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Transcript 502A — Do Miracles take Place Today?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: You mentioned that you do not believe in miracles of today. Do you have any Biblical support for this?
HC: The question is: do miracles take place today? Now first of all, let's define a miracle. A miracle is where God sets aside the normal rules by which He governs the universe and does something very different. For example, when Jesus walked on the water, He set aside the law of gravity. And that is not happening today. When Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fish, He had to set aside all kinds of rules in order to accomplish that. And that is not happening today. When Jesus raised the dead, that is contrary to the way God governs the universe normally. And that is not happening today. The Bible teaches that an evil and an adulterous generation seeketh for a miracle. The Bible says we walk by faith, not by sight. Miracles are not a normal part of God's salvation program.
Now it is true that in the days of Elijah, Elijah was able to do a few miracles, and these are recorded for us in order that we might through these get insights as to the nature of God's salvation plan, because these were actually like historical parables.
The same was true when Moses did miracles, when Christ did miracles, when He opened the eyes of the blind, that was a picture of the way we are. Spiritually we are blind. And even as Christ could open the eyes of the spiritually blind, so He could also open our eyes, who are spiritually blind.
CALLER: But Christ did not necessarily open the eyes of those who were spiritually blind. He opened their spiritual eyes as well as their physical eyes.
HC: Of course the miracle of salvation continues today. And it is true that Christ forgave the sins of this one and that one, and that's the miracle of salvation. But in the opening of the physical eyes, that was a picture, a parable, an historical parable. It was a true fact of history, but it was like a parable. And through this He was showing us that even as He opened the physical eyes so they could physically see, so He opens our spiritual eyes so we can spiritually see.
CALLER: Okay. I don't seem to agree with you, because you do not have any Biblical backing for this. What I would like to say is that, do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
HC: Let me ask you this, I'll answer your question. I certainly do believe in the Holy Spirit. He is God Himself. But let me ask you this, so that we'll know whether we have the same authority. Do you believe that God is still bringing revelations today?
CALLER: I do.
HC: All right. Now if you believe that, in other words, if you believe the Bible is the Word of God (and I think you would probably say that it is), and you also believe that God is bringing revelations today, then your authority is different than my authority. And this is a very important point. You see, if your authority is different than mine, then we're going to read the same verses, and we're going to come to different conclusions, because you're looking at these verses in the light of your authority, and I'm looking at these same verses in the light of my authority.
Now my authority is that the Bible alone and in its entirety is the divine Word. And therefore there is nothing else that could be considered to be a divine revelation. But now suppose that your authority is the Bible plus what might be brought in a vision today. Then since the vision is the later word, it will negate some of the things in the Bible. And obviously you're going to understand the Bible differently than I would. And we could talk together for a long time and never come to agreement, because we have a different authority.
CALLER: I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. In John 14:26 He says that the Comforter would also bring things to come. Do you believe that?
HC: The only thing God brings is the Word of God. He has spoken. He has said all that He is going to say. If you believe that God is still speaking today and is still going to give you declarations of the future, or whatever, fine. Then your gospel is different than the Gospel I believe, obviously. You have a different authority. You have a different law-book that you are using. Your law-book is the Bible plus these other things that you are hearing.
CALLER: The reason I called you is that last week you made a statement that there are no more miracles. Christ Himself said in John 14:12, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, whosoever believes in Me shall do the works that I do. Greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father." He said it emphatically so.
HC: You believe that that verse is teaching that we can do miracles?
CALLER: Of course I believe in miracles.
HC: All right. Now let's examine that verse. "The works that I do ye shall do, and greater works than these shall ye do." Now letting the Bible be the authority, we search the Bible to find out what Christ had in view. First of all, let's assume for the moment that He's talking about miracles. Let's look at the miracles He did. He walked on the water, He multiplied the loaves and fishes, He stilled the storm, He raised Lazarus after he had been dead for four days, He healed the ten lepers, and so on and so on.
Now there is nobody, nobody who has done miracles of this nature. It just has never happened. And so we know that that isn't what Christ has in view at all. Secondly, His work was not to come and do miracles. His work was twofold.
First of all, it was to go to the cross to pay for our sins. Now we know of course that Christ does not have that in view, because we cannot add anything to the work that Christ did on the cross. That's His unique work. But He also came to bring the Gospel. He said, "As the Father has sent Me, so send I you." And we read in Luke 4 that He said, "I was sent to preach the Gospel." And that is the work that He also has assigned to us as believers: "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel."
Now let's examine that work and see how that stacks up. We find, as we search the Bible, that Jesus preached for about three and a half years And after that length of time there's a handful of believers. There were 120 in the Upper Room, maybe a little more than 500 in all of Galilee, after three and a half years of preaching.
But then Christ went to the Father, and He began His program to evangelize the world. And on Pentecost Peter preaches one sermon and 3000 are saved. Now he's doing exactly the same work Jesus was doing, but it was a greater work, because far more were responding to the Gospel. You see, that verse has nothing at all to do with miracles, nothing at all. And those who would like to think that it's speaking of miracles are doing so without any Biblical authorization.
CALLER: Okay. I see in Matthew 4:23 . . .
HC: You see? you're not facing this question. You're not facing this verse. This verse very clearly is not talking about miracles.
CALLER: What is it talking about?
HC: About preaching the Gospel. That's the work that Christ came to do.
CALLER: Look at Matthew 4:23.
HC: Matthew 4:23?
CALLER: Let's read it, because He said, Whosoever believes in Him shall do the works that He did. And in Matthew 4:23 He specifically shows . . .
HC: While it is true that He went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases of the people, the fact is that healing people is not the work God assigns to the born again believers. There is no statement in the Bible that says that every believer is assigned the task of healing people. But the Bible does indicate that every believer is assigned the task of bringing the Gospel, "As the Father has sent Me, so send I you," or "Ye are My ambassadors," or "Go ye into all the world and bring the Gospel." We are all qualified to declare God's Word.
But no where in the Bible is it intimated that everyone is either qualified or mandated to heal the sick.
CALLER: Now I do agree with you that not everybody has the gift of healing. By the same token, I cannot deny that there is miraculous power of God being performed . In Joel 2:28 He says, "In the latter days I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh."
HC: Acts 2:17 is not talking about miracles at all. It doesn't discuss miracles at all. It says that your young men will prophesy and dream dreams. And that's another subject that we could talk about at another time. But it doesn't talk about miracles.
Now when we go from verse to verse, you see, you are still convinced that they're all talking about miracles. And I understand that, because your authority is different. You come at the Bible differently than I would come at the Bible. And we can visit the rest of the evening, but we'll never come to agreement.
CALLER: Can you tell me if God ever changes? Does God change?
HC: God does not change, but His program does. His program does. For example, before Jesus went to the cross, there were far more miracles done than at any other time in the history of the world before or since, by more people, to more people, in the presence of more people. Not only did Jesus do miracles, but the twelve did miracles, the seventy that were sent out did miracles, and thousands upon thousands of people witnessed these miracles. And all of this, incidentally, was before the Holy Spirit was poured out, which many people forget altogether. This was before the Holy Spirit was poured out.
Now after Christ went to the cross and the Holy Spirit was poured out, we search the Bible and we find that God's program was substantially different. We only find five of the apostles maybe, and certainly the deacon Stephen, who still did some signs or wonders. But as we continue in the Bible and go through the Book of Romans or Ephesians, or Galatians, we find no reference at all to this kind of activity, because that was not normative after the Holy Spirit was poured out. God's program changed.
Now before Jesus came on the scene, there were no miracles being done at all, none whatsoever. It was not God's program. So God is the same, but His program changes. And so those who want to argue that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, that's a fine Bible verse found in Hebrews, but that has nothing to do with the fact that we could expect miracles today because Jesus did them when He was living. It has nothing at all to do with that.
CALLER: I would suggest that you and I might meet together personally, to investigate what God is really saying to us.
HC: No, you see, there would be no way that we could ever come together, because we have different authorities altogether. We have to first start out, if, for example, two judges were going to adjudicate a case, and one was going to use the law of the United States and another was going to use the law of Mexico, they would never come to agreement, because they have different law-books. They have a different authority. And that is the reason on each of these verses that you have quoted we come to different conclusions altogether. Your authority is different. But thank you so much for calling and sharing. Good night.