Does God do miracles today?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

God is not limited by natural processes—He made the laws of nature and can suspend or override them at will. A miracle, by definition, is an extraordinary work of God that displays His power in a way that goes beyond ordinary means. Scripture records many such miracles, especially during periods of major revelation: the Exodus, the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, the life of Christ, and the ministry of the apostles.

Some of these miracles confirmed God’s messengers and revealed new truth (Hebrews 2:3–4). Others simply expressed His compassion or justice, such as healing the sick or striking the rebellious. A survey of miracles in the Bible shows that they are not evenly distributed. That is, even in the Bible, miracles are infrequent and special occurrences. Because God has not changed, He still acts in supernatural ways when it pleases Him to do so (James 5:16–18).

Miracles today are not guaranteed or formulaic, and they should never be demanded or faked. But when God heals, intervenes, or rescues in remarkable ways, we are right to give Him the credit.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• Sodom and Gomorrah are two wicked cities that God destroyed. We read that, “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:24–25). God did not need an army. At His will, He miraculously causes brimstone to obliterate the cities, enacting judgment according to His Word.
• Before God called Moses to rescue his people, he was walking and saw a burning bush. However, He noticed something was special about it: “… the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2). Seeing this, Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned” (Exodus 3:3). Through this encounter of a burning bush that was never consumed, God revealed Himself as the great I AM, the eternally existing God (Exodus 3:14).
• Anticipating Pharoah’s resistance to Moses’ request to release God’s people, God told Aaron to “Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent” (Exodus 7:9). When Aaron did, his staff changed, showing that God was behind the message (Exodus 7:10). This miracle authenticated God’s messengers.
• Exodus 7–12 records the account of Moses pleading with Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Each time he refused, God brought another plague as judgment against Pharaoh and the Egyptians. God used them to demonstrate that He was greater than the Egyptian gods and their various sorcerers.
• After the Egyptians begged the Israelites to go once God killed all their first-born sons (Exodus 12:33–36), the Egyptians regretted losing their slave labor, and pursued them, pinning them between an uncrossable sea and Pharaoh's army (Exodus 14:1–12). However, the LORD told Moses, “Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground” (Exodus 14:16). The miracle ends with, “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore” (Exodus 14:30). The Egyptians clearly had the upper hand, but God not only saved the Israelites, but killed their enemies.
• Once Egypt was no longer a problem for the Israelites, there was still the issue of finding food for so many people in the wilderness. Again, God provided a miraculous deliverance. After they complained, God said, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God” (Exodus 16:12). He then provided quail for dinner (Exodus 16:13). Starting the next morning, He began providing a daily supply of “manna,” a light, nutritious wafer. He continued providing that for 40 years. “The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, til they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna til they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (Exodus 16:35). In other words, from their escape until they reached a land where food was growing, God continuously and miraculously provided food.
• While the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, Korah and others rebelled against Moses. They set up a test to see whether or not Korah was right to rebel against Moses. God’s reply was to destroy the rebellion: “And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
• ” (Numbers 16:31–33). God opened up the earth then closed it again, destroying those we rebelled against the man He had chosen.
• Elijah went head-to-head with the false prophets that served Baal, challenging them to get their god to perform the miracle of setting an altar on fire. When the false prophets failed, it was Elijah’s turn. After drenching the altars in water to remove any possibility of doubt (1 Kings 18:34–35) he then prayed. “And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “‘O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.’” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”” (Exodus 8:38). Through this miracle where even the water caught on fire, God showed that Elijah was the true prophet.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• A paralytic came before Jesus, and Jesus forgave his sins. Some of the leaders were thinking, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone” (Mark 2:7). Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Rise, take your bed and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home’” (Mark 2:9–11). Jesus self-authenticated His authority to forgive sins by performing a miraculous healing and revealing Himself as the Son of Man promised in the book of Daniel.
• In the middle of the night, a Pharisees named Nicodemus understood that Jesus’ miraculous works meant that, at the very least, He was from God. “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). Though He did not yet rightly understand that Jesus was God, he understood that Jesus’ works (His miracles) could only come from someone connected to God. Jesus’ miracles revealed that He was God.
• The Old Testament prophesied about the arrival of a Messiah, especially Isaiah 53 which details the life and ministry of the Messiah. It taught that the Messiah would heal the blind and deaf (Isaiah 53:5–6). A confused John the Baptist sent a message from prison to ask Jesus if He was really the Messiah. With regards to John’s message, Luke wrote,
• “In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.’” (Luke 7:21–22). Jesus was saying that His healing miracles testified that He was the Messiah.
• In Acts 5, a married couple, Ananias and Sapphira were stuck dead because they lied about how much money they received for a sold property (Acts 5:1–11). God killed them and the result was people feared being too close, realizing that God was not someone to trifle with. We then read, “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.” (Acts 5:12). Just like Jesus did miracles to prove He was from the Father, the Apostles performed miracles so people would know they were from Jesus.
• Paul’s apostleship was regularly challenged. In one response, Paul said, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” (2 Corinthians 12:12). Paul’s authenticity as Jesus’ representative was found in His miracles.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

Though we read about many miracles in Scripture, they are not distributed evenly throughout Biblical history. That means that they were not as “normal” back then as we tend to imagine. Instead, they were done for very purposeful reasons. In the Old Testament they were used to 1) authenticate God’s messengers, 2) reveal God’s glory, 3) deliver His people, 4) and to bring special judgement. In the New Testament, each miracle proved that 1) Jesus was the Son of God, 2) Jesus was the Messiah, and 3) authenticated Jesus’ apostles. God’s miracles are not random. They are done for specific reasons to further reveal Himself to us. Since we have His revelation written down, we should be cautious about any claims of miracles, particularly those used to authenticate something or someone. That said, God is gracious and perfectly able and willing to intervene when He wills!

Today, we have everything written down in Scripture. We do not need additional miracles to prove that Jesus is God and Savior or that the apostles were His authenticated witnesses. Peter calls the Word even better than things like miracles. He said, “we were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16) and that they saw the transfiguration and heard God speak from heaven (1 Peter 1:17–18). Yet, despite seeing His miracles, Peter said, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). The “prophetic word” is Scripture. He said that that is “fully confirmed” more than signs.

Though the Bible is more sure, can God still perform miracles? The question of miracles is not whether God can act, because He can do anything He wants, but whether He still does act today in miraculous ways. Scripture clearly teaches that He has not changed in power, compassion, or sovereignty, and therefore it is entirely plausible that stories of sudden recovery, provision, or protection are rightly explained as divine acts. We never may be sure if they are, but we do know one thing: everything that God does is so that we would thank Him.

However, we must be careful not to “chase miracles.” Miracles in Scripture were never about spectacle. They are not for self gratification. They revealed God’s character and advanced His purposes. Similarly, we should avoid the error of assuming that every hardship must be fixed with a miracle. Sometimes God’s will is to mature our endurance (James 1:2–3) and not provide deliverance.

At the same time, we should pray boldly. God encourages us to seek His intervention (James 5:16). In response, He may act through natural means—or through extraordinary ones. Either way, the glory is His.

Most of all, we should remember that the greatest miracle is the one God works in our hearts. Every time a sinner repents, every time faith is born, and every time a soul is made new, God is at work. That is the miracle of grace—and it is no less supernatural than parting a sea.

UNDERSTAND

• Miracles in the Bible had specific purposes—to reveal God’s character, authenticate His messengers, and advance His redemptive plan.
• God can still do miracles today, but the full revelation of Scripture is more sure.
• The greatest miracle is spiritual transformation—when God brings new life to a soul through repentance and faith in Christ.

REFLECT

• When you pray for God's help, why should you trust Him to work in any way He chooses instead of demanding or expecting a miracle?
• How has God shown His power or presence in your life—even if it wasn’t through something miraculous?
• How and when are you more drawn to seek miracles than to seek God Himself through His Word?

ENGAGE

• How can we discern whether something today is truly a miracle from God or not?
• How can we explain why miracles were more frequent during certain biblical periods, and what that tells us about God's priorities?
• What does it say about God's character and interaction with humanity that He has revealed Himself through the miraculous?