those of us who love the Lord they verify the glories of our great God and Saviour. Such supernatural ac tivity is wonderfully necessary in the Lord’s redemptive program. They are very relevant even for today. One of the primary purposes for true miracles is to demonstrate God’s concern for people. The universe in which we live isn't merely an unfeel- inly mechanism. Our God of creation is still concerned and is wonderfully sufficient. Miracles certainly declare authen ticity. People are naturally skeptical. God authenticates His man and His message by performing the super natural on his behalf. Miracles in this way served as the credentials for a heaven-sent ambassador of truth. Moses complained that his suf fering people of Egypt wouldn’t be lieve him. God gave him the power to turn his rod into a writhing snake, to put his hand into his chest and pull it out filled with leprosy, to turn river water into blood when it was poured on the ground (Ex. 4:1-9). The Lord Jesus Christ in His per fect humanity possessed miraculous credentials showing that He was in deed the true Son of God (John 3:2, Acts 2:22, Heb. 2:3, 4). A further purpose for miracles is to draw out our faith. The Israelites believed the Lord when they wit nessed the death of Pharaoh’s armies in the Red Sea (Ex. 14:31). King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia ac knowledged the God of the Hebrews after the three Jewish princes es caped his fiery furnace by God’s miraculous intervention (Deut. 3: 26). The Lord Jesus Christ chal lenged His disciples to believe on Him because of His m iracu lous works (John 14:11). John declared that the miracles recorded in his gospel were selected so the readers might believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, trust Him for everlasting life (John 20:20, 31). Miracles depict salvation as is
will ordinarily come to the surface at night. They dive for the deeper, cooler waters in the daytime (5:5). At the command of Jesus, however, he and his brother sailed out and enclosed such a great multitude of fish that the net broke. The two fish ing boats were so filled that they almost sank. This miracle, too, had a purpose. This event cemented the fisher-disciples to Himself. The men immediately forsook everything to follow Jesus (Luke 5:8-11). While the Lord often performed the wonders personally He also used His especially appointed men to bring them about. He sent fire from heaven when Elijah, in I Kings 18, prayed on Mt. Carmel. In the New Testament, the crippled beggar by the gate of Jerusalem was healed through the word of Peter and John (Acts 3:1-3). In both cases, the mul titudes who witnessed the miracles glorified and praised the Lord. For verification we depend upon reliable, eye-witness testimony. What would we know about American his tory if the diaries, letters, and docu ments, written by early American people, were declared valueless in the establishment of the facts? This is really history’s best proof of any event. Even so, the miracles are best verified by the people who witnessed them. The Bible records most mira cles by the people who participated in them or who were intimately con versant with the facts. Often these witnesses were numerous. Millions participated in Israel’s leaving Egypt on its way to the promised land. Hundreds of people testified to the reality of Christ’s resurrection. And so the eye-witnesses are important as we study the miracles of the Bible. P art T wo I t ’ s not necessary to consider miracles of the Bible causing some kind of interpretive problems. To
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