
… Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 17 through 21, New Living Translation
********
VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books, and part-time horticulturist – at least that’s how he thinks about it. He moves the silk plants around in the lobby. We used to have real plants but we quickly realized that providing care for indoor plants was not part of his wheelhouse. We did save almost all of them and when we did it some people said they had a renewed faith in miracles – which is a perfect lead-in to today’s discussion. Today on Anchored by Truth we’re going to continue the discussion we began last time about the miracles in the Bible. In our last episode we began talking about the purpose for authentic Biblical miracles with a particular focus on two specific periods of clustered miraculous activity in the Old Testament: the miracles that occurred in the time of Moses and those during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. RD, would you care to give us a brief overview of what we learned?
RD: I’d love to. We covered a few key points in our initial discussion about how miracles are used in the Bible. The first point is that, while the Bible does use the word miracles, what we call miracles are more often called “signs and wonders.” This is significant because real Biblical miracles are never random events. Instead they are used to validate someone such as Moses or Elijah as an authentic messenger of God. Second, miracles in the Bible tend to be clustered during specific time periods that seem to have specific importance to redemptive history. The miracles during the time of Moses marked the time God was moving His people out of Egypt and back to their promised homeland. And the miracles during the time of the prophets Elijah and Elisha marked the end of the unified nation and, unfortunately, the beginning of Israel’s descent into idolatry which only worsened through time.
VK: And sadly that period of idolatrous worship ended very badly for the Jewish people. The kingdom which was initially unified under David and Solomon split into the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Israel was conquered by the Assyrians around 722 B.C. and disappeared from the pages of history. Judah lasted for another 150 years or so until it was conquered by the Babylonians and its people went into exile in Babylon for a period 70 years. But true to His word God ultimately brought out a surviving remnant and returned them to the Promised Land. God’s dealings with His nation during the time of the Old Testament is a great reminder that God will always accomplish anything that He ordains. One reason that He can do this is because He is sovereign over all the affairs of men and nations. So before we go to much further in today’s discussion let’s listen to an excerpt from Crystal Sea’s book Purposeful Prayers that meditates on the fact that our God is an infinite God.
--- Purposeful Prayers Excerpt – The Only Worthy Object of Prayer
VK: Well by listening to that excerpt you can see how God can shepherd the unfolding of all human history to bring about His intended purposes. Of course, one purpose that God is bringing about is salvation for His people. And that’s one of the big reasons we wanted to have this discussion about miracles, because God used miracles in the Bible as one part of His overall plan of redemption.
RD: Exactly right. And as we’ve mentioned last time we saw how God used clusters of miracles during the times of Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament to both authenticate them as genuine messengers of God and to mark the times of their ministries as being important turning points in redemptive history.
VK: Well, before we move on to beginning our discussion of miracles in the New Testament perhaps we should clarify something. The Old Testament does record miracles that occurred outside the specific ministries of Moses, Elijah, and Elisha. I mean the book of Daniel records the famous episode of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerging unscathed after Nebuchadnezzar tossed them into a fiery furnace.
RD: You’re absolutely correct that there are records of miracles in the Old Testament outside of Moses, Elijah, and Elisha such as Daniel’s friends not being harmed by the fiery furnace or the walls of Jericho collapsing so that the Hebrew army could conquer the city. But those miracles tended to be singular or one-time events as opposed to the proliferation of miracles that occurred with Moses, Elijah, and Elisha. And there are significant differences in how those miracles are portrayed by the Bible.
VK: Such as?
RD: When Moses, Elijah, or Elisha performed their miracles – and of course they weren’t performing miracles, God was performing miracles using them as His agent – you see a description in the Bible that makes it clear that the prophet was well aware that they were being used as God’s agent. An agent is one who acts on behalf of another person or entity. So, for instance, when Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel it is clear that Elijah was an active participant in the miracle. He was the one who challenged the prophets of Baal to begin with. He harassed the prophets of Baal while they were attempting to bring fire down from heaven to consume their sacrifice. When it became his turn, Elijah used stones and repaired the altar of God in the sight of all the people. He dug a trench around the altar and then called for the people to fill the trench with water. And Elijah actively called down the fire out of heaven to consume the sacrifice that had been placed on the altar. With Moses, Elijah, and Elisha you see a clear awareness by the prophet that God was performing miracles through them.
VK: But you don’t see that same level of personal agency with Joshua and the walls of Jericho falling down. Joshua gave the people the instructions the Lord had given him, but it was the combined shout of the people that initiated the collapse of the walls. And when Daniel’s friends went into the fire and came out unharmed Daniel wasn’t even around. I see what you’re getting at. There are 17 books in the Bible that comprise the prophets but there is hardly any mention of miracles in them. Naturally, we’re distinguishing here between the prophecies made by the prophets and miracles. The prophets’ prophecies certainly demonstrated they were receiving supernatural inspiration from the Lord. But the supernatural activity that produced the prophecies was different from the type of supernatural activity that accompanied, say, Elijah’s resurrection of the widow of Zarephath’s son described in 1 Kings chapter 17. In some cases, centuries elapsed between a prophecy being given and it being fulfilled. In the case of the miracles performed by Moses, Elijah, and Elisha the results of the supernatural activity were immediately visible.
RD: Exactly. And you see those same characteristics of immediacy and personal agency present when Jesus performed His miracles and also when the Apostles carried on the pattern established by Jesus. Jesus was always well aware that He was performing miracles, or more properly, signs and wonders. And Jesus claimed very straightforwardly that the miracles that He performed were specific evidence that He was who He claimed to be – God incarnate.
VK: Well, that raises a very tricky point. Jesus claimed that His miracles demonstrated that He was God incarnate. Couldn’t someone then claim that, for instance, Moses was also similar to Jesus in that way?
RD: That’s why it’s important to study the various Biblical accounts very carefully. You can easily distinguish Moses, Elijah, and Elisha from Jesus because none of them ever claimed to be God. They all made it very plain that they knew that they were serving God as God’s representative, but that was all they were doing. Moses, Elijah, and Elisha knew that they were servants and not the master. By contrast, Jesus made it plain that He claimed for Himself prerogatives that belonged only to God such as forgiving sins.
VK: Such as the instance of the miracle that Jesus performed that’s described in chapter of 5 of the Gospel of Luke. Some men tried to bring a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. “So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. The New Living Translation in verses 20 through 25 says this. “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.” But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.”
RD: Yes. Every person who performed signs and wonders in the Bible, other than Jesus, whether in the Old or the New Testament made it very plain that they were messengers sent by God to bring God’s word to the people. None of them ever claimed to be God, but Jesus did. Jesus made repeated statements to that effect. In the book of John alone there are the 7 famous “I am” statements such as the one Jesus made in John 11:25 before raising Lazarus from the dead. There Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.” In each of the “I am” statements Jesus was identifying Himself with God in a way that was unique and different from every other person in the Bible. In our two opening scriptures we heard about two of Jesus’s most notable miracles: turning water into wine and feeding the multitude. But before He turned the water into wine Jesus said to His mother that His time had not yet come. And in the account of feeding the multitude in the Gospel of John, John notes that when Jesus asked Phillip about feeding the crowd Jesus was testing Phillip because He already knew what He was going to do. Jesus displayed a very clear understanding of who He was and why He had come. So, it’s actually very easy to see that Jesus used His miracles to prove that He was God. All of the other miracle workers in the Bible used miracles to demonstrate that they had a message from God.
VK: Is it fair to say that every other person who performed miracles in the Bible besides Jesus used their testimony to point to Jesus?
RD: Absolutely. The Old Testament prophets, both those who performed miracles and those who didn’t pointed forward to Jesus. Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles who performed miracles after the resurrection were pointing backward to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. They demonstrated that Jesus was the one who had fulfilled all the prophecies made about the Messiah.
VK: And you have pointed out that the miracles that the Apostles performed actually fulfilled a prophecy made by Jesus. In John 14:12 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works…” So, Jesus actually prophesied that His followers, His disciples would do greater works than He did. Now most conservative commentators believe that the “greater” refers to the number of works not the character or quality of the works. Is that correct?
RD: Yes. And you see the accuracy of Jesus’ prophecy throughout the book of Acts. In our last episode of Anchored by Truth we mentioned the episode in Acts chapter 5 where people would bring sick and demon afflicted people to Jerusalem in the hopes that just Peter’s shadow would fall on them. And when it did the people were healed. There was a similar observation in chapter 19 of Acts.
VK: You’re referring to Acts, chapter 19, verses 11 and 12 where it says: “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” So, during the Apostolic era of the early church when Peter’s shadow - or pieces of cloth that had touched Paul could provide healing - it’s pretty obvious that there were a lot of miracles – signs and wonders if you will – being performed. There were so many that it is fair to say that the Apostles were doing the same works as Jesus and doing them in greater numbers.
RD: Yes. And there were other miraculous events that occurred during that period. The book of Acts says that Stephen and Phillip performed signs and wonders. In fact the period immediately following Christ’s death and resurrection – the period of formation of the early church – was probably the period during redemptive history in which the greatest number of miracles was performed in a relatively short time.
VK: Well, I think that’s a great place to stop for today and to introduce the idea that next time we are going to look more closely at some other important topics related to miracles such as whether miracles violate natural law and whether they are still occurring today. As we always do, we want to close with prayer. Today, let’s listen to a prayer for our friends because it’s important for all of us to have friends and it’s important for us to value our friends enough to always pray for their needs.
---- PRAYER FOR FRIENDS
VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quotes from the New Living Translation)
The Gospel of John, Chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, New Living Translation
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 17 through 21, New Living Translation
1. The Only Worthy Object of Prayer
All prayers, Christian or otherwise, have an object. In other words, the petitions, thoughts, hopes, and aspirations are directed to someone or to something. No one prays to “thin air.” Everyone hopes their prayers will be heard by, and be important to, their intended object, regardless of whether they perceive that object to be an impersonal “force,” a dead ancestor, or a transcendent, personal Being with whom they have a continuing relationship.
Many people spend too little time considering the nature of the object of their prayers. This is unfortunate because even the most beautiful prayer prayed by the sincerest person to an unworthy object would be a futile prayer. An inanimate or non-existent object cannot hear a prayer, much less respond to it. The Bible, particularly the Old Testament, is filled with admonitions about the futility of praying to inanimate objects that have neither eyes to see, ears to hear, nor the power to move. But beyond the futility of praying to an unworthy object is a more serious problem. Because prayer is communion with God, and therefore part of worship, it would be an act of idolatry to direct prayer to an unworthy object. The first of the Ten Commandments (“You shall have no other Gods before Me.”) is number one for a reason.
Most Christians, if asked, would probably say that the object of their prayers is God. Unfortunately, in this day of post-modern ethical relativism and spiritual ambiguity, the terms “God” and even “Jesus” have lost much of their historical meaning. Groups falling far outside the pale of orthodox Christianity have begun to employ the terms “God” and “Jesus” for their own purposes. In doing so, these groups have divested these names of their Biblical content by using them for figures or characters that do not correspond to the Biblical originals. In some cases, even when authentic believers use the terms, they have spent little time grappling with the true nature and attributes of the Father and Son as revealed in Scripture. Their limited knowledge of the nature of the object of their prayers impedes their ability to achieve intimacy with the one to whom they are praying and inhibits their ability to pray effectively.
The Bible is clear that unless we reject all idolatrous formulations of who God is and how He relates to His creation, at best we will be praying to an impotent object. God has revealed Himself to humanity through His creation and His Word, and we are commanded, not entreated, to worship and pray to Him in spirit and in truth. We need to reestablish a firm connection with the God who authored Scripture, framed the heavens, molded man, and granted us an audience to His presence. Having a biblically informed concept of God and His attributes elevates our appreciation of Him and improves the quality of our prayers to Him.
We tend to value lightly the privilege of entering the grandest of throne rooms when we have not thought carefully about the One whom we encounter within. Therefore, to lay a foundation for knowing and appreciating the only worthy object of our prayer--the God revealed in sacred Scripture—let’s think about the attributes that He alone possesses -including among others infinitude, omniscience, and omnipotence. Hopefully, as a consequence, we will be more inclined to pray regularly. We will also gain confidence in the ability of the one true God to answer our prayers in a manner that increasingly conforms us to the image of His Son.
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By R.D.Fierro
5
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Episode 69 – Miracles Part 2 – “Signs and Wonders in the New Testament”
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script: (Bible quotes from the New Living Translation)
When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
The Gospel of John, Chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, New Living Translation
But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!” they answered.
… Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 17 through 21, New Living Translation
********
VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books, and part-time horticulturist – at least that’s how he thinks about it. He moves the silk plants around in the lobby. We used to have real plants but we quickly realized that providing care for indoor plants was not part of his wheelhouse. We did save almost all of them and when we did it some people said they had a renewed faith in miracles – which is a perfect lead-in to today’s discussion. Today on Anchored by Truth we’re going to continue the discussion we began last time about the miracles in the Bible. In our last episode we began talking about the purpose for authentic Biblical miracles with a particular focus on two specific periods of clustered miraculous activity in the Old Testament: the miracles that occurred in the time of Moses and those during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha. RD, would you care to give us a brief overview of what we learned?
RD: I’d love to. We covered a few key points in our initial discussion about how miracles are used in the Bible. The first point is that, while the Bible does use the word miracles, what we call miracles are more often called “signs and wonders.” This is significant because real Biblical miracles are never random events. Instead they are used to validate someone such as Moses or Elijah as an authentic messenger of God. Second, miracles in the Bible tend to be clustered during specific time periods that seem to have specific importance to redemptive history. The miracles during the time of Moses marked the time God was moving His people out of Egypt and back to their promised homeland. And the miracles during the time of the prophets Elijah and Elisha marked the end of the unified nation and, unfortunately, the beginning of Israel’s descent into idolatry which only worsened through time.
VK: And sadly that period of idolatrous worship ended very badly for the Jewish people. The kingdom which was initially unified under David and Solomon split into the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Israel was conquered by the Assyrians around 722 B.C. and disappeared from the pages of history. Judah lasted for another 150 years or so until it was conquered by the Babylonians and its people went into exile in Babylon for a period 70 years. But true to His word God ultimately brought out a surviving remnant and returned them to the Promised Land. God’s dealings with His nation during the time of the Old Testament is a great reminder that God will always accomplish anything that He ordains. One reason that He can do this is because He is sovereign over all the affairs of men and nations. So before we go to much further in today’s discussion let’s listen to an excerpt from Crystal Sea’s book Purposeful Prayers that meditates on the fact that our God is an infinite God.
--- Purposeful Prayers Excerpt – The Only Worthy Object of Prayer
VK: Well by listening to that excerpt you can see how God can shepherd the unfolding of all human history to bring about His intended purposes. Of course, one purpose that God is bringing about is salvation for His people. And that’s one of the big reasons we wanted to have this discussion about miracles, because God used miracles in the Bible as one part of His overall plan of redemption.
RD: Exactly right. And as we’ve mentioned last time we saw how God used clusters of miracles during the times of Moses and Elijah in the Old Testament to both authenticate them as genuine messengers of God and to mark the times of their ministries as being important turning points in redemptive history.
VK: Well, before we move on to beginning our discussion of miracles in the New Testament perhaps we should clarify something. The Old Testament does record miracles that occurred outside the specific ministries of Moses, Elijah, and Elisha. I mean the book of Daniel records the famous episode of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerging unscathed after Nebuchadnezzar tossed them into a fiery furnace.
RD: You’re absolutely correct that there are records of miracles in the Old Testament outside of Moses, Elijah, and Elisha such as Daniel’s friends not being harmed by the fiery furnace or the walls of Jericho collapsing so that the Hebrew army could conquer the city. But those miracles tended to be singular or one-time events as opposed to the proliferation of miracles that occurred with Moses, Elijah, and Elisha. And there are significant differences in how those miracles are portrayed by the Bible.
VK: Such as?
RD: When Moses, Elijah, or Elisha performed their miracles – and of course they weren’t performing miracles, God was performing miracles using them as His agent – you see a description in the Bible that makes it clear that the prophet was well aware that they were being used as God’s agent. An agent is one who acts on behalf of another person or entity. So, for instance, when Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel it is clear that Elijah was an active participant in the miracle. He was the one who challenged the prophets of Baal to begin with. He harassed the prophets of Baal while they were attempting to bring fire down from heaven to consume their sacrifice. When it became his turn, Elijah used stones and repaired the altar of God in the sight of all the people. He dug a trench around the altar and then called for the people to fill the trench with water. And Elijah actively called down the fire out of heaven to consume the sacrifice that had been placed on the altar. With Moses, Elijah, and Elisha you see a clear awareness by the prophet that God was performing miracles through them.
VK: But you don’t see that same level of personal agency with Joshua and the walls of Jericho falling down. Joshua gave the people the instructions the Lord had given him, but it was the combined shout of the people that initiated the collapse of the walls. And when Daniel’s friends went into the fire and came out unharmed Daniel wasn’t even around. I see what you’re getting at. There are 17 books in the Bible that comprise the prophets but there is hardly any mention of miracles in them. Naturally, we’re distinguishing here between the prophecies made by the prophets and miracles. The prophets’ prophecies certainly demonstrated they were receiving supernatural inspiration from the Lord. But the supernatural activity that produced the prophecies was different from the type of supernatural activity that accompanied, say, Elijah’s resurrection of the widow of Zarephath’s son described in 1 Kings chapter 17. In some cases, centuries elapsed between a prophecy being given and it being fulfilled. In the case of the miracles performed by Moses, Elijah, and Elisha the results of the supernatural activity were immediately visible.
RD: Exactly. And you see those same characteristics of immediacy and personal agency present when Jesus performed His miracles and also when the Apostles carried on the pattern established by Jesus. Jesus was always well aware that He was performing miracles, or more properly, signs and wonders. And Jesus claimed very straightforwardly that the miracles that He performed were specific evidence that He was who He claimed to be – God incarnate.
VK: Well, that raises a very tricky point. Jesus claimed that His miracles demonstrated that He was God incarnate. Couldn’t someone then claim that, for instance, Moses was also similar to Jesus in that way?
RD: That’s why it’s important to study the various Biblical accounts very carefully. You can easily distinguish Moses, Elijah, and Elisha from Jesus because none of them ever claimed to be God. They all made it very plain that they knew that they were serving God as God’s representative, but that was all they were doing. Moses, Elijah, and Elisha knew that they were servants and not the master. By contrast, Jesus made it plain that He claimed for Himself prerogatives that belonged only to God such as forgiving sins.
VK: Such as the instance of the miracle that Jesus performed that’s described in chapter of 5 of the Gospel of Luke. Some men tried to bring a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. “So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. The New Living Translation in verses 20 through 25 says this. “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.” But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.”
RD: Yes. Every person who performed signs and wonders in the Bible, other than Jesus, whether in the Old or the New Testament made it very plain that they were messengers sent by God to bring God’s word to the people. None of them ever claimed to be God, but Jesus did. Jesus made repeated statements to that effect. In the book of John alone there are the 7 famous “I am” statements such as the one Jesus made in John 11:25 before raising Lazarus from the dead. There Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.” In each of the “I am” statements Jesus was identifying Himself with God in a way that was unique and different from every other person in the Bible. In our two opening scriptures we heard about two of Jesus’s most notable miracles: turning water into wine and feeding the multitude. But before He turned the water into wine Jesus said to His mother that His time had not yet come. And in the account of feeding the multitude in the Gospel of John, John notes that when Jesus asked Phillip about feeding the crowd Jesus was testing Phillip because He already knew what He was going to do. Jesus displayed a very clear understanding of who He was and why He had come. So, it’s actually very easy to see that Jesus used His miracles to prove that He was God. All of the other miracle workers in the Bible used miracles to demonstrate that they had a message from God.
VK: Is it fair to say that every other person who performed miracles in the Bible besides Jesus used their testimony to point to Jesus?
RD: Absolutely. The Old Testament prophets, both those who performed miracles and those who didn’t pointed forward to Jesus. Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles who performed miracles after the resurrection were pointing backward to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. They demonstrated that Jesus was the one who had fulfilled all the prophecies made about the Messiah.
VK: And you have pointed out that the miracles that the Apostles performed actually fulfilled a prophecy made by Jesus. In John 14:12 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works…” So, Jesus actually prophesied that His followers, His disciples would do greater works than He did. Now most conservative commentators believe that the “greater” refers to the number of works not the character or quality of the works. Is that correct?
RD: Yes. And you see the accuracy of Jesus’ prophecy throughout the book of Acts. In our last episode of Anchored by Truth we mentioned the episode in Acts chapter 5 where people would bring sick and demon afflicted people to Jerusalem in the hopes that just Peter’s shadow would fall on them. And when it did the people were healed. There was a similar observation in chapter 19 of Acts.
VK: You’re referring to Acts, chapter 19, verses 11 and 12 where it says: “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” So, during the Apostolic era of the early church when Peter’s shadow - or pieces of cloth that had touched Paul could provide healing - it’s pretty obvious that there were a lot of miracles – signs and wonders if you will – being performed. There were so many that it is fair to say that the Apostles were doing the same works as Jesus and doing them in greater numbers.
RD: Yes. And there were other miraculous events that occurred during that period. The book of Acts says that Stephen and Phillip performed signs and wonders. In fact the period immediately following Christ’s death and resurrection – the period of formation of the early church – was probably the period during redemptive history in which the greatest number of miracles was performed in a relatively short time.
VK: Well, I think that’s a great place to stop for today and to introduce the idea that next time we are going to look more closely at some other important topics related to miracles such as whether miracles violate natural law and whether they are still occurring today. As we always do, we want to close with prayer. Today, let’s listen to a prayer for our friends because it’s important for all of us to have friends and it’s important for us to value our friends enough to always pray for their needs.
---- PRAYER FOR FRIENDS
VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quotes from the New Living Translation)
The Gospel of John, Chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, New Living Translation
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 17 through 21, New Living Translation
1. The Only Worthy Object of Prayer
All prayers, Christian or otherwise, have an object. In other words, the petitions, thoughts, hopes, and aspirations are directed to someone or to something. No one prays to “thin air.” Everyone hopes their prayers will be heard by, and be important to, their intended object, regardless of whether they perceive that object to be an impersonal “force,” a dead ancestor, or a transcendent, personal Being with whom they have a continuing relationship.
Many people spend too little time considering the nature of the object of their prayers. This is unfortunate because even the most beautiful prayer prayed by the sincerest person to an unworthy object would be a futile prayer. An inanimate or non-existent object cannot hear a prayer, much less respond to it. The Bible, particularly the Old Testament, is filled with admonitions about the futility of praying to inanimate objects that have neither eyes to see, ears to hear, nor the power to move. But beyond the futility of praying to an unworthy object is a more serious problem. Because prayer is communion with God, and therefore part of worship, it would be an act of idolatry to direct prayer to an unworthy object. The first of the Ten Commandments (“You shall have no other Gods before Me.”) is number one for a reason.
Most Christians, if asked, would probably say that the object of their prayers is God. Unfortunately, in this day of post-modern ethical relativism and spiritual ambiguity, the terms “God” and even “Jesus” have lost much of their historical meaning. Groups falling far outside the pale of orthodox Christianity have begun to employ the terms “God” and “Jesus” for their own purposes. In doing so, these groups have divested these names of their Biblical content by using them for figures or characters that do not correspond to the Biblical originals. In some cases, even when authentic believers use the terms, they have spent little time grappling with the true nature and attributes of the Father and Son as revealed in Scripture. Their limited knowledge of the nature of the object of their prayers impedes their ability to achieve intimacy with the one to whom they are praying and inhibits their ability to pray effectively.
The Bible is clear that unless we reject all idolatrous formulations of who God is and how He relates to His creation, at best we will be praying to an impotent object. God has revealed Himself to humanity through His creation and His Word, and we are commanded, not entreated, to worship and pray to Him in spirit and in truth. We need to reestablish a firm connection with the God who authored Scripture, framed the heavens, molded man, and granted us an audience to His presence. Having a biblically informed concept of God and His attributes elevates our appreciation of Him and improves the quality of our prayers to Him.
We tend to value lightly the privilege of entering the grandest of throne rooms when we have not thought carefully about the One whom we encounter within. Therefore, to lay a foundation for knowing and appreciating the only worthy object of our prayer--the God revealed in sacred Scripture—let’s think about the attributes that He alone possesses -including among others infinitude, omniscience, and omnipotence. Hopefully, as a consequence, we will be more inclined to pray regularly. We will also gain confidence in the ability of the one true God to answer our prayers in a manner that increasingly conforms us to the image of His Son.