Episode 70 – Miracles Part 3 – Lessons from Miracles

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 they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh, sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!” “Where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at that spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface. “Grab it,” Elisha said. And the man reached out and grabbed it.

2 Kings, Chapter 6, verses 4 through 7, New Living Translation

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.  …

Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the LORD opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land.  So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side.

Exodus, Chapter 14, verses 15 and 16 and verses 21 and 22, New Living Translation

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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 aeronautical engineer – sometimes when he’s in one of his thinking spells the floor of his office is covered with paper airplanes that never made it to the recycling container. We’ve suggested he just move the container closer to his desk but he says that would reduce the analytical challenge of producing better designs. Anyway, today on Anchored by Truth we’re going to continue our analysis of miracles in the Bible by examining the types of miracles that are described in Bible’s stories and what we can learn from the fact that there are different types of miracles that God uses as part of His plan of redemption. RD, why don’t you put some wind into our discussion by reminding us of some of what we’ve learned so far?

RD: Put some wind into our discussion? Really?

VK: Wind sounded better than hot air.

RD: Well, I agree with that. So in our episodes on Biblical miracles, we’ve covered a few key points about how miracles are used in the Bible. One key point is that even though the immediate effects of miracles vary widely, miracles are never random events. Instead they are used to validate authentic messengers of God such as Moses, Elijah, or the Apostle Paul. Second, miracles in the Bible tend to be clustered during specific time periods that seem to have specific importance to redemptive history. For instance, 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 Apostle Paul’s time happened during the time when God was establishing His new church that included both Jews and Gentiles. The miracles performed by Paul validated the fact that God had sent him to spread the gospel throughout the Roman world.

VK: But during the Apostle Paul’s time there were also other Christians in the early church who were also performing miracles weren’t there?

RD: Yes. You’re absolutely correct that during the period of the early church the Apostle Paul was definitely not the only believer who was given the ability to perform miracles. When Paul was still called “Saul” a believer named Ananias healed Saul’s blindness. The book of Acts also says Peter, Stephen, and Phillip performed many miracles. And there were many other miracles that were not attributed to the agency of a particular person such as the Holy Spirit’s appearance on Pentecost giving the disciples the ability to speak foreign languages they had never learned. So, it’s probably fair to say that during Christ’s life and in the period following his death and resurrection more miracles were performed than during any other period of redemptive history. I’ve often thought that this was God’s way of emphasizing that one part of redemption, the Old Covenant, had been completed and a new one was beginning. But it’s important to note that this proliferation of miracles seems to have only lasted long enough to validate the Apostles and other early believers as people who had an authentic message from God.

VK: So, in that sense you’re saying that all the clusters of miracles in the Bible not only mark specific people as messengers of God but also mark specific turning points in redemptive history, in the unfolding of God’s grand plan of creation, fall, and redemption.

RD: Absolutely. The proliferation of miracles in Moses’ time marked the end of the Egyptian sojourn. The proliferation of miracles in Elijah and Elisha’s time marked the end of the united Hebrew nation. The miracles after the resurrection marked the close of the period in which the Messiah had been anticipated but not yet received. But just as those periods of miracles marked an end, they also marked a beginning. Moses marked the beginning of the Hebrew’s nation occupancy of the Promised Land. The miracles of Jesus’ and the Apostles’ lives marked the beginning of the New Covenant. All this is one of the reasons it’s so important to have a clear understanding of what miracles are and what they are not – because miracles have been used by God to provide clarity into how He is unfolding His redemptive process - to redeem a people for Himself and, ultimately, all creation from the effects of the Fall.

VK: So, our starting point for today’s discussion about different types of miracles is that even there are different types of miracles described in the Bible, all the miracles serve the same purpose – to further God’s plan of ransoming a body of believers from every nation, race, tribe, and tongue to join Him in fellowship for all eternity. But before we go too much further, it’s probably a good idea to remind everyone The only reason that God can unfold a plan that spans millennia is because He is eternal and infinite. God can accomplish any plan He wants. There is no power in the universe or in any part of the created order that can prevent God from doing anything He chooses. And you say the fact that God uses His power to intervene in His natural order from time to time illustrates the fact that God is in control of all events whether, from a human standpoint, their effect is great or, seemingly, insignificant. Right?

RD: Exactly right. There are a lot of illusions and misconceptions about God that circulate in our culture today even among Christians. We certainly don’t have time to tackle all of them …

VK: At least not in this show. We have more shows coming.

RD: Well, we may not even get to all them even then. But we can at least provide some clarity about what the Bible says about God. And - especially for today – we can see what kind of lessons about God’s character and purposes we can glean from the Bible’s various accounts of miracles. So, for today I’d like to focus on three episodes we see in the Bible. Two of the episodes are ones of miracles – which the Bible most often calls “signs and wonders.” The third episode is sometimes thought of being miraculous but it really isn’t.

VK: Okay. So what are the 3 Bible stories you want to consider?

RD: Today I want to take a look at the encounter between David and Goliath – which is not an account of a miracle. And then I want to take a look at the episodes we heard about in our opening scriptures. The first miraculous episode is the account of the prophet Elisha using a miracle for something that seems insignificant to us – saving an ax head from being lost in a river. The second miraculous episode is the well-known incident when God parted the Red Sea to save the Hebrews from the Egyptian Army.

VK: Hmmm. This sounds like it could be interesting. Well, let’s start with David’s defeat of Goliath. Most scholars believe that David was just a teenager when he fought Goliath. And even though David’s height isn’t expressly given to us many scholars believe that he was relatively short even in a society where the average adult Hebrew man was less that 5 feet, six inches. The Bible does tell us that David was very handsome but I’m not sure that that would have mattered very much to a Philistine warrior over 9 feet tall that wore a coat of mail that weighted 125 pounds and carried a spear whose spearhead alone was around 15 pounds. To many people a small Hebrew teenager armed only with a piece of leather and a rock defeating a massive, armored, seasoned enemy warrior would seem to be miraculous.

RD: The key word is “seem.” True Biblical miracles involve God interceding in the affairs of his creation in such a way that – for a limited time and a specific purpose – God suspends the operation of what we normally call “natural law.”

VK: I notice that you said “suspend” natural laws, not violate them?

RD: I did. Since God created everything including how His creation behaves God can do anything with His creation He chooses. Natural laws are really just description of how matter and energy within creation normally behave. They are descriptive not prescriptive. Since God created natural laws they obey His commands. The overwhelming majority of the time natural laws govern matter and energy, but occasionally God will change or suspend the operation of one of HIS laws. The Bible calls those instances, most often, signs and wonders. We tend to call them miracles.

VK: So you’re saying that when David killed Goliath using a rock and a sling God did not suspend the operation of any of his natural laws. The laws of physics governing the whirling of the sling, the motion of the rock, and the impact of the rock when it hit Goliath all operated normally. Just as they would have had the two combatants been entirely different people. 

RD: Yes. Now I’m certainly not saying that David’s defeat of Goliath wasn’t providential and even remarkable. But God didn’t need to change any natural laws for David to kill Goliath. When we did our Anchored by Truth series on the story of David and Goliath we covered the medical and physical science that pointed out that a person skilled in the use of what’s called a Balearic sling can generate enough of an impact to kill a human being. The History Channel tested a gentleman named Luis Pons Livermore who is a Balearic sling champion. They erected a 9 foot Goliath that had a load cell positioned on the forehead. According to trauma surgeon Dr. Mike Edwards, the force necessary to kill a human being from blunt force trauma is anything over 3,000 Newtons or 3 kilo Newtons. This force, spread over the area of 30 square millimeters would cause a shockwave. It would cause the brain to shake causing irreversibly tissue damage.  

Mr. Livermore not only did he hit the load cell with impressive accuracy, but the load cell measured the force to be 3.62 kilo Newtons. This was more than enough force to kill Goliath.

VK: So when David killed Goliath all of God’s natural laws operated exactly as they should. But, contrast that with the episode where Elisha raised the ax head out of the river that we heard about in our first scripture. In that case God did suspend the operation of one or more natural laws because solid iron objects aren’t normally going to float when they fall in a river, are they?

RD: No they won’t. For an ax head to rise off the bottom of a river – by itself -without someone going in and fishing it out doesn’t happen when the normal laws of physics are in operation. Now, just for clarity’s sake, let’s make sure we understand the entire story. We only heard a part of it in our scripture. The reason the men were down near the river Jordan was because they wanted to enlarge the building where the people had been meeting with Elisha – probably where he counseled the people, resolved disputes, and most importantly passed along God’s messages to the people. Also, to us losing an ax isn’t any fun but we can replace one fairly easily. In 9th century B.C. iron was a rare commodity so its loss would have been far more catastrophic than it is for us. Also, the Jordan river can vary widely in flow and intensity depending on the season of the year. So, this miracle may actually have head more than one component. If it was a time of the year when the Jordan is at its peak, a stick thrown in the water would have been swept downstream quickly. We’re not given all the details that might be helpful, but we’re given enough to know that Elisha performed a miracle to help out someone who was in trouble.

VK: And this story certainly reveals that Elisha had a kind heart and a genuine concern for the people he was ministering to. But no matter what other details might reveal, recovering a lost ax head from a river is never going to match the importance of parting an entire sea to save a nation of over 2 million from destruction. Will it?

RD: No. It won’t. And it’s here that you start to be able to draw some really significant lessons from God’s performance of various miracles. But before we get to the analysis let’s look at the details of the parting of the Red Sea. The Bible says that the Lord parted the Red Sea using a strong wind from the East. Some people might say that a strong enough wind can part water so that doesn’t mean that God had to suspend any natural laws in this case.

VK: True enough, but people who said that would be missing the fact that – while wind may part water – it rarely blows at a steady rate for hours on end. I mean, no matter how well organized the Hebrews were it would take hours for 2 million men, women, and children to cross from one side of even a large lake to the other. And the Hebrews had to not only get themselves across they had to carry all their possessions and they had flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle that they had to move as well. So, the wind would have had to hold steady for hours, blow primarily on the water – not knock over the people and animals, and create a large enough path through the water so the people could navigate an uneven sea bottom safely. And, of course, do it at exactly the right time while the Lord used an alternating pillar of cloud and fire to block the Egyptian Army. I’m not sure I could catalog all of the natural laws the Lord manipulated while effecting the Red Sea crossing but it was more than a few.

RD: Yes. So the Hebrew nation crossing the Red Sea was clearly a miraculous event and even by generous standards considerably more significant to redemptive history that Elisha rescuing a lost ax head. And I think that the comparison of these three incidents tells us a few things that are really important.

VK: Such as?

RD: Our God is the God of both the big and the small. God is infinite so is literally no limit to what, or how, He can provide for His people. He pays attention to everything in our lives whether we think it’s a big thing or a small thing. Next, God is sovereign over the affairs not only of individual people, He is also sovereign over the affairs of nations, armies, and empires.

VK: Well, that’s a great lesson for us today. Our nation has endured its fair share of trials lately, so it’s a comfort to be reminded that God is still in control of it all. What else do we learn from these three stories?

RD: That God doesn’t need a miracle, to suspend the operation of His natural law, to help His people. God granted David victory over Goliath and led to the defeat of the entire Philistine Army. Let’s remember that David was a teenage Hebrew boy who had tended sheep for years and used his sling for years to guard the sheep. He had probably slung thousands of rocks through the years either to scare away wolves or other threats or just to practice his aim. God, can and does expect us to get good at whatever He has called us to do. And he can and does use our natural abilities. Sometimes he uses them to accomplish things considerably beyond anything that we can conceive. When David was toting bread and cheese down to his brothers in the valley of Elah he probably never dreamed God was going to use him to produce victory for the entire Hebrew army.

VK: That’s another great lesson. We may think that what we have been doing is somehow humble or even unimportant. But, God can use anyone’s skills or ability to build his kingdom and, frankly, to save people and nations. Anything else?

RD: That God sometimes lets things look pretty bleak before He steps in which is why we must always maintain our trust in Him. In each of these three episodes things were not looking good for the people of God, but that didn’t mean that He still wasn’t in control and that He intended good for His people. Now, at my age I know that sometimes things don’t turn out the way I hope. Death and disease are real. So is job loss and financial struggles. Without a doubt there are times in this life we know that we live in a fallen creation. But for Christians our hope lies not so much for delivery in this world but in the certainty of our glorification in the next. Now, I recognize that many would dismiss this observation as optimistic foolishness, but to me that is just another assurance that the Bible accurately reflects the nature of this creation. And just as certainly as I recognize the reality of pain I also recognize the reality that many times in my life that I have seen remarkable deliveries of God’s people. Ultimately, those who place their hope first and foremost in Jesus will never be disappointed.

VK: And that’s such an important observation and a great way to close today. It reminds me of Psalm 37:25: “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned.” As we always do we want to close with a prayer. Since this is about the time that school is starting today let’s listen to a prayer for children starting another school year. Next time on Anchored by Truth we’re going to continue our discussion about Biblical miracles and how God uses the accounts of them in the Bible to further His grand plan of redemption.

---- PRAYER FOR CHILDREN STARTING SCHOOL

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)

2 Kings, Chapter 6, verses 4 through 7, New Living Translation

Exodus, Chapter 14, verses 15 and 16 and verses 21 and 22, New Living Translation