John 4:48 - Jesus therefore said, “Unless you see miracles you simply will not believe.”
A miracle is defined in the dictionary as being a surprising, often unexpected event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the welcome work of a Divine agency. To me the key ingredient in this definition is; "a Divine agency" or in simpler terms, God. I believe that the God of the Bible is the instigator and performer of all miracles that occur here on earth, just as He says He is in the Bible.
Exodus 34:10 -Then God said, “.....Before all of your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord....
So I believe that miracles are invented and used by Almighty God to reveal His workings among us here on earth so that we might believe that He actually does exist even though He has elected to be invisible to us.
From the time that Jesus was born and up until He was 30 years old, the Bible tells us of no miracles coming forth from God through Him. It was not until after God's Holy Spirit came down upon Him and manifested as a dove that the Bible tells us that miracles came forth through Him.
Matthew 3:16 - ....behold, the heavens were opened, and John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Matthew 4:17 - From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:23 - Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.
Not only did Jesus Himself use miracles from His Father God to draw people's attention to him so that He could preach the gospel to them, but so did His disciples after His resurrection.
Acts 8:6 - 7 - The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the miracles which he was performing. For....many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.
So I believe that whenever we ask God for a healing or miracle in Jesus name and we eventually miraculously get it, we should give all of the glory for it to God and Jesus Christ, through whose name we invoked it.
Once we recover from our joy in our requested miracle's manifestation, then just as did Peter, we should proclaim to all that God is the one who gave us the healing or the miracle because of our faith in the name of Jesus to accomplish it. Then we should immediately give our audience (and for that matter anyone else who later hears about it) the gospel of eternal salvation through faith in our glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!
God knows that we need miracles in order to be able to believe in His existence. Miracles reveal to us the reality and the goodness of God. Miracles are revelations of Him and His activities on our behalf. They also reveal the continuing life and power of Jesus Christ.
After Peter and Jesus's other disciples had seen many of the miracles that God did through Him, He asked them to tell Him who they now believed that He was. Peter then proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living God to which Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you Simon, but My Father who is in heaven revealed that to you and upon this rock (obviously the rock of revelation) I will build My church and the counsels of the unseen world will not prevail against it!"
First Peter had to see miracles and healings before the Father God could reveal into his mind the truth that Jesus was more than just a prophet, that He was the Son of God. The miracles led to the revelation and Peter's faith in it. So, as we started out at the beginning of this page, we return to the verse....
John 4:48 - Jesus therefore said, “Unless you see miracles you simply will not believe.”
Miracles lead to believing which leads to further revelation, which now leads us to my page o revelation in which I discuss this idea in more depth.
Acts 3:11 - 16 - While the miraculously healed man was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them....full of amazement.
When Peter saw this, he said to the people, “....why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus
....and on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given this man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
Once we recover from our joy in our requested miracle's manifestation, then just as did Peter, we should proclaim to all that God is the one who gave us the healing or the miracle because of our faith in the name of Jesus to accomplish it. Then we should immediately give our audience (and for that matter anyone else who later hears about it) the gospel of eternal salvation through faith in our glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!
Mark 16:20 - And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.
[....And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]
After Peter and Jesus's other disciples had seen many of the miracles that God did through Him, He asked them to tell Him who they now believed that He was. Peter then proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living God to which Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you Simon, but My Father who is in heaven revealed that to you and upon this rock (obviously the rock of revelation) I will build My church and the counsels of the unseen world will not prevail against it!"
First Peter had to see miracles and healings before the Father God could reveal into his mind the truth that Jesus was more than just a prophet, that He was the Son of God. The miracles led to the revelation and Peter's faith in it. So, as we started out at the beginning of this page, we return to the verse....
John 4:48 - Jesus therefore said, “Unless you see miracles you simply will not believe.”
Miracles lead to believing which leads to further revelation, which now leads us to my page o revelation in which I discuss this idea in more depth.
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