The Miracles of Jesus
Introduction
As we begin our study of “The Miracles of Jesus” there are a few things that we need to examine by way of introduction.
What Constitutes A Miracle?
“A popular but
wrong, definition is to say that a miracle is a point in time in which God intervenes in
the world…. That definition fails for one good reason: It gives the false impression
that God only occasionally intervenes in the world. … A miracle happens when God, who
is continuously active in the world, breaks His usual pattern and does something
extraordinary.” [Erwin
W. Lutzer. “Seven Convincing Miracles.” (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999) pp.
16-17.]
Are all miracles of God?
Not everything that is miraculous is from God. To put it simply, either miracles are based on Christ and the Bible or else they are connected with demons and the world of the occult. Just as Christ’s miracles were intended to lead men and women to Him, Satan wants his miracles to lead multitudes to worship him.
As far as the miracles of Christ are concerned it is particularly notable that the enemies of Christ never sought to deny the powerful works he performed. They attempted to attribute this works to the power of the Devil (Matt 12:22-24) but they did not argue that they had not taken place.
Usually miracles help someone in need. But the meaning is always deeper: God gets our attention so that we are invited to look beyond the event to a Miracle Worker. Clearly if the purpose of Christ’s miracles was only to help some one in need, thousands more would have been healed etc. The simple fact is this: The primary purpose of the miracles was to authenticate the message of Christ and the apostles.
As we conduct our study of the miracles that Jesus performed I want us ask two and seek to answer, two principle
questions: “What does this miracle reveal about the person of Christ?” And “What does this miracle say to us today?”Since the record of the miracle at Cana (John 2:11) ends with the statement that this was “the beginning of the signs (miracles)” it would seem to indicate conclusively this was absolutely the first miracle that Jesus had performed.
He had lived for thirty years, and this is the first time he has exercised his power to perform a miracle. As such this nullifies those extra-biblical accounts of miracles performed by Jesus as Child. These miracles are immediately suspect not only because they are not included in the Bible but because they are meaningless. The miracles of Jesus were never meaningless.
This is a study of the miracles performed by Jesus, and so do not include the
miracles associated with of His birth.
The order of the miracles as they are given here is the actual historical order – as best that we can tell (indications of time and place are often not precisely given – in which these miracles occurred, although they may be sequenced differently in the different Gospel accounts.
2. Jesus Heals The Noble Man’s Son (John 4:46-54)
3. Jesus Provides A Great Catch Of Fish (Lk 5:1-11)
4. Jesus Heals A Demonic In A Synagogue (Mark 1:21-28, Luke 4:31-37)
5. Jesus Heals His Peter’s Mother-In-Law (Mt
8:14-15, Mark
6. Jesus Cleanses A Leper (Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-15)
7. Jesus Heals A Paralytic (Mt 9:2-7, Mark 2:3-12, Lk. 5:18-26)
8. Jesus Heals A Cripple At Bethesada (John 5: 1-18)
9. Jesus Heals A Withered Hand (Mt 12:9-12, Mark 3:1-6, Luke 5:6-10,)
10. Jesus Heals A Centurion’s Servant (Mt 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10)
11. Jesus Raises A Widow’s Son (Luke 7:11-17)
12. Jesus Stills A Storm (Mt
8:23-27, Mk 4:35-41, Lk 8:22-25)
13. Jesus Delivers A Demonic In Gedara (Mt 8:28-34, Mk 5:1-20,
Luke 8:27-39)14. Jesus A Woman Of A Hemorrhage (Mt 9: 20-22, Mk 5:25-34,
15. Jesus Raises Jairus’s Daughter (Mt 9:18-26, Mk 5:22-43,
16. Jesus Heals Two Blind Men (Matt. 9:27-31)
17. Jesus Cast Out A Mute Spirit (Matt. 9:32-25)
18. Jesus Feeds The 5,000 (Mt 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14)
19. Jesus Walks On Water (Matt. 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, John 6: 15-21)
20. Jesus Heals A Syro-Phoneician Girl(Mt 15:21-28, Mk 7:24-30)
21. Jesus Heals the Deaf and the Dumb Man (Mark 7:31-37)
22. Jesus Feeds The 4,000 (Mt 15:30-38, Mark 8:1-9)
23. Jesus Heals The Blind Man (Mark 8:22-26)
24. Jesus Delivers The Demonized Boy (Mt 17:14-21,
25. Jesus Provides Money In A Fish’s Mouth (Matt. 17:24-27)
26. Jesus Heals A Man Born Blind (Jn 9:1-7)
27. Jesus Heals A Woman Bound By Satan (Luke 13: 10-17)
28. Jesus Heals A Man With Dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)
29. Jesus Raises Lazarus (John 11)
30. Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
31. Jesus Heals Bartimaeus (Mt
20:29-34, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43)
32. Jesus Curses A Fig Tree (Mt 21:17-22, Mark 11: 12-14, 20-24)
33. Jesus Replaces
Malchus’s Ear (Mt 26:51-56, Mk4: 46-47,
34. Wonders At Calvary
35. Jesus Provides A Catch Of Fish (Jn 21:1-14)
[Larry
Richards. “Every Miracle of the Bible.” ( Nashville: Thomas Nelson Pub.,
1998) pp. 198-199]