Why don't we see miracles today like God performed in the Bible?

I remember my first time that I did a trip to Haiti. We were going to go and deliver rice, beans, oil, and a couple of other items to a village nearby. Each bag that we had contained enough food for the people to eat for a week. As we arrived at the village’s church, we went inside and began organizing and preparing for the people to arrive. Gradually, more and more people showed up, and the group was starting to realize that we didn’t have enough food to give to everyone. So, the bags started to get divided and shrunk so that we could give everyone food. I remember very specifically a feeling of disappointment, as well as somewhat anger, come over me. The reason was because in my head, I was thinking that God was about to recreate a miracle, specifically the feeding of the masses, and I was going to get to witness it. Yet, instead of witnessing it, I witnessed the group take matters into their own hands and give everyone less than intended to make the food go further.


Now I’m not saying that they were wrong, and that I had greater faith than they had. I was young. I was going to be leaving the country soon, where they were going to be staying and continuing to minister to the village. It was easier for me to desire to see a big miracle, and then leave if it didn’t happen, than for them to let these people down, and then have to continue to minister to them. But I’ll be honest, there is still a part of me that wonders what would’ve happened, would God have multiplied the food to cover everyone there?


If we’re honest, there is probably a part of us that desires to go back to the time of Jesus, and witness the miracles that He performed. There are probably many of you who are desiring for Him to perform a miracle in your own life right now, and thinking that if you were in His earthly ministry, He would perform it. So the question that we are looking at today is, why don’t we see miracles today like God performed in the Bible?


There is no doubt about it, the Bible is full of some pretty incredible stories. Stories of Jesus walking on water, healing a girl who had died, calming a storm, feeding thousands, casting out demons by mere words, healing men born blind, a woman who had bled for 12 years, making the mute to speak, the lame to walk, and Lazarus raising from the dead. Beyond Jesus, you have people touching Paul’s cloak to be able to be healed, and even just trying to have the shadow of the apostles fall on them so that they can be healed. Even in the Old Testament, Elisha makes an axe head float, a poisoned stew edible, calls bears on youths for insulting him, crosses a river on dry ground, and had oil continue to fill jar after jar after jar, when there was only enough for roughly one meal. These are just a drop in the pan of the miracles when considering all of the Bible in total. Even John said at the end of his Gospel now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25).


When looking at the ministry of both of these men, it can seem to appear that miracles are abundant and all over the place. Yet, during the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth, Jesus really only stayed in an area about the size of New Jersey. The New Testament writers considered the “known world” (the Roman Empire) to be approximately half the size of the United States. My point is that even though the events in Israel were abundant, those further away were not aware of what was going on. Just because we may not “see” miracles in our area, doesn’t mean they aren’t happening.


There was also a specific purpose for the miracles that Jesus performed. One key passage is found in Mark 2, Matthew 9, and Luke 5. Jesus is at His home in Capernaum, and a crowd gathers so that no one can gather near the door even. A paralyzed man is brought to Jesus, but because of the crowd, his friends cannot get him to Jesus, so they take him to the roof, break a hole in it, and lower the man to Jesus. We are told in Mark 2:5 that when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus… said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — He said to the paralytic — “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”


There are three things about this passage that stand out.

First, the scribes claim that the only person who can forgive sins is God. This is a true statement. And they are about to witness that Jesus is God.

Second, Jesus asks which is easier, to say that a man’s sins are forgiven, or to tell a lame man to get up and walk. Think about this. Which one has a visible evidence to the statement. For Jesus to tell the man that his sins were forgiven, there is really no external evidence. You tell someone they are forgiven, and that’s it. No outward change. No real “proof” of the statement. But to tell a man who is lame to stand up and walk, well now that is different. There would be physical proof of what you are doing. So the scribes can disagree that Jesus forgives the man’s sins, but they couldn’t disagree that the man who was lame was able to get up and walk.

Third, Jesus tells us why He performs this miracle, that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. The miracle that Jesus performs is the proof of the divinity of Jesus. The fact that He is able to tell the man to get up and walk, therefore proves that Jesus has the authority to forgive the man’s sins. The miracle proved the message. This is the same for the accounts in the book of Acts. The apostles are going out and sharing a pretty strong statement, that Jesus Christ was crucified, died, and was buried, yet on the third day He rose again. Now there is salvation through Him and Him alone. And to prove the message that the apostles had, they were able to perform many great miracles. It was the evidence of the power of the message that they proclaimed. This is evident in Acts 8, when Philip goes to proclaim the Gospel and many of the people in Samaria believe and are baptized. Then, the apostles come and lay their hands on the believers, and they received the Holy Spirit. This was affirmation of the message that Philip was proclaiming.


So the question remains, why don’t we see these miracles today? I would argue that we do. There are some who hold to a cessasionist view, in which the gifts of the Holy Spirit of healing, prophecy, and tongues, no longer exist. They “ceased” with the canon of Scripture being completed. I don’t hold this view, and will close with an explanation of why I don’t, as well as why we don’t “see” miracles today like back then.


First, I don’t hold to a cessasionist viewpoint because I see too often the miracles that God performs. There is a danger though, and this is why I would say I am skeptical, and that is that people will use, and do use, healings as a way to gain power. In Acts 8, after the Holy Spirit falls on the believers in Samaria, Simon the Magician sees what just happened, and he desires the power, so much so that he is willing to pay a pretty penny to acquire it. Many “false” healers have gained a living off of claiming to heal people for a price. “Give a small donation and you will be healed.” That’s not how the Holy Spirit works. Instead, Peter has a very stern word for Simon for desiring to make a living off of the gift of the Holy Spirit. So I believe there are imposters, but I believe there are imposters because they are seeking what is real. They see the truth of what can happen, and so they come in as imposters. Wherever there is movement and growth, imposters are soon to follow.


Second, I very much believe that miracles still happen today, but do we recognize them. In Acts 12, Peter is arrested and bound to be killed by Herod. He is in prison, chained to two soldiers, and sentries before the door. That night, an angel of the Lord appeared to Peter. His chains fell off and he was led out of the prison, with the doors opening in front of him on their own. Upon being delivered, he goes to the house of some disciples, and knocks on the door, where a servant girl answers and gets so excited upon seeing Peter that she leaves him outside to run and tell the others. While Peter was in prison, we are told what the disciples were doing. Acts 12:5 says Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for Him was made to God by the church. The disciples had been praying for a miracle. They were seeking God to deliver Peter from his imprisonment, and likely death. Notice the response of the people when the servant girl delivers the news of Peter’s deliverance. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” (Acts 12:15). They were praying for a miracle, but when one happened, they denied it happened, thinking she saw Peter’s ghost. How often do we pray for miracles, and when they happen, we write them off as coincidence, or even as pharmaceutical? In a time of knowledge and science, we are very quick to write everything off with natural explanations, and not give God the credit. This is why I pray for miracles all the time, believing God is able. Just this year alone, here are some miracles that I have witnessed and heard about:

• a lady diagnosed with cancer and not expecting her hemoglobin to improve, had a checkup and her numbers were right where they needed to be, giving the surgeon great excitement
  
• a gentleman with no options visits another doctor and receives multiple options to find treatment
  
• God reveals Himself to a woman in a foreign country through a dream, telling her about Jesus. A missionary later comes and she tells him about Jesus, yet nobody else in that area knew about Jesus. God miraculously revealed Himself to this woman.
  
• a woman who was losing her sight asked for the elders to pray for her, and a day later her sight had improved immensely
  

Those are just the ones that come to the top of my mind, and are all within the last two months. And that’s just in my circle of people.


One last thought. As much as I believe that God still works miracles, I don’t believe He is the genie that works miracles at my command. Even when Jesus was performing all of His miracles, not everyone got healed. Only God knows why some find healing, and others go through the trials fully. Only God knows why some people pray and receive an answer immediately, and others hold firm to Him in faith, even when they don’t see the answer. Only God knows why James was martyred by King Herod, but Peter was delivered. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered from the fire, Polycarp and countless others went through the fire. God works miracles in ways only God knows. Here’s the real miracle to me, not the people who praise God when they receive the healing, but the people who praise God even when there is loss. The people who hold firm to Jesus, not wavering in their faith, even when everything in this life they held to is gone. That’s a miracle to me, that people believe so firmly in Christ, that they will praise Him no matter what.


Because that’s the thing, every miracle that Jesus performed was temporary, except one. The blind man’s vision got bad as he got older. The lame man who now walks got weak. Lazarus returned to the grave. You may receive physical healing today, but experience physical pain in a year. There may be news of miraculous recovery today, but death will occur later on. All miracles have an expiration, except one. The greatest miracle is that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). That miracle has no end. That miracle can never be taken away. That miracle is available for every single person. That miracle goes beyond the trials, struggles, and diagnoses of this world. That miracle gives us a hope that cannot be shaken, that even when these miracles of life on this earth run out, we will miraculously enter into the dwelling place of God, and experience resurrected bodies for eternity, where death and sin will be no more (Revelation 21:4).


For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience…. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:18-19, 22-25, 28)