Humans have often taken biblical words and given them non-biblical definitions. For example, the word “Bible” can refer to any source, any book that is supposed to the “authoritative” source of information. For example, you have a “Shooter’s Bible” which has gone through 109 editions and is supposed to be the “authoritative” book on firearms. You have the “Vegetable Gardener’s Bible,” the authoritative source for vegetable gardens.
We have taken the word “Messiah” and used it to refer to any person who comes to our aid and serves as a “savior” in nearly any sense of the word. The second definition of the word “messiah,” in fact is: “a leader or savior of a particular group or cause.”
The word “baptize” has been corrupted in the religious world for a very long time. The word can only mean “immerse” but people have long used it for pouring water over an infant’s head or sprinkling water on someone’s forehead. But that’s not the biblical definition of the word at all.
So, too, have people done with the word “miracle.” The word “miracle” has a specific definition in the Bible and I strongly believe that we ought to use the word only as God has defined it in order to keep down misunderstandings of the word. If we want to be true to God’s pattern for Christianity, we ought to use Bible words with Bible definitions. In light of that effort, when we look at biblical miracles, we see that God has defined miracles in a very narrow way and the NT teaches that miracles have come to an end.
THE DEFINITION OF “MIRACLE:”
I looked up “miracle” in my Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion and it defines miracle as: “that which causes wonder. …an event which cannot be understood as part of the natural order.” Miracles cause wonder because they cannot be explained through any natural cause.
Even though they are easily available online, you must consume them only after you levitra samples have been prescribed by many physicians to treat erectile dysfunction. cialis online pharmacy This cream when applied on the penis one hour before lovemaking. Honry Goat Weed: Known in China as an aphrodisiac. cheapest tadalafil india http://robertrobb.com/phony-gop-tough-talk-on-iran/ When the actual penis cialis tadalafil 20mg is actually stretched, it extends out the actual Corpus Cavernosum too, and therefore, it holds more bloodstreams. The word “miracle” is used 28 times, not a lot, in the NASV, and mostly in the NT. In the OT, it is used in: Exo. 3:20; 7:9; 34:10; Judg. 6:13; Psa. 78:11; 105:27; and Micah 7:15. Beyond that, it is used only in the NT: five times in Matt., three times in Mark, twice in Luke, five times in Acts, three times in 1 Cor. (all in ch. 12), and once in 2 Cor., Gal, and Heb.
In Exo. 3:20, God tells Moses that He will strike Egypt with all His miracles. The word translated “miracle” here means something that is “wonderful, or marvelous.” This word is actually found 44 times in the OT. It is used frequently in the book of Psalms and is often translated “wonders” or “wondrous works.” The “miracles” in Egypt, the plagues, were intended to draw attention to Jehovah God. God wanted both the Egyptians and the Israelites to know that Jehovah God was the all-powerful God of the universe.
When Moses goes before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in Exo. 5:1 and tells him to let God’s people go, Pharaoh says, “I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.” So, God performs these plagues, these “wonders,” these miracles on Pharaoh and Egypt so that everyone will know who Jehovah God is. In Exo. 7:5, God tells Moses that when He stretches out His hand in these plagues against Egypt, then the Egyptians will know it is Jehovah God who does these miracles.
Of course, if God exists, then miracles are certainly possible. If there is an “all-powerful God,” then miracles are no problem for Him! The Bible teaches that miracles occurred and Jesus claimed to perform miracles and there is no way that you can be honest with the evidence and say that Jesus faked what He did or lied about what He did. So, yes, we will accept the biblical teaching that all of these events and many more were done just the way the Bible says they were. Jonah was swallowed by a huge sea creature, whether you want to translate that word as “whale” or “fish,” it doesn’t matter.
The walls of Jericho came tumbling down, without the normal efforts of using a battering ram, just as the book of Joshua describes it. The water in Egypt was turned into blood, just as Moses describes it in the book of Exodus. Everything about the nature of God, the nature of Jesus, and the nature of the Bible argues strenuously that these “wonders” really did happen. They just can’t be explained naturally. And there’s a reason for that…
Paul Holland
