Question: Why don't we see many miracles today?

May 1, 2022

TBC Staff

Question: Although I understand that miracles are possible even today, why is it that we so rarely encounter what might be called “true miracles”? The Bible says that John the Baptist didn’t do any miracles of his own. But Jesus did many, many miracles when He walked on earth. The Apostles also were enabled to perform miracles, including bringing someone back to life. And Stephen, we are told, “full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.” Have Christians become so weak in the faith that we don’t see true miracles anymore?

Response: One thing we must remember is that miracles are not necessarily the sign of a true prophet of God. There could be no question about the numerous miracles that Jesus did, but even these did not convince the Jews of the truth He proclaimed. In fact, the convincing quality of His miracles only hardened the hearts of the Pharisees and made them all the more determined to do away with Him! In contrast to the “healers” who are exposed as frauds today, the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus because His miracles were genuine! John:11:47, 53 states, “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles. Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.”

While it is true that genuine miracles have been a means of helping some people to believe, true faith is a matter of the heart and not the head. Submission to God is a moral issue, not an intellectual one. The “devils [demons] also believe and tremble” (James:2:19), but they still persist in their rebellion. No one needs a miracle to believe in God: Conscience and the witness of creation have already convinced even the professed atheists of that. What we need to be convinced of is that God really loves us and that therefore His way is best. This deep conviction will cause us to surrender willingly and completely into His hands and to love Him with our whole heart. Only then will we obey God for His sake alone and not for what we hope to get out of that relationship. Oswald Chambers quotes Jeremiah:45:5—“Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not” and states, “There is nothing easier than getting into a right relationship with God except when it is not God whom you want but only what He gives.”

No miracle, no matter how spectacular and convincing, can cause any person to love God or to submit to His will. In fact, miracles very often have just the opposite effect. It was because Jesus did miracles that the multitude wanted to “take him by force, to make him a king” (John:6:15). They had no intention of submitting to His lordship. They wanted a figurehead “king” who could overthrow the Romans, heal them when they were ill, and feed them miraculously when they were hungry. Today this carnal attitude is encouraged by the fund-raising appeals emanating from computers and so many “faith” teachers who would sanctify covetousness by offering “miracles” from God in exchange for “seed-faith” offerings to support their ministries. One expects unbelief from atheists and agnostics, but not from Christians.

There were no doubt many people in the crowd who cried, “Away with him, crucify him!” that fateful day, who had been healed and fed by Jesus but would not accept His indictment of their sin nor His remedy for their souls. Those who once followed Jesus for His miracles eventually turned back and “walked no more with him” (John:6:66) because they would not accept His teaching concerning the giving of His flesh and blood for them.

Printer-friendly version