I was making my rounds as a military chaplain one day, visiting other soldiers who were also in the field when I arrived at one of our units and found a very ill soldier. In fact, he looked so bad that I expected him to be evacuated as soon as possible. As we talked, I shared some Scripture with him and prayed for his healing before continuing with my visits. Because his condition was serious, I made it a point to visit the same unit the next day to see how he was doing and was surprised to discover that he had recovered completely and was back on duty. When I located the soldier he said that he had never believed in God before our talk, but that while I was praying for him that he could actually feel himself recover. He was convinced that it was God at work.
A poll published by Newsweek in May, 2000 reported that 84 percent of Americans believe in miracles and 48 percent of us say we have witnessed or experienced one. Include me in both groups because God can and does work in our world today. However, quite a few people have questions about “signs and wonders” and the way they fit in with contemporary Christian life. The Roman Catholic Church regards evidence of miracles as a requirement for sainthood. Some charismatic groups consider miracles to be a part of normal life for every believer. So let’s take a look at what the Bible says about the subject.
The prophet Joel predicted that when the Day of the Lord took place, it would be accompanied by, “wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath.” (Joel 2:30) At Pentecost Peter applied Joel’s prophecy to the gift of the Holy Spirit and the miracles that were taking place at that time. And yet the prophecy still applies to future events, which is why the term interests so many Christians today.
Is there a difference between a sign and a wonder? There is, and it may be helpful to begin there. A sign is a physical manifestation that demonstrates a spiritual truth. It refers to things that can be seen which provide insight about things that can’t be seen. For example, if you were standing on a sidewalk in front of your house when a football came flying over the roof, your natural conclusion would be that there was someone you couldn’t see on the other side of the house who either threw or kicked that ball over. The flying football, something you could observe and study, was a “sign” of a reality you couldn’t see. That’s why all miracles recorded in the Gospel of John are called signs.
A wonder is something so unusual that it is beyond what is possible in the material world. It’s an event so amazing that it makes a person want to investigate further. When the New Testament uses this Greek word, it is always combined with “signs”.
A sign places emphasis on the doer. A wonder places emphasis on the observer. When Jesus turned water to wine, it was called a sign because Jesus used it to allow the disciples to see His glory through a miracle. Those who saw the miracle take place would call it a wonder. They aren’t two different miracles, but the same event seen from two different points of view.
It’s interesting that the combination “signs and wonders” is used 17 times in the New Testament. Peter used it twice in his sermon on Pentecost to confirm the ministry of Jesus. It is used nine times to confirm the ministry of the apostles. Both the ministry of Jesus and the work of the apostles were related to the start of the Church age and its authenticity as a genuine work of God.
Are signs and wonders for Christians today? Unlike those who lived in the apostolic age there is no need to confirm the authenticity of the Church. That message has already been confirmed by God through Scripture.
Are signs and wonders a means to bring the unsaved to faith? No, faith is always a gift from God as we are told in Ephesians 2:8, 9. That’s why the disciples believed when they saw miracles while others saw the same miracles and did not believe. In fact miracles not only don’t lead to saving faith, they can be a means of deception. The New Testament mentions signs and wonders as characteristic of the ministry of the Antichrist, with the result that people will be deceived by what they see. (See, for example, 2 Thessalonians 2:9.)
Miracles are, however, a means for believers in any age to accomplish God’s will. We should never limit God to specific patterns of behavior that conform to our finite expectations. We should never allow the gift to take our eyes off the giver. Faith healers who claim that God always heals in response to their ministry are presuming upon the Holy Spirit. Those who claim that God never heals are doing the same thing. The Spirit moves like the wind, beyond human understanding, but we can affirm that that His work is always exactly right.
The soldier God healed did not make a profession of faith while we were in the field and I have never seen him since. Only the Lord knows the rest of that story. He did, however, promise to find a Bible preaching church and seriously investigate the gospel, so there is hope because that is the true picture of how God uses signs and wonders today.
No comments:
Post a Comment