The miraculous is to be expected whenever God must make a statement to arrest the attention of His intended audience, which serves His purpose, when ordinary means would not be sufficient. This must be so, since He alone determines when the ordinary must be replaced by the extraordinary. Even our day to day obedience, though ordinary, He has promised to inspire and confirm through His New Covenant giving of the Holy Spirit. “And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws” (Ezekiel 36:27 NIV). But, if the Spirit of God can so captivate His children, “If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and it will be done” (Matthew 21:21). O faith, be inspired to this, and more!
OT: Messiah would perform miracles, but references to vengeance refer to Christ’s cleansing of the Temple at His First Coming (John 2), as well as pointing to His Second Coming.
“4 say to those with fearful hearts, Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you. 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:4-6 NIV).
NT: Jesus performed miracles, as proof of His messiahship, even to John the Baptist.
“2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask Him, Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? 4 Jesus replied, Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me.” (Matthew 11:2-6).
OT: Messiah would perform miracles with His First Coming, but also vengeance at His Second Coming.
“1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:1-2).
NT: Jesus worked miracles in His First Coming; but notice, He stopped short of mentioning vengeance to His hearers at Nazareth, since that would be for His Second Coming.
“18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
Significance of Christ’s Miracles
“37 Do not believe Me unless I do the works of My Father. 38 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 in the Father” (John 10:37-38).
“After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14).
“Still, many in the crowd believed in Him. They said, When the Messiah comes, will He perform more signs than this man?” (John 7:31).
Though Christ had ample reason to perform miracles, He did not perform His first miracle until He created wine from water at Cana of Galilee (John 2). This indicated His divine authority and messiahship. Miracles serve the purpose of arresting our attention to gain God the opportunity of hearing His Word and establishing or reestablishing His relationship to us.
May we seek Him for more than His miracles!
“23 Now while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs He was performing and believed in His name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for He knew what was in each person” (John 2:23-25).
We Need A Miracle 