Sermon - Lent Midweek 5, 2021

Miracles are interesting. Although why Jesus performed miracles isn’t a mystery. It’s abundantly clear from Jesus’ own words that His miracles reveal Him to be the Son of God. “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me.” “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Jesus performed miracles in order to reveal Himself as the Christ, the Son of God. His performance of miracles show us that He and the Father are one. The Greek language helps us to understand this point. One of the words translated in the Bible as “miracle” is σημεῖον which also means “sign.” Thus, the miracles Jesus performed were signs which revealed Him as the Christ; the signs pointed to Jesus’ true identity as God. To illustrate, when you come across a sign on the road “Workers Ahead,” the sign reveals the identity of the people on the side of the road as workers. You know who they are and why they’re so close to the road so that you can be cautious around them.

The mistake we often make though is that we get incredibly preoccupied with the sign instead of the One the sign points us to. People of all times have been obsessed with miracles. Still today we have television “miracle workers” like Benny Hinn. All the way back to Jesus’ day people were obsessed with the miracles and didn’t care about the One the miracles point to.

For example, in John 6 when Jesus feeds 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, afterwards people sought Him out, not because they wanted to see the Son of God, but because they wanted to see more miracles and get a taste of it themselves. King Herod even, when Jesus was on trial, was excited to get to see Jesus because He wanted to see Him perform some miracle; he could care less about who Jesus was.

Honestly, miracles themselves, and great and mighty monders which defy the rules of nature, are not that incredible. Even the devil can perform miracles! Sometimes we forget that magic is real, and that it’s not all just sleight of hand like what modern “magicians”perform on TV. In the Bible there’s Simon the Sorcerer in the New Testament, King Saul consulted with the Witch of Endor who practiced necromancy, there are various Levitcal laws against enchanters, mediums, and necromancers. When Moses and Aaron performed miracles before Pharaoh, like the staff turning into a serpent, the Nile turning to blood, and the plague of frogs, Pharaoh’s magicians were able to perform the miracles too.

God’s miracles are better than anything the devil can perform, but the point is still that the devil can perform miracles. He can make incredible things happen. Just because some miracle has happened, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the one performing the miracle is a good and godly person. They may very well be Satanic.

In our modern skeptical world we tend to assume that magic is impossible and that there’s always some logical explanation. Therefore magic is treated as just a fiction. Children can dress up and pretend to be witches and sorcerers, casting spells and doing mighty works, like they do in children’s books like Harry Potter. But the reality is that magic is very real, and that to some people God has given, on very rare occasions, the ability to perform miracles with the explicit purpose of pointing people to God. Other magic is a work of Satan meant to draw people away from God.

It really is a mistake to be so preoccupied and distracted by miracles that we neglect the One the signs point us towards. Throughout history miracles are claimed to have happened, and so people set up shrines and make pilgrimages to the location of these miracles because they’re so fascinated in the miraculous work. But this is a mistake, because it elevates the sign above the One a godly sign should direct us towards.

It’s like seeing a billboard for a hamburger on the side of the road, and gathering beneath the billboard to dream of the burger instead of going to the restaurant and eating the actual hamburger! That would be insanity! Likewise, it’s insane to be so focused and preoccupied with miracles that we neglect God who performs the miracles.

From this perspective, it’s not really that important whether or not miracles are happening today. Because what really matters is that we’re driven nearer to God not nearer to a miracle. The miracles Jesus performed were just like the voice of a shepherd with his sheep; the sheep see the miracle, hear the voice, and follow their shepherd. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

The miracles Jesus performed were just to get our attention and direct us to our Shepherd. If we’re exclusively focused on the miracle, then we’ve missed the point. Because the greater work is that Jesus calls us to Him through His Word. Having been called by His voice, He gives us eternal life so that we may never perish and the devil can no longer destroy us! The devil can no longer snatch us out of the Father’s hands! Jesus has done this all for us, because Jesus and the Father are one! That’s what all the signs are pointing us to see! That’s what we’re supposed to be looking at!

So when you hear the miracles in the Bible, or when you hear about other wondrous works or miracles, don’t be so skeptical about them. Rather, consider how the miracle points you to Jesus. If it doesn’t, then forget about it because it’s the work of the devil. But if it does point you to Christ, then look past the miracle and only to Christ.