The Bible Verifiable by Miracles

Selected Scriptures

      Tonight we're going to talk about a subject that perhaps is a little bit different than we might anticipate as a proof of the Bible, and that is miracles.  Because some people feel that the miracles in the Bible are the problem with the Bible.  If we could just get rid of the miracles, we could have a lot more people who would believe the Bible.  But, on the other hand, I believe that one of the greatest verifications that this is the true Word of God is the fact that there are miracles in it, and that's what we're gonna share tonight.

      Now, what is a miracle?  We have to start somewhere.  Let's start there.  What is a miracle?  An accurate definition of a miracle is very important, specifically, I mean, a Biblical definition, because we use the word so loosely today.  We say, "Boy, today I was driving home, and you'll never believe what happened.  This guy went through a red light and barely missed me.  I'm telling you, it was a miracle."  Or, "Do you realize that I didn't have any money and I got a check in the mail for $50?  I just praise God for that miracle."  Or, "Do you know that I wanted to talk to Mrs. So-and-So and I ran into her at the 7-Eleven?  What a miracle."  Or when you bring the dress home and it just fits, "Look, honey, it's just a miracle that this fits."  Everything is a miracle.

      Now, what is a miracle?  Well, if you were to look it up in Webster's Dictionary you'd get a poor definition.  You'd get one that fits the modern mentality.  It isn't quite as far out as the uses we've just suggested, but Webster says it is an event or effect in the physical world deviating from the known laws of nature or transcending our knowledge of these laws.  And that's an amazing definition, because he says the same thing twice.  He says a miracle is something that happens in the physical world deviating from the known laws.  Notice, he doesn't say it deviates from the laws of nature.  He says it deviates from what?  The known laws of nature, or transcends our knowledge of these laws.  Well, that's saying the same thing.  So Webster explains miracles as a natural phenomenon, not supernatural.

      Webster's definition of miracles does not apply to God.  And that's okay for modern man's definition.  You know, we say when a man lands on the moon that's a miracle.  Or a narrow escape is a miracle.  Or something that happens that we can't explain is a miracle.  And so we say, well, it's some physical law that we haven't discovered yet.  But that doesn't make it in the Bible.  That is not the Scripture's definition of a miracle.  Because, you see, that definition of a miracle only allows for ignorance, not supernatural power.  And a true miracle is an act of supernatural intervention.

      The implication that Webster gives, and that most people would give, to the concept is that a miracle is just something that happens that we can't explain.  But the Bible definition of a miracle is something that happens because God intervened in the natural world and did something supernatural.  And by the very definition of terms you realize the natural world is here and the supernatural world is outside.  As I've illustrated it before, we have a little natural box that we live in, and everything in our little natural box is qualified by natural law.  But God's outside our little box, and whenever He pokes His finger into our box He makes waves.  He violates the natural by the supernatural.

      Now, it's amazing to me that there are some Christian theologians who have adopted the Webster definition.  And they are saying the same thing, that even when Christ did miracles and even in the Old Testament when you have miracles, those are simply miracles that could be explained by physical law or natural law if we only knew those laws.  And, in fact, Dr. Carnell said in his book that if a scientist would search long enough, at the end of the miracle he would find some natural law.  Well, you know, if you do that, then you don't need supernatural, right?  So man is trying to explain the unnatural by his own ignorance rather than by the supernatural.

      What is a miracle?  Let me give you a simple definition.  A miracle is an interference with nature by a supernatural power.  A miracle is something outside our box invading our little box, something outside our world coming into our world and making waves and ripples.  Miracles are events in the external world wrought by the power of God.  A miracle is God stepping into the universe, setting aside the normal laws of nature to do a supernature act.  The Bible describes miracles usually, especially in the New Testament, in three terms:  signs, wonders and mighty works.  And therein you have the definition of miracles, really.  They were mighty works to create wonder, to act as a sign.

      What is a sign for?  What is a sign for?  To point to something.  You know, when you're traveling and you arrive in Arizona, you don't climb up on the sign and say, "I'm now in Arizona," because the sign says "Welcome to Arizona."  Or when you're going to Bakersfield and the sign says "Bakersfield," you don't sit up on the sign and say, "I'm in Bakersfield."  No, that's just a sign pointing you to there.  You haven't gotten there yet.  Miracles are not an end to themselves.  They're a what?  They're a sign, and signs are for pointing somewhere.

      And you know where miracles are supposed to point?  Outside the box.  Miracles are designed by God to invade the natural world, to show the natural world that there's a supernatural world.  And if you continually try to explain miracles away by natural reasoning, what you're doing is just acting like an atheist.  You're disallowing God.  Miracles are mighty works to create wonder that points to God.  That's the three terms that are used.

      Now, if naturalism is true, naturalistic atheism, and if you believe there is no God, then all miracles are impossible, because there's nobody outside the box.  Right?  I mean, if it's only the natural world, if you believe in naturalism and you're just...that's it, in the box, period, there's nothing outside the box, there's no God, then you're not gonna have any miracles, because nothing can happen out there to invade the box.  But I'll tell you one thing.  You're gonna have a lot of trouble explaining where the box came from.

      Now, watch this.  And I think this is so basic.  If you accept the fact that there is a spiritual supernatural power, if there is a source of creation outside the box, if there is somebody up there, then miracles are easily allowable, aren't they?  Because if the supernatural is there, and by the very definition we are the natural and it is the supernatural, it can act upon the natural.  So if you allow for any supernatural power outside, then you must allow for miracles, because a miracle is just the revelation that what's there is there.

      Now, watch how all that comes down to this.  If there is a God, then there must be what?  Miracles.  I mean, you wouldn't say, "God is," and then not let God do, say He's there but He's never done anything.  Now, wait a minute.  If God is, then God acts, because being is doing, right?  When you stop doing, you stop being.  If God is there, then miracles are valid.  And if God created once, why can't He create again?  If God did a miracle once, and, let's face it, if you didn't believe in any miracles at all but you believed in God, you'd have to believe in one miracle, and that's the miracle of what?  Creation.  That's got to be a miracle.  If there was a God out there and there was nothing, and He made everything out of nothing, that's a miracle.  So if you can allow Him to do one, then why would you worry if He did some more?

      So, you see, anybody who believes in God must believe in miracles.  So don't go to the Bible and say, "There are...I'll accept the Bible as the Word of God if you get rid of the miracles."  That's ridiculous.  That's like saying, "Okay, God, you can exist.  You just can't do anything."  Being is doing.  You know what's amazing to me is we have these so-called Christian theologians who want to demythologize the Bible.  They want to de-miracle it.  They start at the beginning and they suck out all the miracles.  And, you know, they say, "We believe in God."  Well, that is so stupid.  If you believe in God, then let Him do what He did. 

      They're the ones who come along and say, "Jonah, you know, didn't get swallowed by a great fish.  What really happened was there was a dinghy tied on the back of the boat and the name of the dinghy was Great Fish and they stuck him in the dinghy."  That's George Adam Smith's explanation.  Or I was reading William Barclay this week, and William Barclay said the feeding of the 5,000 was a wonderful miracle.  You know what the miracle was?  The miracle was that everybody was selfish, and when the little boy shared his lunch everybody felt guilty and they all shared their lunches.  That's William Barclay.  The miracle was, a whole lot of selfish people became sharers.  That's what he says.  Oh. 

      You know what I would say to him if he were here?  He's not.  But you know what I'd say?  I'd say, "Let me ask you one question.  In your commentaries through the New Testament, you believe in God."  "Yes."  "You believe in a triune God."  "Yes."  And he does.  "You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His deity, full deity."  "Yes."  "You believe in His blood atonement on the cross.  You believe in His resurrection."  Oh, all of those.  He believes in everything.  He teaches the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of salvation.  Then why in the world won't you let God be God and do a miracle?  I mean, it doesn't make any sense.  Foolish.  If God is, let Him act.

      Now, you know something?  If there is a God, then I believe He'll be doing something.  Don't you?  If there is a supernatural God, and I want to know that God, then I'm gonna find the book that talks about supernatural activity.  Would you buy that?  If there is a God and I want to know that God, then I'm gonna find the book that tells about a God who did things supernaturally.  And you know where that book is?  It's right here. 

      You know, when I read the miracles in this Bible I say, "This has got to be the revelation of God, because look at the miracles."  You take all the miracles out of it and you don't have God anymore.  You've just got philosophy, and we don't need any more of that.  When you look for the true sacred book, when you scan the ancient and sacred books of the world and you want to find the true one, it'll have to be a book containing miracles.  It has to be.  The book that reveals God has got to contain miracles, because the revelation of God is a miracle.  It's the supernatural invading the natural, and that's miraculous.

      Now, let me take it a step further, and you'll understand as we go, if this isn't falling into little slots in your brain.  But in order for a miracle to really fit, it has to have three qualities.  This is introduction.  First of all, it must be sensible.  And by that I mean it must be perceived by the senses.  It wouldn't do any good for God to go in a corner and do a miracle where nobody knew, or for God to go off somewhere in the farthest region of the universe and do a few miracles.  I mean, that wouldn't help anybody, would it?  That wouldn't point to God.  It wouldn't be a mighty work to create wonder as a sign toward God.  No, He does those things which are sensible.  And what I mean by that is a miracle, to be a legitimate miracle, must fit the senses.  It must be perceivable, and it must have testimony to its perception.  There must be something that somebody saw or heard or felt and gave testimony to.

      Secondly, it must be very clearly a miracle.  It must be very clearly the revelation of the power and the presence of God.  It must transcend all natural law so that it has no other explanation.  True miracles, then, beginningly, must be perceived by the senses.  Secondly, they must be so strong that they clearly reveal God and they have no other explanation.

      Thirdly, they must have a divine purpose.  Miracles, to be viable, must have a divine purpose.  And by that I just mean this.  God isn't a magician going around doing tricks to entertain people.  You know, Jesus would never do that, would He?  He would never just entertain people.  God is not doing miracles to appeal to human curiosity.  God does not do miracles to entertain us.  God does miracles to reveal to us His person.  So miracles must be perceived by the senses.  They must be clearly beyond any natural explanation at all.  And they must have a divine purpose.

      Now, if the Bible is a book of miracles, its miracles will be sensible miracles, perceived by the senses.  They won't be abstract, weird things.  They'll also be clear and strong in their revelation of God's presence.  And, thirdly, they will have as their intent a divine purpose.  And you know something?  You open the Bible and you find that the Bible miracles fit those qualifications. 

      And I read through this Bible and all these miracles and I say, "Wow.  Those people perceived those things.  They saw those things and gave testimony to what they saw.  Those were credible people."  You know, it isn't the quantity of witnesses that matters to me.  It's the quality of them.  Right?  And they saw those and they believed that, and they wrote those down.  And they never tried to defend them.  They just wrote them down.  They didn't say, "I know this is ridiculous, but I'm writing it anyway."  And not only that, they were clearly the revelation of God, and that's the way the writers stated it.  And, thirdly, they always had a divine purpose. 

      Now, once you admit, as I said, the existence of God, who is the creator and the maker of everything, then you're not gonna set any limits on His creative power.  I mean, if He's there, let Him do something.  And if you admit that He created once, He can create again, and all miracles are are really creations, because every one of them is unique, isn't it?  It's something that never existed before.  It's outside the natural world. 

      And so when I pick up a book, if I pick up a sacred book and it doesn't have miracles, I throw it away.  Because if it doesn't have miracles, then it doesn't tell me about the supernatural invading the natural.  And if it doesn't tell me about that, it's a human book.  And if I do find a book with miracles, I want to make sure those miracles are perceived by the senses and credible witnesses, that they are strongly and clearly divine and have no other explanation, and, thirdly, that they have a purpose that is toward God.  And so the Bible authenticates itself by the character of its miracles.

      And I want to take you to the first miracle that God ever did in relation to man, and it's in Genesis, chapter 1.  And we're gonna look at miracles that affected all men, miracles that affected nations and miracles that affected individuals, just for some categories.  Now, first miracle, here it comes, verse 1.  "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." 

      Now,