Biblical Miracles
By David E. Thompson
Wouldn’t we naturally expect to find some challenge to look for or expect to see a miracle in some passages? There must be a dispensational reason for this. The truth is, many are looking for some miracle and they look right past the miraculous that God is actually doing in this Age of Grace.
Most look for the miraculous in this dispensation in all the wrong places. For example, most gloss over an incredible statement like Romans 8:28. When one actually considers the logistics of what is said here, every believer’s life is a supernaturally directed miracle. Ignorance of this subject has caused people to look in the wrong places and at the wrong things when it comes to the miraculous.
This study is needed, especially because Satan is able to deceive in the realm of the miraculous (Matthew 24:24). I believe and will prove that the “signs” and “wonders” miracles have ceased at the present time, in the present dispensation. This cessation was not due to a lack of faith or faithfulness in God’s people, it was due to something critical concerning the Grace Age program of God.
The miraculous is still here, but the dimensions of the miraculous have changed in this present time and Satan is well aware of this. As Dr. Chafer observed, “The cessation of signs and wonders after the first generation of the church has given occasion to satanic counterfeit manifestations” (Systematic Theology, Vol. 5, p. 170).
There is no doubt that Satan is right now deceptively leading thousands of people away from a dynamic relationship with God by doing the pseudo-miraculous (II Corinthians 11:13-15; II Thessalonians 2:9). Many well meaning people, who are being satanically duped by the miraculous, are doctrinally ungrounded and unstable. It is no coincidence that many, if not all, who are caught up with the miraculous, do not even have knowledge of the eternal security they have in Jesus Christ.
Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer observed that all people who claimed the miraculous were “people who received not enough of the truth respecting saving grace to believe that one once saved is always saved, and such limitation of doctrine so devitalizes the gospel that it becomes another gospel” (Vol. 5, p. 170). Satan gets people so doctrinally off track that they actually are overlooking the true miraculous things God is really doing in this Age. Therefore, careful analysis of this subject is critical to having victory over the evil one. Victory comes by resisting the devil and we need to know God’s truth to resist his “devilish doctrines.”
Let me illustrate the point. In John 3, Nicodemus was really focused on the miraculous that Jesus was doing (John 3:2). But Jesus immediately pulled him right away from the miraculous to his personal need of salvation and specifically his need to believe on Him (John 3:15-16). Satan would have kept Nicodemus impressed by the miraculous, but Jesus took him to something far more important than that. Satan is still deceiving people by a focus on the miraculous, and we need to understand truth so we ourselves are stable and can lead others to become stable.
What is the biblical definition of a miracle?
The noun “miracle” is often used quite lightly in our world. For example, I’ve heard parents say, “it was a miracle he graduated.” As we already said, the hockey victory of the U.S. over Russia has been called “A miracle on ice.” Are these really miracles? When someone says, “It was a miracle he wasn’t killed in the accident” was it really a miracle? Do these things measure up to the biblical definition of a miracle?
What is a miracle anyway? The English word “miracle” actually comes from the Latin word “miraculum” which means a marvelous event that causes wonder or amazement (J. Oliver Buswell, A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, p. 176). There is an ordinary Divine Providence that operates every day that we should never take for granted because it is truly miraculous. Every human, every animal, every sunrise, every bird, tree or flower is a miracle, which are all part of God’s Divine Providential Program.
When we study biblical miracles, however, we need to distinguish this level of providence because a Divine miracle takes us to the extraordinary Divine Providence region. There have been many good definitions given of a miracle. For example: Mr. Noah Webster, of the 1800s, and his subsequent editors define a miracle as “a supernatural event regarded as due to divine action” (The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, p. 637).
Dr. Chafer defines it as an act of God which surpasses all known human or moral power which acts “outside the range of natural causes and effects” (Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, p. 256). In fact, he said, “…a miracle, in the strict use of the word, is some special achievement which is outside the known laws of either human experience or nature” (Vol. 5, p. 170).
Dr. Herbert Lockyer defines it as “a work wrought by a divine power for a divine purpose by means beyond the reach of man” (All the Miracles of the Bible, p. 13). Dr. Buswell defined it as an extraordinary, inexplicable event which cannot be explained by ordinary natural forces, which leaves observers postulating a super-human cause, which has implications of meaning and purpose far beyond just the event itself (A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, p. 176).
Before I attempt to give my definition, it would be helpful to consider what is needed to actually have a miracle. This will become a critical factor in helping us determine what a miracle actually is. There are at least five necessary ingredients in order to have a legitimate miracle: 1) A being with enough power to perform the miracle. 2) An object on which the miracle may be performed. 3) Normal, natural, ordinary laws of the way the object of the miracle typically works. 4) Reliable eye witnesses to verify and validate something miraculous did in fact occur. 5) Specific purpose or reason for performing the miracle.
A miracle is a supernatural, extraordinary and special act authorized by God in which He chooses to permit a deviation from the continuous and normal and natural laws of something and chooses to do something that people witness which is far above and beyond human power, experience and explanation in order to make a statement for Himself, His Word, His will and His program. With these things in mind, we define a miracle this way: There are normal, natural laws of things that typically operate in a usual, orderly, general, systematic way.
For example, there are normal laws of gravity, light, sound, heat, water, fire, etc. A miracle is something that God does which disrupts the ordinary and natural laws of the way things work. If one were in a desert and wanted to find water to drink, natural, normal, ordinary laws would dictate that you look for a spring of water or green vegetation or for damp ground. If fresh drinking water were to start flowing from a dry rock in a desert, that would be a miracle of God because it goes against normal laws of nature (Exodus 17:6).
(To be continued in my next article, “Why Does God at Times Do the Miraculous?”)
Pastor David E. Thompson is pastor/teacher at Texas Corners Bible Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan with a nationally syndicated radio show reaching all across the United States. Pastor Thompson may be classified as a true systematic Bible expositor and communicator of God’s Word. He carefully expounds books of the Bible in a way that is contextually, exegetically, grammatically, historically, and theologically accurate to the text and relevant to the time. He is also an expert in New Testament Greek.
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The Top 10 Spiritual Revelations of Our Lifetime
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123’s of true Christianity v popular & damnable heresies
(simply because you “confess” it does not mean you actually are, the devil has deceived many of his own children to believe they are Christians 2Tim 3:5)
#1 “ONE” not triune: THE ANTI CHRIST….WHERE? WHERE?….EVERYWHERE!!! …..IT”S YOU O TRINITARIAN!
“WHO” it was (what person) that came “IN THE FLESH”, IS THE DETERMINING FACTOR IN WHAT IT MEANS TO BE “ANT-CHRIST”! Even Islam claims Jesus was the Jewish messiah/Christ who was to come in the flesh) they all deny “WHO” it was (what person) that came (to be the Christ) in the flesh!?!…….To deny the father is to deny the son because they are one and the same person that came in the flesh! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/part-6-anti-christ-where-everywhere-allen-daves?trk=mp-reader-card
JOHN 14: 8-20 where Christ specifically identifies himself (his person as the person of both the father and the HS; the only distinction is in “location” and “method of manifestation” …….Note Isaiah 9:6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: …: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, … the everlasting Father ….The son, father/Holy Spirit are all the same person, NOT like two different persons working together even as “one flesh” ….The “oneness” between Christ and the father is not comparable to a man & his wife, for only a fool would say “When you have seen me you have seen my wife, how sayest thou then, Shew us your wife?” Notice they asked to see THE FATHER and the response was Jn 14:9 ..“HAVE I BEEN SO LONG time with you, and yet hast THOU NOT KNOW ME, Philip…..Now image some fool trying to claim that statement if you asked to see his wife!?!!? You want to see the FATHER but have I been with you but you don’t know me!?!?! https://www.scribd.com/doc/305367608/The-Trinity-Heresy
Jn 14 continued….…………..17. Even THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH; (Jn 14:6 I AM the way, THE TRUTH,) whom the world cannot receive, .. for HE DEWLLETH WITH YOU, (present tense/standing next to them in the flesh) and SHALL BE IN YOU… (future tense “In them”) 18. I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU (future tense “In them”) Note: The spirit of Christ is the sprit of God and the holy spirit that is why Christ said “I will come to you” (to comfort them, because Christ is the comforter). The spirit was standing next to them in flesh… ….latter it would come to them to be inside of them (inside of their flesh as the spirit we are given)…..that is why. he would send the spirit…… However, Jesus himself here makes the point that the same person who was the HOLY SPIRIT that would come was standing next to them but lets them know “I will come to you again to be Inside of you”
The whole point to Gal 3:20.a mediator is NOT A MEDIATOR OF ONE, (HEIS) but GOD IS ONE. (HEIS) again, point blank, identifies the number of persons of God! The “but” points out the contrast between multiple persons in a mediation party v the “one” of God. God is not like a mediation party with multiple different persons. …..”the express image of his person” ( the person of God; singular not plural).Any attempt to lay claim otherwise is willful ignorance and delusional nonsense https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/part-1-echadechadmy-godgod-echad-allen-daves?trk=mp-reader-card
NOTE: don’t be that one in prov 26:12 over my use of the word “fool” here prov 18:13 (https://www.scribd.com/presentation/322007258/Fools ) “But but, the gospel of John…the Gospel of John …look look…” which is quite ironic since the gospel of John does not leave ANY room for multiple different persons of Jesus and father. However the gospel of John does leave a few verses that facilitate God’s promise in 2 Thess 2:11/ Isaiah 66:4 (take note of “HAND” in verse 2,14..You just can’t make this stuff up…God is surely laughing at these fools; Ps 2:1&4)
……Mark 12:28…Which is the first commandment of all? 29. …Hear, O Israel; THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD: 30. And ………..this is the first commandment….. 31. And the second is…..
JESUS IS GOD AND IS THE FULLFILMENT OF ALL THE LAW AND PROPHETS SO IF YOU CAN’T GET THIS “FIRST OF ALL COMMANDMENTS” RIGHT, ALL THE REST OF YOUR “FAITH” AND PREACHING ON SIN IS MOOT
TRINITARIANS CONFESS JESUS /THEY ARE NOT POLYTHEIST BUT ARE MONOTHEIST LIKE A LIAR & THIEF WHO “CONFESS” THEY DO NOT LIE OR STEAL The simple fact is that just because you confess or deny that you are in an adulterous relationship and denounce all forms of adultery has nothing to do with whether or not it is in fact adulterous! .. …A rose by any other name is still just a rose AND calling it a water lily does not change the definition of what a water Lilly or a rose is either!…No, Trinitarians confess & preach literally …”ANOTHER JESUS” 2 Cor 11:4
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/part-2-pgs-91-101-chapter-eight-lets-talk-us-allen-daves?trk=mp-reader-card
- Like a thief in your house caught stealing your things insisting he was not there stealing “I CONFESS I am NOT stealing”. You just do not “properly understand” what he is doing/saying. Further, since you never had a “proper understanding” of what he is doing/saying you have no business accusing him since you do not even know what you are talking about in the first place. It is with and in your own ignorance that you base your “false accusations” & “ad homonym attacks” against him…… Ridiculous of course it is ……2Thess 2:11; Titus 1:16; 2Tim 3:5;
- A Favorite tool for pathological liars is to use incongruent definitions or create oxymorons out of synonyms such as “a person” and “a being” so as to claim that your god is THREE DIFFERENT PERSONS but ONLY ONE BEING: Which is (1) no different then trying to claim that “THREE DIFFERENT CARS” is “THE ONE VEHICLE” (2) blatant demonstration of the dishonesty & sorcery these children of hell will employ with “a strait face” (which is in part what it means to be a pathological liar)
……but, ah i remember how this game is played… “God is three in one” (or 1in 3 or 3in one et al) should have given you a hint, harking back to Satan in The garden…God said you will die…Satan comes along and states no you will be more WISE……today .God said He is one; but Satan’s children come along and say no three is more WISE and humble in the face of God’s grandeur only “a mystery” that can be understood “in faith”. God uses head and right arm to explain the distinctions between father and son.. However, the Trinitarian heretics say to the effect: “NO, that is just a figure of speech, or that is not what God really means. What God is really saying is that God is three different persons”. Fools, hypocrites and blind guides, God said he was One and by your traditions and vain imaginations have taken the words of God and made them of no effect, refashioning God into your image!
You can download the complete FREE book from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/305367608/The-Trinity-Heresy
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http://www.globethics.net/gtl/10920799 THE TRINITY HERESY
https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/0_0wXAPxHFpV6o3_6erj3ZFe?trk=prof-sm
#2 SECOND COMING Thou Fool! “I come quickly” so “Hold fast
till i come”… NOT …“in another 2000 yrs I might be coming soon any time now, so hold fast”!?! …those that deny the second coming of Christ in the war of AD70 are practicing a damnable heresy in denying the lord that bought them ( 2Peter 2:1-2 ;2Tim 4:8/ you cant love an appearing you deny& the context is the 2nd coming not the first)… Mat 7:23..”I NEVER KNEW YOU” …..Mat 10:33. But whosoever shall deny me before men……..sound familiar?…. If I said I am coming to your house in this generation when these things happen but no one knows the day or hour what fool would think I might be coming in 2000 years latter!?!? ..2 Tim 4: 4. And
they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be TURNED UNTO FABLES.
2Thess 2: 11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
DOWNLOAD FREE THE ENTIRE 480PG BOOK AT SEVERAL LOCATIONS
https://www.scribd.com/doc/305366745/Revelation-the-First-Gospel-of-the-Kingdom
or
http://www.globethics.net/gtl/5455069 Revelation The First Gospel of The Kingdom
#3 There is a sharp contrast between THREE groups :
(1) “PREDESTINED DAMNED” who were NEVER written in the book of life ………..Rev 17: 8 WHOSE NAMES WERE NOT WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, …as contrasted …EPH 1: 4. According as he hath CHOSEN US in him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
(2) “MANY CALLED”= ONLY and ALL SAINTS (those who come to Christ) are written in the book of life … Philippians 4:3… ……Rev 21:27; (Only saints are Called and elect; Rom 1:6-7 et al) This is THE CHRUCH and ONLY these can have their names blotted out of the book of life ….….Heb 12:23 to the general assembly and CHURCH of the firstborn … WHICH ………are WRITTEN in heaven,
(3) THE FEW CHOSEN: Those saints who were alive in group #2 who are now physically dead. They died “faithful” these are the FEW that were chosen faithful…….Rev 3:5. ……; and I
will not BLOT OUT HIS NAME OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, (Ps 69:28) …. These are the FEW that are CHOSEN and now that they have died and are saved then “once saved THEY CAN NEVER BE LOST”
Predestination….its true..its all true…download here
https://www.scribd.com/doc/306868420/Most-True-Christians-Go-to-Hell
http://www.globethics.net/gtl/10920800 Most true Christians go to hell
goatsdale with your “outstanding” standardized one size fits all message I would bet you “saved’ a truck load today — but it is debatable what the load in the truck IS>
Too bad the message has no truth in it as it is far from the WORD of GOD,
as I am not at all interested in finding out who is feeding you this false “stuff” I will not open your attached sites but I have run into many such as you over the past almost 50 years since I was called. You will burn out soon just like all the others did.
When God the Father calls He makes sure your foundation is on solid ROCK, not quick sand.
Allen Dave’s from phony “”church of Christ”….phony “christian” trying to teach the Hebrew faith.