Can God Still Perform Miracles Today?
I heard a story in a pastors’ meeting a few weeks ago, where a hard-working and dedicated pastor died around the age of 60. Some of the elders were very distraught that this hard-working pastor was gone. They wanted to get together and pray for God to resurrect him and put him back to work. However, according to the story, his wife simply replied, “No. He has earned his rest. Let him rest.” I am not sure if his wife was thinking of this passage or not when she said what she did, but to me it seems to fit:
Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Revelation 14:13 NKJV
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While teaching a Bible class years ago, a young student asked me why we don’t see more miracles today, like we did in the Bible. He was especially wondering about resurrections. I shared several thoughts with him. For example, if God was going to resurrect someone, why not just heal them and not let them die in the first place? If God was going to resurrect them, why not just prevent them from dying? Also, would modern-day resurrections give the deceiver more ammunition for counterfeit miracles to “prove” the teachings of spiritualism?
I believe the resurrections in the Bible served a practical purpose. For example, the widow’s son continued to live and provide for his mother. Dorcas continued her community services. But beyond serving a practical purpose for that time, these resurrections also give us hope for the resurrection when Jesus returns.
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4 NKJV
Our hope comes from the Scriptures and not modern-day miracles. Having said that, I do believe that if God sees fit, He can work the same miracles through us today that he worked trough Elijah, Elisha and Peter when they raised the dead. While it’s obvious that you and I cannot raise the dead, it is also obvious that Elijah, Elisha and Peter could not raise the dead. Jesus in His humanity did not even take credit for raising the dead. He tells us His Father raises the dead.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. John 5:21 NKJV
Every miracle Jesus performed, He performed by faith in His Father. In His humanity, Jesus claims that without the Father He was just as helpless as we are in our humanity without the Father.
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. John 5:19 NKJV
When Jesus raised the dead, His humanity was just as dependent upon the Father as Elijah, Elisha and Peter were. While it’s obvious we cannot do such miracles on our own, it is also obvious that “with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 NKJV
Jesus even said,
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:10,12 NKJV
Sure, Jesus meant we will take the Gospel farther into the world than He did when he said “greater works.” But it also implies that, as we rely on the Father the way Jesus, Elijah, Elisha, and Peter relied on the Father, we can do the same miracles Jesus did, if God actually needs the same miracles to be performed. Jesus said,
“For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 NKJV
We need to keep in mind that, just because it is possible, does not mean it needs to happen. Jesus doesn’t need us to move every mountain, and He does not need us to resurrect every dead person. After all, there is a reason why mountains are where they are and there is a reason why those who are dead are still asleep. At the same time, I believe God moves mountains today as needed. I also do not doubt that God can still raise the dead through us today, as He did through Elijah in his day. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. What the Father did through Elijah, Elisha, Peter and Jesus, He can do through us.
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Amen Pastor William very well said.
And I would like to add something I just realized in my studies about who put Jesus on the cross, and it was not Satan, yes he caused the need for the cross but he had studied the scriptures and knew that’s where he would be defeated and so he tried in every way to keep it from happening. That’s why in DA, it states that he appeared in human flesh, to get Jesus to come down off the cross.
So to keep things short here, it was the Pharisees that wanted Jesus dead, and the Sadducees saw no reason for it, until God the Father forced their hand at a time when they did not want to do it, because it was the most Holy time of the year, with it being the Passover and the year of Jubilee.
And the way God forced them was through the crowning miracle that proved Jesus divinity beyond all other miracles, which was the resurrection of Lazarus, this caused the Sadducees to say, it’s better for one man to perish than for a nation. By the way all the other resurrections could be questioned, saying they were not really dead but were in a deep comma or sleep. So yes it was God the Father who laid His Son upon the cross, just like Abraham laid his son on the alter.
Why they even assassinated Lazarus because he was living proof to the divinity of Jesus. And so there were always more than one reason for miracles, and I like what you said about having God’s Word, after all it has the miracle works of transformation in our lives by giving us faith, sanctification, hope and eternal life.
Dear Richard,
Thank you for your thoughts. But I wonder what studies took you to the conclusion that God forced the Pharisees and Sadducees to crucify Christ and that He thus "laid his son on the altar." You wrote:
I'd like you to think this through a bit further: Surely you do not mean that the people who crucified Christ bear no responsibility because God "forced" them to do it?
Does God *ever* force us to make choices? (See Joshua 24:15, Deut. 30:19, Eze. 18:31, 33:11) Or does He do His best to persuade us to choose the way of life by His loving-kindness? (Jere. 31:3)
Did God love the Jews less than He loves us now? Did Christ not appeal to them again and again? He began long before He began His official ministry, by going to the temple as a 12-year-old and questioning the teachers regarding their understanding of the prophecies and thus pointing them to His true mission. (See Desire of Ages, beginning with p. 78 )
Later, for three years, He labored untiringly to teach them about His Father and His own mission. It was only in the last days of His ministry that He warned them with harsh words about their fate if they did not repent.
Jesus said that He would lay down His life. (John 10:15-17.) He did not say that God would kill Him on the cross. John also told us that God *gave* His only Son that we might have eternal life. (John 3:15-17) He gave Him to the human race forever - but in ingratitude, the rulers of Israel nailed Him to a cross. I do not see any evidence that God *forced* them to do it.
I do believe that the Pharisees and Sadducees joined together to destroy Christ in order to preserve their own authority and power. From their own viewpoint, they felt forced to do this to stay in power. But that's a far cry from God "forcing" them to do it.
Perhaps you can clarify?
Dear Sister Anderson
I think you were misunderstanding what I was meaning, just like many misunderstand the statement about how God hardened Pharaoh's heart. So, does that mean God forced Pharaoh to do what He did? No, God hardened his heart by giving him evidence of who He was, by the miracles of the plagues that denounced their gods. Just as God, through His Son proved His divinity by the resurrection of Lazarus.
And yes, of coarse Jesus gave plenty of time and opportunities for them to change their hearts towards accepting the new Kingdom into their hearts. And I am sure there were some who did, like Nicodemus. Matter of fact, it’s told in chapter 58 of The Desire of Ages, of there being a group that did. But overall they did not accept Jesus, and it’s recorded that the Pharisees had tried to kill him by stoning Him, and another time throwing Jesus off a cliff.
And so, did not Jesus say of the Pharisees, this in John 8: 42?
So here we have a picture of how most of the Pharisees belong to the devil. and so God the Father takes this group who is set on the lust of their father the devil and He uses it in the way of giving His Son, just as God used the heathen nations as a rod to punish Israel when they had fallen into idolatry. And in Isaiah 53:10 it gives us this picture of the Father doing this though the Pharisees, who by the way will be held accountable, just as Pharaoh was.
As far as God uniting the Sadducees and the Pharisees, to bring about what the Father wanted to accomplish, in fulling Isaiah 53:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:21, in which God makes His Son to be sin for us.
Read DA 537.2 to 541.1
Hello Richard & Inge,
May I suggest reading this commentary on Romans 9:8,
which discusses how God "hardened" Pharaoh's heart? It discusses the Hebrew "idiom of permission." I have seen much tortured logic in internet articles (even by PhDs who should know better) who seem to be unaware of this Semitic language idiom.
Paul was the product of the rabbinic schools of the Pharisees (the ultra conservative religious faction of the Jewish religion) and this would naturally be part of his linguistic thinking.
Richard
Hi, Richard Ferguson. Thank you! Certainly, this observation will be very helpful, although I doubt that Inge and the other Richard were actually unaware of this idiom.
My observation is that the use of this "idiom of permission" might have taken on a whole new meaning, when applied to a God of infinite wisdom, who knows the end from the beginning. While He chooses to honour human free will, God is certainly not limited by it, when it comes to doing as He pleases.
As for the salvation of each individual, 2 Peter 3:9 expresses God's heart-felt unwillingness to let anyone perish. On the other hand, Romans 9:22-24 clearly indicates that, in His foreknowledge -- knowing that some would obstinately and perversely refuse His salvation -- God went ahead and created them anyway, in order to fulfil some other purpose. Thus, not even the contrary exercise of human freedom can defeat God's plans.
Is this beyond human comprehension? Absolutely! For me, it is enough to see and believe that God is love, and that He has all power and all wisdom.
If there were more faithful Christians I believe we would see more resurrections. John 14:6, 7
That may be true, however ...
From what I have observed, God performs miracles where they are truly needed for specific reasons. He seems to perform more obvious miracles in the most deprived areas of the world - where medical care is non-existent and material goods are few. I have read of at least one resurrection taking place under such circumstances, but I cannot remember the precise incident. And I believe there may be more.
Our church has never placed a high emphasis on miracles, and thus miracles are not necessarily widely broadcast. However, miracles of healing are more frequently recorded than resurrections - again, especially in such deprived areas of the world. We can sometimes read about them in news from missionaries working in such areas. Sometimes they dare not reveal their location because they are working undercover.
One miracle I know happened in the 1990's when my husband did some evangelism in the Ukraine. One woman came to him and his physician sister to ask for help with a debilitating illness. His sister was all out of medicine and even most supplements with which she had packed her suitcase. All she had left were some calcium supplements. So she handed the woman some of these (as sort of a placebo), and then they prayed for her healing. When the woman came back a couple of days later, she was completely healed. And I believe my physician sister-in-law who said that this does not happen spontaneously! (At that time medical care in the Ukraine was so bad that people knew that going to the hospital meant going to die.)
Yes, God is still the same, and He still works miracles!
But quite apart from the dramatic miracles, He works miracles in our lives when we follow His law of life - for spiritual life and physical life. We experience blessings similar to those pronounced from Mt. Gerizim (See Deut. 11:29; Deut. 27:12 and the story of the fulfillment beginning in Josh. 8:33) I consider an extension of life due to following the eight laws of health also as a miracle. And we know that God does this routinely.
The existence of more faithful Christians isn’t the fuel for resurrections or more of them. As it’s identified in the word, the glorifying of/pointing towards the creator is the purpose of all miracles, least of all bringing one back to life. Agree with another writer, who identified how few there were, as well as I would point out what happened in the Old Testament when someone trifled with power they had little understanding of neither examined the resources available to principalities not on the side of the creator.
People forget how few resurrections are recorded, even in scripture, even in the most prolific times of visible miracles....
Only 4 are recorded before the time of Christ.
– Moses (Jude 1:9)
– 1 Kings 17:17-24
– 2 Kings 4:32-37
– 2 Kings 13:21
In the time of Christ, we have:
– daughter of Jairus
– son of the widow of Nain
– Lazarus
– Christ
In the time of the apostles, we have Dorcas and Eutychus -- and technically Paul himself (Acts 14:19-20).
Finally, there's the untold multitude at Christ's resurrection (Matthew 27:52-53) which was a single resurrection incident.
That's a relatively small number of resurrection incidents... Less than a dozen, in fact.
Thank you Andrew for putting things in perspective, and showing us that these extraordinary miracles are not really that much more rare today than they were in Bible times.
I don't think any of us have a clue about how many people were restored to health or resurrected by Divine intervention, in ancient times and even now (John 21:25).