THE GUIDE ONLINE MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER'20

MIRACLE WORKINGGOD

"God is not in the business of doing the miraculous simply to amaze and astound people. "

Christians believe in a miracle-working

God. Since, He is the sovereign Creator of the physical universe and the natural laws by which it operates. We believe that, there is no obstacle to His intervening in the course of world history to do spectacular, out of the ordinary things which defy natural explanations. Therefore, God can do miracles if it pleases Him to do so.

Miracles have a purpose. God is not in the business of doing the miraculous simply to amaze and astound people. Jesus refused to perform miracles to satisfy people’s curiosity. Instead, miracles are to confirm the authority of those sent by God and to testify the truth of the revelation they bring.

Although, God ultimately stands behind

all that happens, supernatural agents other than God can perform miracles. A miraculous event can even come from Satan to lead people astray. If a miracle is performed that encourages us to abandon authentic biblical truth and the gospel. We have to reject it. On other occasions, they are used together in the phrase "signs and wonders" (Exodus 7:3; Psalm 135:9;Acts 2:22,43;4:30;2:12;6:8). Sometimes one text describes a miraculous event as a sign and other text describes the same event as a wonder.

The description of miracles as signs and wonders tell us something about both the nature and purpose of miracles.

One of the Christian philosopher Norman Geisler puts it:

From the human vantage point a miracle, then, is an unusual event (wonder) that conveys and confirms an unusual message (sign) by means of unusual power. From the Divine vantage point of a miracle is an act of God that attracts the attention of God's people (wonder) to the Word of God (by a sign).

Every miracle in the Bible begins with a problem and a need. Before He fed the five thousand, Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw a multitude of people who were like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34).

When the Bible speaks of the miracles. It usually characterizes them as signs and wonders. And sometimes these two terms are used separately when describing miracles (Exodus 4:1-8; 11:9; John

2:11;11:47;20:30)