The Place Of The Miraculous In God's Dealings With Men

by G. PRASHER, JR. | Category: Miracles And Miraculous Gifts:: | Jan 1952

A brief review of the Scriptures to discover the extent to which God has been pleased to grant men the power to work miracles is startling in its results, as the following summary shows.

PERIOD FROM ADAM TO MOSES (2,500 years).

Giants of faith such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the other patriarchs, glorified God by a walk of faith in their respective generations. They knew God's working for them in marvellous ways, such as the miraculous birth of Isaac. Yet even such supernatural occurrences were rare; and these must be, carefully distinguished from God's giving men power to work miracles on His behalf. There is no record of such powers having been granted from Adam to Moses.

MIRACULOUS ERA OF MOSES AND JOSHUA (say 50 years).

Concentrated into this relatively short period of Old Testament history was a series of signs and wonders, accomplished by the hand of Moses the man of. God, and to a lesser degree through Joshua. The reason for this granting of miraculous power was to confirm the divine Origin of the revelation given at Sinai, and the divine calling of Israel to be the people of God.

FROM JOSHUA TO ELIJAH (approximately 500 years).

Another half millennium without the power to work miracles! (apart from the isolated exceptions recorded in 1 Samuel 12.16-18 and 1 Kings 13.4-5). Illustrious servants of God in this period included Samson, Samuel, David, Solomon and Asa. Certainly God used Samson's abnormal strength and David's skill with sling and stone in a marvellous way; but that type of exploit was very different from the powers granted to men during the distinctively miraculous periods.

MIRACULOUS ERA OF ELIJAH AND ELISHA (say 50 years).

As in the days of Moses, God granted to these two prophets the ability to perform signs and wonders in Israel. The object of this, in that time of idolatry and dense darkness, was to impress God's people in a final appeal to them before they were carried away into captivity by the stroke of divine judgement.

ELISHA TO JOHN THE BAPTIST (approximately 900 years).

Through declension, captivity and restoration, devoted servants of God walked by faith and glorified God in their achievements. Yet they worked no miracles! Daniel spent a night among lions whose mouths were miraculously closed, and his three companions walked the fiery furnace with one like unto the Son of God. Such deliverances were miraculous indeed. Nevertheless, these men were the passive subjects of God's miraculous protection; that is a different matter from being an active agent of miraculous power, as was so positively the case with Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha.

This era closed with the ministry of John the Baptist; of that great forerunner the Master said, "Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist." Yet of him it is written: "John indeed did no sign."

MIRACULOUS ERA OF THE LORD AND His APOSTLES

(approximately 40 years to end of Acts of Apostles).

All earlier manifestations of divine power were eclipsed by the outpourings of blessing through Immanuel in the days of His flesh.

"When the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men" (Matthew 9.8).

The parallel between this period and that of Moses is very clear. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." A new and fuller revelation was introduced by the advent of the Saviour. He perfectly fulfilled the law in His personal walk; He added to the revelation of the law, appealing to the signs He did as proof that His teachings were of the Father:

"The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake" (John i4. 10.11).

In similar strain Peter urged the evidence of the miraculous works of Christ as proof of God's approval:

"Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you" (Acts 2.22).

After the Lord's ascension, the apostles were sent forth with the gospel of the grace of God, and their witness was established by the evidence of miraculous power entrusted to them:

"God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will" (Hebrews 2,. 4).

As far as the Scriptural record is concerned, there is no evidence of miraculous power being exercised after forty years from the commencement of the Lord's ministry. It seems highly significant that in the later epistles the Holy Spirit does not introduce the subject of miraculous gifts. Having regard to the very limited periods of Old Testament history during which miraculous powers were granted to men, it was in harmony with God's ways that miraculous gifts should have been withdrawn when their purpose had been accomplished through the ministry of the Lord and His apostles. The New Testament revelation had been adequately confirmed. Succeeding centuries were to see a repetition of what was

the general rule in Old Testament times-that men of God walked by faith in His Word, having no need of supernatural signs to confirm their faith.

Special attention should be drawn to the teaching frequently advanced in recent years that the miraculous powers enjoyed by the apostles were withdrawn because of the declining spiritual condition of the early Churches of God. This suggestion does not at all accord with the consistent voice of Scripture. Neither in the days of Moses, nor in the times of Elijah, nor yet at the advent of the Lord, was the spiritual condition of Israel in any way outstanding for its holiness, but rather the reverse. God in sovereign grace chose to glorify His Name among them in this way for special purposes at those particular times. Then the power to work miracles was withdrawn after a limited period, and men were again shut up to the revelation assuredly confirmed to them.

The basic reason for this is not far to seek. To act in humble obedience to the Word of God calls for a much higher calibre of faith than to respond because of spectacular signs of His supernatural working. The essence of the matter was tersely expressed in the Lord's words to Thomas:

"Because thou hast seen Me, thou host believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20.29).

Indeed the Lord consistently emphasized that many of the people who followed Him were but hankering after the carnal excitement of seeing fresh signs. He valued the allegiance of those who realized that His miracles were but a means to the end of leading disciples to do the will of His Father:

"An evil and adulturous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas .

For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same

is My brother, and sister, and mother" (Matthew 12. 39, 50).

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of thing's not seen." Through faith in the Saviour, as revealed in God's Word, the believer of the present age is born again. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10.17). That is essentially the basis of the new birth. >From that point the believer's faith should grow through the application of the Word to his daily experiences. Abraham walked with God for many years in expectation of a son..

"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform" (see Romans 4.20-21).

That order of faith is commended to us j)y God as of the very highest quality! It demands much greater faith to walk with God under & "silent heaven," than in having visible evidences of God's presence in the ability to work miracles.

G. PRASHER, JR. | Jan 1952
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