Skip to main content

What is the Greatest Miracle?

We are working through the Gospel of John right now in our Sunday morning sermons.  As a result, the subject of miracles has been much in my thoughts.  John only records seven of the miracles of Jesus and he doesn't even call them miracles.  Instead he calls them signs.  They are signs to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  They are signs to point to the truth that believing in Jesus is the way to everlasting life. 

I contrast John's attitude with that of the signs and wonders movemnet of today.  John believed seven miracles were sufficient signs to the truth of Jesus' identity.  By contrast, the movement constantly chases after bigger and better miraculous wonders.  But what miracle would be sufficient?  Which sign is big enough to accomplish God's purpose?

Can we multiply loaves and fish to feed thousands?  Can we walk on water?  Can we speak to the wind and the waves and tell them to "Be quiet?"  Can we raise the dead to life?  No, we cannot do any of these things, but we can be part of the greatest miracle of all - one even greater than any of these from John's Gospel.  It is the miracle that God most often performs - and quite frankly, most of us have even forgot that it is a miracle. 

Of what am I speaking?  Salvation - the miracle whereby the Holy Spirit takes the proclamation of the Word of God and creates new life in the person who hears.  It is the miracle in which a child of hell is transformed by the grace of God into a saint bound for heaven.  It is the miracle whereby a wicked, god-hating rebel is changed by God's mercy into a member of God's very own family.  It is a more grand miracle than the parting of the Red Sea, the feeding of the 5,000 and raising of Lazarus combined.  And praise God it is a miracle that God still performs every day as He loving saves souls.

Last night God gave me the privilege of being present when He did that miracle in the life of two young men from our Word of Life club.  Thank you Lord!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Ready for Friday

Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, "Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not." --Martin Luther
Post a Comment
Read more

Families' Fridays

From Focus on the Family 10 helpful tips for single parents Imagine this: you’re the sole parent for your children. You get them up, get them fed and send them to school. You do the housework, maybe you go to work yourself, you get home and you’re still the only adult there. There’s no one to relieve you. No one to pass the baton to while you take a shower or take a few minutes for yourself. You make dinner and gather the family around the table to eat. You play with them, read to them, give them baths, get them to bed and there’s no one there to sit with and process your day. There’s no one there to laugh with you or pray with you. Instead you keep working. You clean up the house again. You pack lunches for the next day. And you eventually crash into bed, knowing you’ll be doing the same thing tomorrow. For many, this is not an imagined scenario. When you parent alone – whether due to divorce, the loss of your spouse or having a spouse who works away from home for long periods of...
Post a Comment
Read more

The walking, talking providence of God

Today I met a man in Israel I will never forget.  Fifteen years ago he was voting in a primary for candidates of the Likud party.  At the polling station, two Palestinian terrorists burst in upon the crowd who were choosing their candidate for the next election.  They sprayed the crowd with automatic gunfire.  Seven people fell to the floor, wounded by the barrage.  The terrorists moved among the fallen, stopping to shoot each one between the eyes to make sure that they were dead.  Six people died that day.  Today I met the seventh. He was wounded four times in the initial burst of gunfire - once in each leg, once in the arm and once in the side.  The terrorists then put a gun two feet from his face and put a bullet between his eyebrows.  I saw the deep scar with my own eyes.  The next year he spent in a coma. Today I met him at the little restaurant he owns outside the gates of the ancient ruins of Beth She'an.  He stood in f...
Post a Comment
Read more