by David Scott Robertson
"Jesus' disciples saw him do many other miraculous signs besides the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life" (John 20:30-31)
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Oh, how I have grown to love the stories I read in my Bible of the miracles of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Holy and Anointed One.
I love talking about them with my family and friends. I love reading and re-reading them year after year as I continue my lifelong goal to read the entire Bible through every twelve months. The gospels reveal Jesus performing signs and wonders that make me sigh and wonder.
MIRACLES OF PHYSICAL HEALING - Supernatural miracles, like blind men receiving their sight, lepers being made whole, crippled and deformed social outcasts being restored, fevers rebuked, and mysterious diseases vanishing - documented miracles accomplished with but a word from Jesus or a touch of the Master's hand.
MIRACLES OF POWERFUL DELIVERANCE - The demon possessed were a favorite target of Jesus, for He came to set the captives free. The Lord had great compassion on those tormented by demonic spirits and was quick to break the chains that bound those who had somehow opened doors to the invisible realm.
MIRACLES OF MIRACLE PROVISION - The feeding of thousands with a few loaves and fish (Matthew 14:17-20; 15:34-37), the miracle catch of 153 large fish in John 21 (21:6-8), and the coin taken from the mouth of a fish to pay the taxes of Jesus and Peter (Matthew 17:27)) are all examples and illustrations that anything in God's hands can be sufficient in meeting and exceeding a need.
MIRACLES OF RESURRECTION - Death defying miracles like Jairus' daughter being rescued from a premature death (Mark 5:22,-43), the widow of Nain receiving back her dearly departed son (Luke 7:11-15), and the sensational story of Lazarus' resurrection orchestrated by three words (John 11:43) coming from the mouth of the only One who had the power and authority to lay down life and pick it up again (John 10:18).
MIRACLES OF SALVATION - Nicodemas, Zaccueus, Mary Magdalene, the eleven disciples, the woman at the well and the thief of the cross along with hundreds (now billions) of others all embraced the truth of being saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). The greatest miracle of all, the mystery of the ages, the kingdom of God living in us, salvation, had (and continues to this day) come down from heaven to man.
Miracles. I'm no theologian, but I think of a miracle as being something extraordinary happening that ordinarily ought not to happen.
What tweaks my interest, though, is John the Beloved's statement: "Jesus' disciples saw him do many other miraculous signs besides the ones recorded in this book…" Huh? What's that? What other miraculous signs? What other miracles did Jesus do that I can't read from the Bible to my daughter at bedtime?
I know it's impossible to know, but aren't you curious? Who else did He heal? Who else did He deliver? What other fantastic miracle of provision did He pull off? Who else would we be shocked to learn got saved?
I sincerely hope when I get to heaven that at some point God the Father permits the saints to review the unrecorded miracles of Jesus Christ! I want to rejoice in them and praise the Lord for His excellent greatness displayed at a time when something extraordinary happened through Jesus that ordinarily ought not to happen.
"And I suppose that if all the other things Jesus did were written down, the whole world could not contain the books" (John 21:25).
DSR
9/13/04