We often take miracles, such as the rising of the morning sun or a small flower opening its bloom, for granted. Salmon travelling thousands of miles and navigating dozens of streams to return to their birthplace in order to spawn new salmon--also a miracle. We marvel when bees swarm in harmony, flocks of birds fly in unison, or schools of fish swim in perfect precision. These are all miracles of God’s creation.
In his book, Miracles, C. S. Lewis takes nearly three hundred pages to define the word MIRACLE. For the purpose of this blog, I will define a miracle as an event that cannot be duplicated by man and is impossible without God’s intervention. A good friend calls such an event a “Grade A” miracle.
Jesus performed many “Grade A” miracles while He was on earth, thirty-six of which are recorded in the New Testament. Among them are miracles concerning nature, demonic power, physical healing, and the supplying of physical needs. Some of these are described in the following New Testament passages when Jesus:
Calmed the turbulent sea - Mark 4:35-40
Turned water into wine - John 2:1-11
Raised Lazarus from the dead - John 11:43, 44
Walked on water - Matthew 14:22-33
Expelled demons - Matt. 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39
Healed the cripple at Bethesda - John 5:1-15
Restored sight to the blind - Matthew 9:27-31, Matthew 20:30-34, Mark 8:22-26, John 9:1-7
Fed the 5,000 - Matthew 14:15-21
In addition to these miracles, the account of His own miraculous resurrection from the dead is recorded in all four Gospels: Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20.
God continues to perform miracles. Believers in Jesus Christ consider miraculous things that have happened to them to be true miracles and believe God intervened to make them happen. Atheists, agnostics and other non-believers in God often consider such events to be mere accidents or extreme coincidences and try to explain them away. However, those involved are convinced the event in their own life was a miracle.
The stories that follow tell of incredible events that have happened to people in recent times as contrasted to those recorded in biblical times. Most of these accounts are told about individuals who are still living. God’s love and intervening power are demonstrated in these stories. The events that occurred cannot be easily explained away—they really happened. There are thousands of such stories. These are just a few of them.
As you read these blogs, I suggest you have a Bible handy to look up some of the Bible references.