It’s a miracle,’ someone says. But what exactly do they mean? After all, the word ‘miracle’ is often used for something that is simply unexpected, unlikely or impressive: a baby, an invention or even a parking place. Far more important is the question of ‘real’ miracles in which God intervenes in our existence in some extraordinary and seemingly impossible way.
Many of us probably have a simple idea of how such miracles work. Let’s imagine George, running late to catch a train for a critical interview. Racing to the station he says a quick prayer that he will catch the train. When he gets to the station he is delighted to find the train has been delayed five minutes and is still there. As he collapses into the seat, he gasps, ‘It’s a miracle.’ If he thought about it, George probably imagined that God, above the world in heaven, was suddenly prompted by his prayer to reach down and act to specifically slow the train. The reality is doubtless much more subtle. For one thing, God, who knows the past, present and the future, is never surprised by events and doesn’t ever operate in crisis-management mode.
For another, he is not so much ‘outside’ events as ‘inside’ them. God is involved in every detail of the world, whether the death of a sparrow or the fate of one human hair (Matthew 10:29-31). He controls everything, everywhere in creation, all the time. This is echoed in Colossians 1:17 where we read that Christ ‘is before all things, and in him all things hold together’. On this basis, a ‘real’ miracle is simply an occasion where God operates in some dramatic way that catches our attention.
Miracles must be seen in the context of the fact that God has constructed the universe around what we call ‘the laws of nature’, which govern how the world normally operates. The result is that we can be confident that such things as the principle of cause and effect and the laws of properties such as motion and gravity, will not suddenly change. Were they to vary, our world would disintegrate into chaos. Would a medicine be effective? Would a recipe continue to work? Would a plane still fly? It’s no coincidence that modern science arose in a Christian worldview in which a reliable God gave reality and rules.
Yet while Christians recognise a trustworthy universe, they believe that God can, and does, intervene in miracles. After all, the foundation of Christianity is that Jesus rose from the dead, and once you’ve accepted the resurrection, there seems little point in questioning lesser miracles. The oft-heard criticism of miracles that they break the ‘laws of nature’ – predictable and regular rules associated with physics, chemistry and so on – won’t hold. These things are only ‘laws’ because we have never observed them being broken. Or, at least, so far. But as God makes these rules he can, as their creator, break them if he chooses.
But do miracles occur today? While they may not occur with the frequency and magnitude that they did in the first century, miracles do happen today. Personally, I’ve experienced extraordinary events, dramatic healings and answers to prayer that defy all human logic and explanation. On my Facing the Canon interviews I’ve heard many testimonies from people of events and experiences that fit the tightest definition of a ‘real miracle’. And it’s not just me. The scholar Craig Keener has written extensively on modern miracles giving convincing, well-documented examples in two volumes, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, that total over 1,200 pages, and in a more accessible version with Miracles Today: The Supernatural Work of God in the Modern World.
Like many, I think that miracles are far more common on the ‘frontline’ of Christianity, where people are faced with minimal health care and open spiritual opposition. I think it’s also likely that miracles are rarer in the West because we have a sceptical, anti-supernatural attitude in which we don’t expect them and don’t pray for them.
Although I believe in miracles today I must say that they are neither predictable nor available on demand. A recurrent theme in the Bible is the condemnation of those who, through witchcraft or sorcery, seek to manipulate the pagan gods to deliver such things as healing, children or crops. Our God is different. He is sovereign, he remains in charge and he does not dance to our tune.
We also need to remember that whatever the problems of the church, miracles are not, if you’ll excuse the expression, a miracle solution. While miracles can encourage faith, they can be ignored (e.g. John 5:1-15) or even attributed to the devil (Matthew 12:24). Equally, we can let them distort our view of God, turning him into little more than the miraculous giver of what we need: a sanctified Santa Claus. Our God is more than that! We need to remember, too, that the search for the miraculous can lead down some very dark roads. Some people can pursue miracles regardless of where or who they come from, and its sobering to recall that the devil can generate miracles too (Exodus 7:13 – 8:7).
Let me end with two thoughts. The first is that the biggest miracle God does is conversion, in which he brings new spiritual life to those who are spiritually dead. The second is that in John’s gospel miracles are called ‘signs’ as they point to the identity and importance of Jesus. Today, miracles continue to do just that!
Grace and peace,
J.John
