Somewhere around 900BC, the prophet Elijah raised a poor widow’s son from the dead. When she saw what he had done, she said:
“Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
1st Kings 17:24
With this simple statement, this woman, whose name we do not even know, defined God’s purpose for the miraculous. She seemed to understand that the miracle done through Elijah was not the real focus, but rather the divine authenticity of the word that came forth from Elijah. One need only spend a little time examining other passages that say the same thing about miracles to know that the Lord seems to have specifically documented this point for us very well.
Take for example Jesus’ response to the messengers John the Baptist sent to ask Him if He was indeed the Christ. Jesus said:
“Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” Matthew 11:4-5
Jesus, of course, could have just said, “Tell John that I said, ‘Yes’”, and answered his question. But Jesus instead indicated that the miraculous works that He was doing were the obvious and reliable evidence of His identity.
You may also notice that though Jesus’ answer began with the miraculous things He was doing, it ended with the preaching of the word.
The same question, though with very different intent, was asked by some Jews during the Feast of the Dedication as recorded in John 10:22ff. They demanded that He tell them plainly whether or not He was the Christ. Jesus responded:
“I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s
name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not
My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”
John 10:25-27
Jesus had told them that He was the Christ. Though that word was truth, Jesus provided them with the additional testimony that it was a legitimate claim through the miracles that He did. Again, the miracles were not the point, His identity as the Messiah (Christ) was the point. They did not believe the word in spite of the miracles. But His sheep hear His voice and listen to Him, aside from the miracles.
Lord willing, I will write more on this subject next week. Until then, please consider such passages as John 2:11 & 23, 3:1-2, 10:40-42, 20:30-31, Acts 2:22, 14:3 and Hebrews 2:3-4.
Marty Kessler