Acts 3:8-11 (NIV)
He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade.
The key purpose of miracles, both in Jesus’ ministry and in the ministry of the early Church, was to indicate clearly to people that the kingdom of God was breaking into the world, to draw attention to the people of the kingdom (Matthew 5:14-16), and to give credibility to their message. After all, if someone can heal a man lame from birth (Acts 3:2) who was over forty years old (Acts 4:22), people tend to pay attention to what they have to say.
So, Peter, John and the formerly lame man were quickly surrounded by a gathering crowd, amazed at what they had done, and overwhelmed by curiosity as to what all of this meant. They were ready to hear the gospel!
Miracles are much less prevalent these days, but that is not because God’s arm has grown short, because He has grown weaker, or because He “just doesn’t do things that way anymore.” God has not changed, but people’s personal theology of miracles has.
In the days of Jesus and of the early Church, God directed His people to do miracles, not just generally, but specifically, including when to act, and how He wanted to work in a given situation. That is a key reason why there was comparatively little “praying for a miracle” in the gospels and the book of Acts, and more listening and simply pronouncing the miracle once God had directed that it was to be done. (Here, and also all of Jesus’ miracles in the context of John 5:19.) Even Peter, when called to the room where Dorcas lay dead didn’t decide what to do on his own. Instead, he moved everyone out of the room, knelt down, and prayed until he knew what God’s plan was for the situation. Then he walked over to where Dorcas lay and told her to get up. And a miracle happened! (Acts 9:36-42)
Also, many requests for miracles these days are for the healing or benefit of God’s own people, requested within the confines of churches or homes, and without any intention of using the miracle to testify to outsiders about the reality of the kingdom, or to create an opening for sharing the gospel. To be sure, there are often praise reports when Christians see God’s hand at work in their lives, but the praises and testimonies rarely if ever get shared with the unsaved with the specific intention of creating an opportunity for the gospel.
If God’s people would listen more for His voice and spend less time telling Him what we believe needs doing, He would be able to direct us much more effectively to where He intends to work, and in what He intends to miraculously accomplish, and we would see many more miracles. And if God’s people were more intent on sharing with outsiders the miracles that we see or experience, we would find many more open doors for the gospel and would see God perform many more in our midst.
Father, You’re right, as usual. The way we think about, pray about, and expect miracles is completely different than how Jesus and the early Church did it. And we are troubled that we don’t see the same kinds of miracles that they did in accordance with the promise that Jesus made, not just to them, but to us as well (John 14:12-14). Help us, Lord, to realign our theology of miracles with what You have recorded for us in Your word, so that we can not only experience more miracles, but so that those miracles themselves can lead to more saved souls and greater growth of Your kingdom. Amen.
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