I’ve recently been reading through Gospel Deeps by Jared C. Wilson, and I came upon a section in chapter 9 that I believe confronts what many of us believe about the miracles Jesus performed. Growing up, I believed that Jesus performed miracles as a way of proving to regular people that he was God and was all-powerful. I believed that Jesus’ doing so was simply nothing more than a ploy (though, a good one) to convince people to have faith in him by doing incredible acts of good for others. A spiritualized-righteous-magic, if you will. And it’s not that that view is incorrect per se; it’s just incomplete–not understood in the context of what all Scripture is about: God redeeming both humanity and all of creation through his Son, Jesus.
Jared Wilson does a great job of explaining how Jesus’ miracles fit within and serve to highlight the greater context of what Scripture so constantly speaks of and symbolically points to.
Here it is:
“THE MIRACLES AS WITNESS TO COSMIC REDEMPTION”
As Jesus goes about declaring the coming of the kingdom of God in and through himself, he self-authenticates through signs and wonders. The cumulative testimony of the miracles is that Jesus is the end-all, be-all. And these works give us glimpses into the restoration of creation that is coming. They are signposts into that other world.
Jesus heals the sick, blind, and lame not just to demonstrate his power, but to signal the day when there will be no more of such things. When he restores the flesh of the lepers and even raises the dead, he is showing God’s plan revealed in Isaiah 40:5:
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
When Jesus exorcises demons, multiplies fish and loaves, walks on water, and so on and so forth, he is showing how God’s kingdom is coming to earth, how God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He is giving people a foretaste of the day when all that exists on earth is God’s kingdom, because heaven and earth will have been unified in a way that leaves no room for evil, pain, or lack.
These miracle signs culminate in Jesus’ own resurrection, the catalyst for our future resurrection, habitation of the new earth, and the reversal of creation’s curse” (p. 238).
I love that. And to further sum it up:
Jesus’ miracles were not simply the suspension of the natural order, but the restoration and fulfillment of it. Through performing miracles, Jesus was not concerned as much with showing off as he was about showing us what the new heaven and new earth will look like. It will be the most desirable reality, one He will accomplish for us sinners, usher us in, and rule for eternity where there will be no more suffering, darkness, or pain. Miracles are not ends unto themselves. Miracles are pale pointers, shifting shadows, temporal tastes, and giddy glimpses of what will one day be in full substance for us to partake with full joy.
