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June 9, 2013 |
| God's Purpose in Miracles | ||
The text of the Bible clearly shows one purpose of God's miracles. "Those who were blind see, and those who were lame walk, and lepers are being purified, and those once deaf are hearing, and those who died are rising and those who were poor are given The Good News."1
But the miracles have more than one purpose. God also has some purposes for his miracles. In this lesson we will look at some of the stories of miracles from the perspective of determining what God wanted to get out of the miracle.
In these verses from Mark 10 Jesus heals a blind man
46 And they came to Jericho, and when Yeshua went out from Jericho, he and his disciples and the many crowds, Timai, son of Timai, a blind man, was sitting on the side of the road begging,
47 And he heard that it was Yeshua the Nazarene, and he began to cry out and to say, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
48 And many were rebuking him that he would be quiet, but he was crying out all the more and he said, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
49 And Yeshua stood and commanded that they would call him and they called the blind man and they were saying to him, "Take heart, arise, he is calling for you."
50 But that blind man threw off his garment and arose, coming to Yeshua.
51 And Yeshua said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" But the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, that I might see."
52 And Yeshua said to him, "See; your faith has saved you.", and immediately he saw, and he was going down the road.
Matthew 12
10 One man was there whose hand was withered, and they were asking him, and they were saying, "Is it legal to heal on the Sabbath", so that they might accuse him.
11 He said to them, "Who is the man among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will not take hold and lift it out?"
12 "How much greater is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is legal to do good on the Sabbath."
13 And then he said to that man, "Stretch out your hand", and he stretched out his hand and it was restored like his other.
Mark 5
24 And Yeshua went on with him and a great crowd was close to him and pressing upon him.
25 But there was a certain woman who had a flow of blood twelve years
26 Who had suffered greatly from many physicians and had spent everything that she had and she had not been helped at all, but she had become even worse.
27 When she heard about Yeshua, she came in the press of the crowd from behind him and she touched his garment,
28 For she said, "If I touch even his garment, I shall be saved."
29 And at once the fount of her blood dried up, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her plague.
30 But Yeshua knew in himself at once that power had gone out from him and he turned to the crowds and he said, "Who has touched my garment?"
31 And his disciples were saying to him, "You see the crowd pressing against you, and do you say, 'Who has touched me?' "
32 And he was gazing that he might see who had done this.
33 But that woman, being afraid and trembling, for she knew what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth.
34 But he said to her, "My daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace and be whole from your disease."
Mark 6, Jesus has returned to his home town
2 And when it was the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard were amazed and they were saying, "From where does this man have these things? What is this wisdom given to him that mighty works like these should be done by his hands?"
3 "Is this not the carpenter, son of Maryam and brother of Yaqob, and Yose and Yehudah and Shimeon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they were suspicious of him.
4 And Yeshua said to them, "There is no prophet who is despised except in his city and among his kindred and in his house."
5 And he was not able to do one powerful work there but only laid his hands upon a few sick folks and healed them.
6 He was astonished at the lack of their faith …
There is no big miracle here but there is a teaching for us - Miracles build faith for greater miracles>
Acts 3
1 And it was that when [Simon Peter] and [John] went up together to the temple at the time of prayer, which was the ninth hour [3:00 PM],
2 Behold, men who were keeping an appointment were carrying one man crippled from his mother's womb, bringing and placing him at the gate of the temple, which is called [Beautiful], to be asking charity from those entering the temple
3 This one, when he saw [Simon] and [John] entering the temple, was begging them to give him charity.
4 And [Simon] and [John] gazed at him and they said to him, "Look at us."
5 And he gazed at them, as he had hoped to receive something from them.
6 [Simon] said to him, "I have no gold or silver, but what I do have, I give to you: In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, the Nazarene, stand up and walk."
7 And he seized his right hand and raised him up, and in that moment, his legs and his feet were restored.
8 And he jumped, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple as he was walking and jumping and praising God.
9 And all the people saw as he was walking and praising God.
He gave Jesus the glory, praising God, and the people saw
Numbers 20
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord's community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord said to Moses, 8 "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
He was building faith, but in this case God wanted the glory but didn't get it
Matthew 8
24 And behold, a great earthquake occurred in the sea, so that the galley would be covered from the waves, but Yeshua was asleep.
25 And his disciples approached to awaken him and they were saying to him, "Our Lord, save us, we are being destroyed!"
26 And Yeshua said to them, "Why are you afraid, you small of faith?" Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 But the men were shocked and were saying, "Who is this, that the wind and the sea obey him?"
The miracles showed who he was and caused men to wonder
Mark 2
1 Yeshua again entered Kapernahum for some days. When they heard that he was in the house, 2 so many were assembled that it was not able to hold them before the door. He was speaking the word with them 3 when a paralytic was brought to him, being carried by four men.
4 Because they were not able to be brought near him due to the crowds, they went up to the roof and removed the roof tiles of the place where Yeshua was. They let down the litter in which the paralytic lay.
5 When Yeshua saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven you."
6 But the Pharisees and the Scribes sitting there thought in their hearts,
7 "Who is this speaking blasphemy? Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?"
8 Yeshua knew in his Spirit that they were thinking these things in themselves. He said to them, "Why do you reason these things in your hearts?"
9 "What is easier to say to the paralytic: 'Your sins are forgiven you', or to say, 'Arise, take your litter, and walk.'"?
10 "But that you may know The Son of Man is authorized to forgive sins in the earth", he said to the paralytic:
11 "I say to you, get up, pick up your bed and go home."
12 And immediately he stood up, picked up his pallet and went out before the eyes of all of them, so that they were all astonished and they glorified God, as they were saying, "We have never seen such a thing!"
The faith of others brings a miracle. Again this showed who he was and God was glorified
Matthew 5
5 But when Yeshua entered Kapernahum, a certain Centurion approached him and he prayed to him.
6 And he said, "My Lord, my boy is lying in the house and is paralyzed and he is badly tormented."
7 Yeshua said to him, "I shall come and heal him."
8 That Centurion answered and said, "My lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say in a word and my boy will be healed."
9 "I also am a man under authority and soldiers are under my hand, and I say to this one, 'Go', and he goes, and to another, 'Come', and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this', and he does."
10 But when Yeshua heard, he was amazed, and he said to them that came with him, "Truly I say to you, that not even in Israel have I found faith like this."
11 "But I say to you, that many will come from The East and from The West and will recline with Abraham and Isaaq and Yaqob in the Kingdom of Heaven."
12 But the children of the Kingdom will be cast out to outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13 And Yeshua said to that Centurion, "Go, it will be done for you just as you have believed", and his boy was healed at that moment.
Faith of one for another brings the miracle and teaching about healing at a distance
These are the purposes for God's miracles that we have seen in this lesson
1 Matthew 11:5