In this sense, miracles are no longer necessary, as the message of Jesus and His apostles has already been attested to and accurately recorded in the Scriptures. Jesus and His apostles, as recorded in Scripture, are the cornerstone and foundation of our faith (Ephesians 2:20). We now have the writings of the apostles recorded in Scripture. Speaking of the gospel, Hebrews 2:4 proclaims, “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” We now have the truth of Jesus recorded in Scripture. Acts 2:22 declares, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” The same is said of the apostles, “The things that mark an apostle-signs, wonders and miracles-were done among you with great perseverance” (2 Corinthians 12:12). The purpose of miracles was to authenticate the performer of the miracles. What we need is to believe in the miracle of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. God does still perform miracles-many of them simply go unnoticed or are denied. God performed the greatest “God miracle” of all time in coming to earth as the Man Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:8) so that we could be saved (John 3:16). A faith based on miracles is not a mature faith. That faith would be shallow and would disappear the moment something unexpected or frightening occurred. People would be amazed and would believe in God for a short time. If God performed miracles today as He did in the past, the result would be the same.
Jesus performed countless miracles, yet the vast majority of people did not believe in Him. Abraham informed the man, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). In the story, a man in hell asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers. This truth is explained in Luke 16:19-31. The same people who saw God part the Red Sea later doubted whether God was able to conquer the inhabitants of the Promised Land. When God performed amazing and powerful miracles for the Israelites, did that cause them to obey Him? No, the Israelites constantly disobeyed and rebelled against God even though they saw all the miracles. “If only God would perform a miracle, sign, or wonder, then I would believe!” This idea, though, is contradicted by Scripture. They want God to perform miracles to “prove” Himself to them.
0 kommentar(er)
