Re: What is the Purpose of Miracles?

John 2:11, "This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him."

John 4:48-53, "Then Jesus said to him, 'Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.' The nobleman said to Him, 'Sir, come down before my child dies!' Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your son lives.' So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, 'Your son lives!' Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, 'Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.' So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives.' And he himself believed, and his whole household."

John 5:8-9, "Jesus said to him, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk.' And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath."

John 9:7, "And He said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam' (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing."

John 2:11 seems to imply that the disciples believed because of the miracles, and I'm not sure how to reconcile that with not believing miracles without Christ. And there is no Holy Spirit in these men's lives yet. But I think in the second verse I quoted, Jesus is admonishing the nobleman for not believing without "signs and wonders."

The curious thing in these miracles, and all others I've read concerning humanity, is the human initiative. My Biblical illiteracy may play a factor, but I remember no miracle where Jesus doesn't compel, or command, the object of His work to do something in order to receive the healing. Obviously, the human doesn't heal himself, but he does take part. The crippled man has to "Rise...and walk," and the blind man, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." As for the nobleman, he takes his own initiative. He has already heard of Jesus' power and comes pleading to Him to heal his son. That story seems a bit cryptic to me though; it seems like the nobleman believes in Christ three different times. First, he must have some belief in Christ's power (in the sense that Joe talked about believing miracles before being able to see them as such) because he's asking Jesus to save his son; second, the nobleman believes that when Jesus says, "Go your way; your son lives," the man believes it; lastly, when the man compares Christ's words with the healing of his son, he truly believes (with his household) that Jesus saves. Frankly, I'm not sure what to make of that, but I leave it as much of a question as an observation.

But, to return from that digression, I think the Bible's language, and order of action regarding miracles is important. Man is never simply healed for the sake of it. He has to act on the belief. I'm not sure salvation, that 'Grand Miracle', is much different. We've heard of Christ, our reason has been working on what our ears and eyes have been telling us, then God comes in and works through our circumstances, he cripples us, blinds us, leaves us without wine, money, or home; we start to turn from ourselves, our mind is being unveiled and we realize that we can't support ourselves, that we're not all powerful; all the while God compels us to turn to Him, the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ is pouring into our hearts and all the cards are played; the Father has cornered us, has left us crippled on our bed next to a pool of healing, yet unable to save ourselves. Jesus comes in and says, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." And we do, and we follow after Him. He has done all the work, has brought us to the breaking point, has hung us on the edge of the cliff, but we have followed Him. Jesus does not pick up the crippled man and carry him, the crippled man believes in Christ and stands, with his initiative, but Christ's power.

It could be said that the man rose and walk, or went to the pool, or asked Christ for his son's healing, because God was working behind the scenes making each man to do so. If so, we couldn't know it. Lewis wrote on the idea that if God directly worked in our souls - changing our thoughts and so forth - it would seem simply as if we had thought of it; the new idea would simply appear in our minds and have been thought by us like any other. Unless God works in actions outside of ourselves, shows Himself in a third-party, a separate material or space that we can observe, no glory is given to Him. How could there be glory, or love, or praise for a God who worked in ways that did not acknolwedge His existence? That is why we have Jesus, and the Scriptures, and the earth; God, God's word, and God's nature, all communicating to humanity: "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). Whether it be God's work, or yours, follow after Him. Take Him into your heart and submit yourself to His love and holiness. "Rise, take up your bed and walk."

Jason