Agnostics will point out that there is no proof of miracles
today, and hence no proof of God. If you are someone like me, you have to
ponder this question a moment. Where are the great visions, fire falling from
heaven, Red Sea partings, and crippled-men healings of the past? (I’m not going
to even entertain the possibility that some televangelists are working
miracles. I emphatically reject their sensational claims to miracles.) Don’t
get me wrong, God does still work miracles today—or at least I have no reason
to doubt that He does—and I have heard various credible testimonies of them (e.g. Faith Like Potatoes story). The question is why aren’t there more obvious, public
miracles today for all to see in this country, perhaps caught on video? Why does it seem that God has gone covert in His
miracles? I believe I have some good answers from the Bible.
1. God is not out to prove Himself, but wants people to seek Him and have faith.
The Bible says that the Creation testifies of God’s existence (Rom. 1:18-21). It also teaches that people have an innate awareness of God (Rom. 2:14-15). Then there is the Bible which claims in no uncertain words to be God’s direct revelation. There are three witnesses for man to receive. God thankfully has not left us without ample revelation of His existence and nature.
“If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Jesus explained that miracles such as resurrection are not going to convert someone. If people will not listen to the Word of God, neither will they be persuaded of the Truth by miraculous signs. Furthermore, Jesus was disturbed by people’s desire to see “proof”: “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet” (Luke 11:29). People’s nature has not changed. People are still demanding proof. But God has not changed, either, and He is not pleased with such demands, nor is He eager to prove Himself with signs.
Rather God wants us to have faith, which is belief in the unseen and unproven. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him . . .” (Heb. 11:6). We are justified by faith in Christ’s atoning work. Faith pleases God in a similar way that a wife’s faith in her husband pleases him. If you cannot have faith in someone’s character—their honesty, integrity, and graciousness—then you judge them untrustworthy and potentially of a bad character. Of certainty, God is displeased with those who pass bad judgment upon Him! Those who deny or seriously question God’s existence are usually motivated by a dislike of the God of the Bible (e.g. “He is too harsh,” or “He expects too much of me”). This too is passing bad judgment upon God. Since we all have a knowledge of God written in our hearts from the earliest years of our existence, no one is an ignorant and unbiased person just waiting for more evidence to make a solid assessment of what God is like (or that He exists at all).
2. God tests people by withdrawing Himself or by obscuring Truth.
The Bible further indicates that God goes to lengths to magnify His worth; this can mean that He puts His people through trials and lets them fall so that they learn to seek, trust, and depend upon Him more. The Word says of Hezekiah, “God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that he [i.e. Hezekiah] might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chr. 32:31). In the case of Hezekiah we may only guess all the reasons behind God’s “withdrawing from him,” but the Bible indicates that this was a test to show the depravity of Hezekiah’s heart. It would become manifest that Hezekiah was proud left to himself. This glorified the Lord by showing the complete dependence any of us have on the Lord to be holy as He is holy. In more general terms, I think we can say that God may withdraw the demonstrable presence of His Spirit in power in order to test society or His people—that the depravity of man and the need for God may become evident. Many Christians can testify of times of feeling far from God. These times can remind the Christian how much they need God and how valuable He is to them. (We’ll see soon how this can apply to a lack of obvious miracles today.)
Take a look at the words of Psalm 89:46: “How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?” This man felt far from the Lord God. He felt as if God were hiding from him. God never claimed He would magically appear when we called on Him at a moment’s notice and that we would see glorious visions of Him. Oh, that it were true! Rather God rewards diligent searches for Him (Heb. 11:6; Jer. 29:13; Prov. 8:17). He wants us to depend upon and value Him so much that we keep crying to Him until He answers. This is the nature of God. And, I think, when He is found by the diligent seeker, He is all that much more precious.
On a similar note, Jesus spoke only in parables to the masses for a clearly stated reason: “. . . that seeing they [the hearers] may see and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand . . .” (Mark 4:12). Wow! It doesn’t sound like Jesus was trying to convince them all of the Truth. He knew as mentioned above that if they would not hear the words of the prophets they would not hear Him or truly believe just by being more obvious (cf. John 2:23-25). If people were unwilling to seek Him more earnestly, signs and obvious language apparently would not help them. (Aside: I do not suggest that we should similarly obscure the truth in such a way when talking to people, but that’s another topic for another time.) Again, those who were true seekers of God would not be turned off by the parables and would find answers, one way or another.
So it is today, God is not trying to convince people with obvious miracles; if people will not believe the Bible, they would not believe in their hearts when they saw fire falling from the sky. Intellectual belief in God’s existence is not what is important. Yes, obvious miracles might convince some people that logically God exists, but that changes no one’s heart. A changed heart is what God wants (Ps. 51:17). True faith is of the heart. It is not purely mental. (It is apparent that Christianity that only involves mental assent of God’s reality is powerless, lifeless, and worthless. Such Christianity God hates, and it is a disgrace to even have the name of “Christ” in the word.)
3. God has a bigger plan for allowing worldwide apostasy, coldness, and unbelief in Him.
Public miracles at the hands of men were for a time and for a specific purpose. New revelation was being given in the early Church period. This new revelation needed some clear validation that it was truly God’s Word, such that it would become established and received without endless doubts about its validity. Most of the miracles in the New Testament were done by the apostles (Acts 2:43; 5:12). The Church was built upon the apostles (Eph. 2:20). These miracles confirmed the Word preached by them (Mark 16:20). New revelation requires amazing verification. That is one reason among others that new claims of revelation from God should be rejected. Once the revelation is confirmed, it is settled and the public miracles are no longer necessary. We can look back at the New Testament revelation from God and know that it is God’s Word since there is ample testimony left to us that it was confirmed by many eyewitnesses. A foundation is only laid at the start of the building process, by the way. Since the Bible says that the miracles were to confirm the new revelation and that most of the miracles were from the apostles (a select group of men), and the new revelation is done and the apostles have died long ago, we can be quite certain that such miracles as were done in those days are no longer necessary in the same way. If miracles happen today, there is no need for them to be evident and public miracles. (1 Corinthians 13 seems to indicate that prophecy and tongues and other miraculous signs would fade out, but we do not have time to exegete this passage.)
This leads us to examine some of the prophecy of the Bible about the end times and what God’s plans might be. Jesus said that He would go away on a long journey and be gone for a long time (Luke 20:9; 19:13; Mark 12:1). This was a prophecy of His going away after the resurrection and of Him being gone for many years. He told His disciples to carry on without Him (Luke 19:13). He said further that during His days away times would get rough. People would grow tired of waiting for Him (2 Pet. 3:4). People would wax more degenerate (2 Tim. 3:1-5). Apostasy would come (1 Tim. 4:1), a “falling away” from the faith would happen (cf. 2 Thes. 2:3), unbelief would be widespread (cf. Luke 18:8), and the love of many would grow cold (Mat. 24:12-14). Couldn’t God prevent all this apostasy? Absolutely. But God has a bigger plan in this darkness when He is “away.”
If obvious miracles were commonplace, I think that the result would be greater belief in the Bible. There would be more fear of God. There would be much less proliferation of agnosticism, atheism, or variant religions. People would not have a hard time believing logically that Jesus was returning. Israel as a nation might actually start to believe in Jesus Christ, also. In short, such miraculous confirmation of the Word today would likely prevent some of the prophecy declared in the Bible. These prophecies are indicative of the plans of God.
Now I delve into the speculation. I tend to relate most everything to Israel. God still has a redemptive plan for the nation of Israel. The Bible indicates that Israel would continue to live in unbelief until the end (cf. Rom. 11:25-27; Zech. 12:2-3,9-10), and be completely abandoned in the last days and left dangling at the end of their rope, I think (cf. Dan. 12:1,7; Deut. 28:15,20-21,25,29). For this unbelief and abandonment to be fully realized, perhaps God has had to conceal Himself from the world. There are no more obvious signs today, but they will come just before the end. In a dramatic show, the world will see the arm of the Lord descend and deliver Israel at the very end. The darkest darkness magnifies the Light that will return to Israel. God has left His people in the flesh (Israel) in order to test them and to show all that is in their hearts. In this His name will be most magnified and His beauty most glorified.
Final Words
“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord God, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord’” (Amos 8:11). There are periods where God intentionally sends famines of new revelation, visions, prophecy, or even dramatic miracles as mentioned at the start of this article (cf. 1 Sam. 3:1). Jesus said that people who still believe without “seeing” (a form of proof) would be blessed (John 20:29). We are likely in those days of famine. Nevertheless, be believing.
“We do not see our signs; There is no longer any prophet; Nor is there any among us who knows how long” (Ps. 74:9).
1. God is not out to prove Himself, but wants people to seek Him and have faith.
The Bible says that the Creation testifies of God’s existence (Rom. 1:18-21). It also teaches that people have an innate awareness of God (Rom. 2:14-15). Then there is the Bible which claims in no uncertain words to be God’s direct revelation. There are three witnesses for man to receive. God thankfully has not left us without ample revelation of His existence and nature.
“If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Jesus explained that miracles such as resurrection are not going to convert someone. If people will not listen to the Word of God, neither will they be persuaded of the Truth by miraculous signs. Furthermore, Jesus was disturbed by people’s desire to see “proof”: “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet” (Luke 11:29). People’s nature has not changed. People are still demanding proof. But God has not changed, either, and He is not pleased with such demands, nor is He eager to prove Himself with signs.
Rather God wants us to have faith, which is belief in the unseen and unproven. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him . . .” (Heb. 11:6). We are justified by faith in Christ’s atoning work. Faith pleases God in a similar way that a wife’s faith in her husband pleases him. If you cannot have faith in someone’s character—their honesty, integrity, and graciousness—then you judge them untrustworthy and potentially of a bad character. Of certainty, God is displeased with those who pass bad judgment upon Him! Those who deny or seriously question God’s existence are usually motivated by a dislike of the God of the Bible (e.g. “He is too harsh,” or “He expects too much of me”). This too is passing bad judgment upon God. Since we all have a knowledge of God written in our hearts from the earliest years of our existence, no one is an ignorant and unbiased person just waiting for more evidence to make a solid assessment of what God is like (or that He exists at all).
2. God tests people by withdrawing Himself or by obscuring Truth.
The Bible further indicates that God goes to lengths to magnify His worth; this can mean that He puts His people through trials and lets them fall so that they learn to seek, trust, and depend upon Him more. The Word says of Hezekiah, “God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that he [i.e. Hezekiah] might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chr. 32:31). In the case of Hezekiah we may only guess all the reasons behind God’s “withdrawing from him,” but the Bible indicates that this was a test to show the depravity of Hezekiah’s heart. It would become manifest that Hezekiah was proud left to himself. This glorified the Lord by showing the complete dependence any of us have on the Lord to be holy as He is holy. In more general terms, I think we can say that God may withdraw the demonstrable presence of His Spirit in power in order to test society or His people—that the depravity of man and the need for God may become evident. Many Christians can testify of times of feeling far from God. These times can remind the Christian how much they need God and how valuable He is to them. (We’ll see soon how this can apply to a lack of obvious miracles today.)
Take a look at the words of Psalm 89:46: “How long, Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever?” This man felt far from the Lord God. He felt as if God were hiding from him. God never claimed He would magically appear when we called on Him at a moment’s notice and that we would see glorious visions of Him. Oh, that it were true! Rather God rewards diligent searches for Him (Heb. 11:6; Jer. 29:13; Prov. 8:17). He wants us to depend upon and value Him so much that we keep crying to Him until He answers. This is the nature of God. And, I think, when He is found by the diligent seeker, He is all that much more precious.
On a similar note, Jesus spoke only in parables to the masses for a clearly stated reason: “. . . that seeing they [the hearers] may see and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand . . .” (Mark 4:12). Wow! It doesn’t sound like Jesus was trying to convince them all of the Truth. He knew as mentioned above that if they would not hear the words of the prophets they would not hear Him or truly believe just by being more obvious (cf. John 2:23-25). If people were unwilling to seek Him more earnestly, signs and obvious language apparently would not help them. (Aside: I do not suggest that we should similarly obscure the truth in such a way when talking to people, but that’s another topic for another time.) Again, those who were true seekers of God would not be turned off by the parables and would find answers, one way or another.
So it is today, God is not trying to convince people with obvious miracles; if people will not believe the Bible, they would not believe in their hearts when they saw fire falling from the sky. Intellectual belief in God’s existence is not what is important. Yes, obvious miracles might convince some people that logically God exists, but that changes no one’s heart. A changed heart is what God wants (Ps. 51:17). True faith is of the heart. It is not purely mental. (It is apparent that Christianity that only involves mental assent of God’s reality is powerless, lifeless, and worthless. Such Christianity God hates, and it is a disgrace to even have the name of “Christ” in the word.)
3. God has a bigger plan for allowing worldwide apostasy, coldness, and unbelief in Him.
Public miracles at the hands of men were for a time and for a specific purpose. New revelation was being given in the early Church period. This new revelation needed some clear validation that it was truly God’s Word, such that it would become established and received without endless doubts about its validity. Most of the miracles in the New Testament were done by the apostles (Acts 2:43; 5:12). The Church was built upon the apostles (Eph. 2:20). These miracles confirmed the Word preached by them (Mark 16:20). New revelation requires amazing verification. That is one reason among others that new claims of revelation from God should be rejected. Once the revelation is confirmed, it is settled and the public miracles are no longer necessary. We can look back at the New Testament revelation from God and know that it is God’s Word since there is ample testimony left to us that it was confirmed by many eyewitnesses. A foundation is only laid at the start of the building process, by the way. Since the Bible says that the miracles were to confirm the new revelation and that most of the miracles were from the apostles (a select group of men), and the new revelation is done and the apostles have died long ago, we can be quite certain that such miracles as were done in those days are no longer necessary in the same way. If miracles happen today, there is no need for them to be evident and public miracles. (1 Corinthians 13 seems to indicate that prophecy and tongues and other miraculous signs would fade out, but we do not have time to exegete this passage.)
This leads us to examine some of the prophecy of the Bible about the end times and what God’s plans might be. Jesus said that He would go away on a long journey and be gone for a long time (Luke 20:9; 19:13; Mark 12:1). This was a prophecy of His going away after the resurrection and of Him being gone for many years. He told His disciples to carry on without Him (Luke 19:13). He said further that during His days away times would get rough. People would grow tired of waiting for Him (2 Pet. 3:4). People would wax more degenerate (2 Tim. 3:1-5). Apostasy would come (1 Tim. 4:1), a “falling away” from the faith would happen (cf. 2 Thes. 2:3), unbelief would be widespread (cf. Luke 18:8), and the love of many would grow cold (Mat. 24:12-14). Couldn’t God prevent all this apostasy? Absolutely. But God has a bigger plan in this darkness when He is “away.”
If obvious miracles were commonplace, I think that the result would be greater belief in the Bible. There would be more fear of God. There would be much less proliferation of agnosticism, atheism, or variant religions. People would not have a hard time believing logically that Jesus was returning. Israel as a nation might actually start to believe in Jesus Christ, also. In short, such miraculous confirmation of the Word today would likely prevent some of the prophecy declared in the Bible. These prophecies are indicative of the plans of God.
Now I delve into the speculation. I tend to relate most everything to Israel. God still has a redemptive plan for the nation of Israel. The Bible indicates that Israel would continue to live in unbelief until the end (cf. Rom. 11:25-27; Zech. 12:2-3,9-10), and be completely abandoned in the last days and left dangling at the end of their rope, I think (cf. Dan. 12:1,7; Deut. 28:15,20-21,25,29). For this unbelief and abandonment to be fully realized, perhaps God has had to conceal Himself from the world. There are no more obvious signs today, but they will come just before the end. In a dramatic show, the world will see the arm of the Lord descend and deliver Israel at the very end. The darkest darkness magnifies the Light that will return to Israel. God has left His people in the flesh (Israel) in order to test them and to show all that is in their hearts. In this His name will be most magnified and His beauty most glorified.
Final Words
“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord God, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord’” (Amos 8:11). There are periods where God intentionally sends famines of new revelation, visions, prophecy, or even dramatic miracles as mentioned at the start of this article (cf. 1 Sam. 3:1). Jesus said that people who still believe without “seeing” (a form of proof) would be blessed (John 20:29). We are likely in those days of famine. Nevertheless, be believing.
“We do not see our signs; There is no longer any prophet; Nor is there any among us who knows how long” (Ps. 74:9).
No comments:
Post a Comment