The Aletheian Christadelphian Fellowship:
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ohn chapter 20By G. G. Davies
"These are the days of
So wrote the singer and songwriter Paul Simon.
So, before we can answer the question posed by our Lecture web page title: ‘
Bible Miracles — Did they really happen?’ We need to look at the reason why they were given.We all know that the whole universe is a manifestation of power, or energy. To the unbeliever in the miracles of the Bible, this power is mindless, a blind force; to the believer it is the power of God. The light of the sun, the stars, the innumerable forms of life on the earth — these are the results of the operation of God’s power. He is almighty, omnipotent and therefore can do anything He pleases.
The message of the miracles in the Bible is that supernatural power has invaded the natural order, to accomplish what the natural order is powerless to do — that is redeem itself from sin and death. The miracle of the resurrection is the pivot of that message.
If God made man and gave him life, He can easily remake him and give life back to a man who has died — that is the miracle of resurrection. If God set the heavenly bodies — the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets — in motion, then He can arrest or retard that same motion at His will; and if He causes seed to multiply through the seasonal processes of nature, why should He not be able to accelerate the process to provide food for five thousand at an instant? The loaves and fishes were quickly multiplied. Grain is grown and made into bread every year, but Jesus did it instantaneously
(John 6:1-14). The changing of water into wine (John 2:1-11) was a similar miracle — Jesus performed quickly the process which takes place slowly in the growth of the grape. By the action of the sun, the rain is combined with other elements and eventually the juice of the grape is produced. The miracle was in doing it so instantaneously. (The natural process is in itself really miraculous — man does not know how it is done.)So, inability of the Almighty Creator in allowing miracles to occur will not be an objection. God
could work miracles if He wanted to; but would He?‘Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.’
The words of Jesus:
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
And those of the Apostle Paul:
‘As we have bourne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly’
The Revelation : —
‘Behold I make all things new’
It is in the context of this prominent Biblical theme of ‘a new creation’ that the explanation and justification for miracles is to be found. To regard the present, ‘natural’ order as the be-all and end-all of our existence is short-sighted.
The miracles of the Bible can be regarded in many respects as a foretaste of the future, ‘the powers of the world to come’
(Hebrews 6:5) as Hebrews chapter 6 describes them. Since the time when sin entered the world, God’s glory and power has been concealed from human sight, and man has been able to have only very limited communication with his Maker. Such revelations as God has caused to be recorded in the Bible and made in the past have been in such a manner as to develop faith. Faith should have been produced in those who saw and witnessed at first hand the miracles.Hebrews 11 verse 6 states this important fact:
"But
Human kind is sifted by the word of God. Even when the Son of God came, working miracles on a scale never seen before, he attracted only a few faithful disciples, while a faithless world rejected him — ‘The world knew him not’ the apostle John records
(John 1:10). There were many who saw his mighty works; only a few who understood them, let alone perceived the implications. We see in the Bible a threefold reaction to his miracles :—1. The people wondered — and went home;
2. The ‘intellectuals’ explained it all in terms of the theories then in vogue — for example they said ‘He casteth out devils through Beelzebub’.
3. A handful of disciples believed and followed Him.
Today human reactions to God’s work, as recorded in the Bible, are much the same :—
1. The majority show only a fleeting interest, if at all;
2. The ‘intellectuals’ explain everything in terms of modern scientific theory;
3. A few consider carefully the grounds for faith in Christ, and follow Him.
People today are probably neither more or less credulous or liable to be taken in, than they were in Bible times or any other age.
Although miracles are recorded throughout the Bible they appear in a more concentrated degree at certain, special times. The two great religious systems of the Bible — the Law of Moses and Christianity — were each started amidst a display of miraculous power. The ministry of the prophets likewise commences, in the time of Elijah and Elisha, with a notable sequence of miracles.
There is one other important time which must not be overlooked — the Creation week of Genesis chapter 1, for this is the key to all the miracles that follow. The power behind Creation is the same power behind the New Creation.
The Creation week begins with the Word of God — ‘And God said’ — and proceeds with the bringing of order out of chaos: light, the separation of the waters, vegetation to sustain life, life itself in all its diverse forms, and finally man, the crowning work of God’s creation.
A similar pattern is seen in the Creation record as told by the Apostle John. ‘In the beginning was the Word’ is his introductory theme, and he proceeds to speak of the ‘true light . . . that cometh into the world’. This brings us to the greatest concentration of miraculous power, culminating with the attention on Christ’s ministry and his resurrection from the dead.
Turn in your Bibles our introductory reading — to the Gospel of John chapter 20, where John tells us the reason for Christ’s miracles, of which he selects seven in all, and refers to them as ‘signs’; John chapter 20 and reading at verse 30 : —
"And many other signs truly did Jesus..."
Verse 31:
". . . But these are written,
There was a double purpose indicated in Christ’s miracles. They firstly demonstrated his Messiahship. (The words ‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ are the Hebrew and Greek equivalents for ‘Anointed’. A king was constituted in Israel when he was anointed with oil — which was poured over his head). Secondly, the miracles showed Christ’s Divine Sonship. The miracles were not performed just to make a spectacular display. Equally, they were not to be regarded as an end in themselves. Jesus talked strongly against such an attitude on the part of many who followed him when he said to them:
"Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled."
Those who followed him simply for an easy means of satisfying their hunger failed entirely to understand his true mission.
So, how are we to view miracles in the Bible? What is to be our reaction to them?
Well, first of all what actually is a Biblical miracle? We have all heard someone say: "It’s a miracle", when trying to describe something which is surprising or even astonishing, to them. Our quotation from Paul Simon at the commencement of our remarks where he sings of the modern inventions of our day and age :— "These are the days of
miracle and wonder" — none of these would be described as a miracle in the Bible.Turn to the Acts of the Apostles and chapter 2 where we find the three main ideas for these Bible miracles, whether in the Old Testament Hebrew, or as here, in the New Testament Greek, where we have them combined in this one verse . . . Acts 2 and reading from verse 22:
"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
The three main ideas for Bible miracles are seen here translated from three different Greek words: Firstly,
‘miracles,’ denoting an act of power; Secondly the word ‘wonders’ indicating something unusual, different or wonderful . . . . and thirdly, ‘signs,’ a word meaning ‘something which teaches’.Let’s look at the first of these ideas, namely Miracles considered as the operation of God’s power.
Turn back in your Bibles to the Gospel record according to Matthew . . . and chapter 4 verse 23 . . . where we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ commenced his public mission of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God with the healing of the sick and by the performing of many other remarkable miracles . . . Matthew chapter 4 verse 23:
"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and
These miracles of healing were instantaneous cures, that is, no convalescence was necessary; For example, Peter’s mother-in-law, when cured of a fever, at once arose and ministered to them
(Matt 8:14-15). God could have cured all the sick in Israel with a word, but this was not the intention. Jesus cured those with whom he came into contact, when faith in him was shown, and this developed faith in others. The cured leper believed that Jesus could cure him (Matt 8:2-3), as did the two blind men at Capernaum (Matt 9:27-29). Sometimes faith was shown by those other than the one cured, for instance, we may remember the example of the healing of the centurion’s servant (Matt 8:1-13). In this case Jesus showed that he had power to heal from a distance.Jesus also had power to raise the dead at a word. We think of the case of Jairus’s daughter
(Matt 5:22-24;35-43) and also the widow’s son of Nain (Luke 7:11-17). Jesus had compassion on the mother, but in addition, many saw this miracle and glorified God (vv 16-17).In the case of the curing of the man sick of the palsy, faith was shown by the man and his friends
(Luke 5:18-26). Jesus showed that he who had power to cure diseases also had power to forgive sins — one was no more difficult than the other, for both were done by the power and authority of God. The purpose of Christ’s miracles was to demonstrate and bear witness to the fact that he had been sent by God and had been given the power of God."But I have greater witness than that of John: for
Jesus did not claim any power himself, but attributed the power to work miracles to his Father as a glance at verse 19 of this 5th. chapter of John shows . . . verse 19:
"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, (Jews) Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel."
Another proof, which we wish to quote to you, is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 10, the words of the Apostle Peter, where he states:
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit
Turn over to chapter 10 . . . John 10 verse 37, where Jesus appealed to the miracles he did as greater evidence than any personal claims . . . verse 37:
"If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me,
Turn over to John 15 verse 24, where we find that those who refused to believe with their own eyes the witness of the miracles, were guilty of sin, which they would not have been guilty of had there been no miracles . . . John 15 verse 24:
"If I had not done among them the
This shows the importance of the works, or miracles which Christ performed as evidence of his claim to be the Son of God.
As we have previously mentioned, the miracles confirmed his Messiahship, as they were signs of that Messiahship, for they fulfilled the predictions of Israel’s prophets concerning him — as the prophet Isaiah declared to the Jews:
"Behold, your God will come . . . . Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped."
Some of the Jews of that time were looking for the true Messiah to appear. Now,
faith was produced in some of those who saw the miracles. They knew men could not perform them by their own power, therefore the miracles caused them to have faith in God and faith in Christ, that he was the promised Messiah, an example of which we can find in John chapter 6 verse 14, where just after the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, it is recorded that . . . John chapter 6 verse 14:"Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."
Another Jew who recognised this, was a man named Nicodemus, a religious ruler . . . we quote from John chapter 3:
"Nicodemus . . . said unto Jesus, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God:
Turn back one Gospel, to Luke and to chapter 7, to the time when John the Baptist had been put into prison. He had not seen the miracles of Jesus, but upon hearing about them sent messengers to Jesus to find out whether he was the Messiah. Jesus performed many miracles, and then commanded John’s disciples to go back to him and tell him what they had seen and heard, which would assure John that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Luke 7 verse 19:
Later on Jesus sent his disciples forth to proclaim the same message they had heard from his lips. Their message was this: ‘The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you’. The message was accompanied by those miracles of healing which were to be understood as the ‘signs of the kingdom’. In this way they illustrated, on a limited scale, Christ’s universal work in the future when he shall reign on earth in power and glory.
Having covered the reason why the Bible miracles were given, we come to our theme proper. Did thy really happen? The miracles of the Bible are so much more than mere wonder-tales. They are entirely consistent with the Bible’s main theme and are inseparable from the rest of Scripture. It is the pursuit of such lines of study that lead us to the conviction of their truth. As one writer has succinctly expressed the matter, he wrote:
"Our first concern should be not to "defend" them (the miracles) but to understand them. And when we have learned to do that we shall find that their defence can look after itself."
(F. F. Bruce: ‘Are The New Testament Documents reliable?’)
To suggest, as some do, that the miracles of Jesus were mere literary inventions designed to teach spiritual truths, is to ignore two things. Firstly, the writers themselves clearly believed them, and they were men of self-evident trustworthiness, who could claim in many cases to have been eye witnesses of the events they described. Secondly, there is the historical evidence, which is really limited to two or three Bible miracles. In the nature of things, with the lapse of so long a time it can only be expected to be so. The wonder is that there should be historical evidence at all, and that it should be so significant.
The first miracle where the actual occurrence is established from history is the tenth plague on Egypt. In one night the first-born in every Egyptian household was slain, while the angel of death passed over the Israelite dwellings, and not one perished. It was this miraculous deliverance which gave its name to the feast which God commanded Israel to keep in commemoration of their salvation. On that night Israel left Egypt and commenced their independent national existence. Ever since then devout Jews have celebrated the Feast of the Passover, and still do so to this day.
The other historically attested miracle is the resurrection of Christ. Like the tenth plague this is associated with a feast — the Last Supper — that has been celebrated ever since. Also, like the tenth plague, the resurrection of Christ was the signal for the coming into being of a new people — the Christians. The whole structure of Christianity has indeed been built upon Christ’s resurrection:
"If Christ be not raised," wrote Paul, "your faith is vain."
Innumerable volumes have been written on the subject of Christ’s resurrection, and an exhaustive study is certainly beyond the scope of this lecture. All that can be attempted on this web page is a summary of the evidence, but even a brief review will be sufficient to show the case for the resurrection to be unanswerable.
It may be taken as beyond all doubt that the apostles preached the resurrection of Christ. No reasonable man or woman, surely, will dispute this fact, and as they preached the resurrection of Christ, one of three things must be true:
1. The apostles were deliberate deceivers;
2. They were honest, but deluded;
3. They spoke the truth. Jesus had risen.
(1) Concerning the first of these alternatives, that ‘The apostles were deliberate deceivers,’ little need be said. The Jews alleged that the disciples came by night, while the guard slept, and stole the body of Jesus. This was still their story three centuries later. Such were the extremities to which they were reduced that they had to depend on so implausible an idea as that, rather than accept that Jesus had risen. Is it conceivable that men of the calibre of James, Peter and John, whose genuine character is evidenced by their own writings; who, moreover, suffered death for Christ; would have been party to such a deception? No! Men do not die for a cause they know to be false.
Again, it is suggested, perhaps the women, in their confusion and distress, visited the wrong tomb and finding it empty, jumped to hasty conclusions. In such a situation the chief priests would quickly have redirected them. In any case, the fact of the empty tomb was never once used by the disciples as evidence of Christ’s resurrection. The emptiness of the tomb was never in dispute, only the reason for it. The disciples had much more positive evidence: they had seen Jesus alive after his sufferings and death.
‘Perhaps,’ say some, ‘Jesus did not really die at all, but only fainted.’ Then, ‘reviving in the cool of the tomb, he somehow managed to escape, and appearing to the disciples convinced them of his immortality.’ This is an utterly absurd suggestion! To suppose that Jesus, after the agonies of the cross, could outwit the soldiers who were responsible for ensuring his death, then roll away the stone which held him captive, escaping through the armed guard as well, and then persuade his followers that he had risen from the dead, before finally dragging himself away to die in some secret place: all this is well beyond the bounds of credibility, to say nothing of the moral issues raised by such an act of deliberate deception. That such an absurd suggestion should have been put forward at all, merely illustrates the lengths to which men will go who are determined at all costs not to believe.
Could the post-resurrectional appearances of Jesus be attributed to hallucination? But the disciples did not even recognise the one who appeared, until he told them who he was and gave them tangible proof. Luke records with great care and detail the ways in which Jesus demonstrated the reality of his presence among them.
(Luke 24:36)Then there is the witness of Paul. None of the theories mentioned, even if they were valid, would be of any use to explain the striking conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the proud Pharisee and arch-enemy of the believers, on the way to Damascus. An explanation adequate to the facts of the case must be found. There is only one.
(3) These two views being manifestly defenceless, we are only left with the inescapable truth that the apostles spoke the truth — Jesus had in fact risen.
"God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that
Those words of Paul turn our thoughts now to the future of Christianity and to the possibility of the world once again witnessing the miraculous power of God. The fulfilment of Christ’s mission clearly requires his coming again to earth to perform on a world-wide scale those works of healing and salvation which the few were privileged to witness of old. Of that day the prophet Isaiah wrote when he declared:
"The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."
That is the day for which all God’s children wait in patience. Sadly we have to acknowledge that the present age is not an age of Divine miracles. But this does not mean that God has left Himself without witness in the earth. Neither does it mean that there is no work we can do for God. There were some, recorded by the Apostle John, who saw the mighty works of Jesus and who were filled with a desire to have the power to do likewise, they said:
"What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
The Lord’s reply deserves our most careful attention:
"This is the work of God, that ye
There was a man born blind who was miraculously healed by Jesus. In his reply to the Scribes and Pharisees, he showed far more discernment than those who were blinded by envy and hatred of Jesus. He said:
"Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
Their refusal to believe the evidence of the miracles condemned them as sinners.
A special blessing is pronounced on those who have not seen Jesus, nor his miracles, and yet believe in him through the evidence of the Spirit-Word:
"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
That blessing could involve you and me, if we believe that the Bible Miracles really did happen.
(This article is placed on the web by
Web Page Edition: April 2008
If you have any questions or comments about The Aletheian Christadelphians and their beliefs, please contact us:
The word Christadelphian is a Greek word, and translated, it means the brethren of Christ (Heb. 2:11), We are a body of people associated together by a belief in the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12); and by immersion into Christ (Gal. 3:27) for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) and a part in his resurrection (Rom. 6:5).
We do not profess to have received any new revelation, but hold that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are able to make wise unto Salvation (2 Tim. 3:15,17). Believing in the Divine Authorship of the Bible, we think it only reasonable to reject any interpretation thereof which fails to harmonise all the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures; and finding that the creeds of the various sects around are, in a great variety of ways, opposed to the direct teaching of the Bible, we feel compelled to stand apart, making appeal in all such matters to the statements of Scripture, and testing all creeds thereby.
We believe in the personal, visible return of Christ to the earth, to set up his power and reign thereon, and we seek to share this knowledge with others. We offer our services in expounding the message of the Bible without cost of any kind.
