When I was in Jr High, I told my mom that I couldn't understand why the Israelites would ever reject God (which they did many times). After all, they had seen a dozen or more miracles, not to mention the daily cloud and fire that led them and the manna that fed them. I told her that if I could see a miracle, I'd believe forever and never turn away from God. Are you like me? Do you wish you could see just one miracle that would confirm that God exists? Do you wish that God would just do something awesome so your friends would believe?
Dead people coming back to life - 2 Kings 13:21 , John 11 , Mark 5
Other natural things, like sunsets, babies being born, and medicine wouldn't be considered miracles, because those are working within the parameters that God set up to run the universe.
So why don't miracles happen today? If God can work outside of the laws of nature, why did he stop doing miracles? Well, my question to you is, what makes you think they don't happen? Nothing in scripture tells us that that God stopped or ever would stop performing miracles. In fact, we find the opposite is true.
The Bible says Christians will perform miracles. Mark 16:17-18 says, "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Sounds pretty amazing to me. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 explains how the Holy Spirit enables Christians to perform miracles as a gift, just like wisdom, and prophecy. In fact, Jesus himself said, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."( Matthew 17:20 ) I know what you're thinking. If that's true, let's go do some faith landscaping. But you have to remember why God performs miracles. It's not just for our amusement.
God does the miraculous to confirm his message. Check these out: Matthew 11:2-5 When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." Mark 16:20 "Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." Acts 8:6 "When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said." Acts 14:3 "So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders."
Do you see the common theme? Remember Moses talking to Pharaoh? God used miracles to prove that Moses was his prophet. God will move the mountain, but only when he wants to. It's not the Christian who does the miraculous, but the God who empowers him. That why we don't see a bunch of mountains jumping into the sea. In the New Testament when Christians performed miracles, it was because God prompted them to. So why aren't miracles more common?
Miracles don't guarantee faith. Pharaoh didn't believe Moses and God ( Exodus 7:12-13 ). And Jesus rebuked the people in two cities that he had visited because they didn't believe. Matthew 11:20-21 says, "Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." In fact, not all miracles are from God! Mark 13:22 says, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect--if that were possible." And 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says "The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders". Deuteronomy 13:1-5 "If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, 'Let us follow other gods' (gods you have not known) 'and let us worship them,' you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you."
My mom understood that. She told me that the Israelites didn't have the Bible, and more importantly, they didn't have the Holy Spirit living in them. She reminded me that we have more reason to believe than ever, and yet we still turn away from God. Jesus warned us that we shouldn't be like the Jews of his time who demanded signs and miracles. That the only sign we need is that he was killed, buried, and came back to life. It's not that miracles aren't cool and God won't do them today. It's just that we have something even better that testifies the He is Lord: a life changed by God.
