A. Miracles are the monopoly of the sovereignty of God.
1. No human being, including the human nature of Jesus Christ, has ever performed a miracle.
2. Only the sovereignty of God, including the deity of Christ in hypostatic union, can perform miracles.
3. To pray for a loved one who is sick is a legitimate priestly prayer of the believer under the principle “if it is Your will.”
4. None of us can determine the cause or reason for any disaster that overtakes someone we love or someone we know or someone who has requested our prayers. Since none of us can determine the cause or reason for illness or similar disasters, the intercessory prayer must be worded so as to recognize that the option for healing rests with the sovereignty of God, who has all the facts.
5. A miracle is an event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers and is ascribed to divine power as a supernatural phenomena, not to be confused with extra-natural phenomena, which is often related to demonism.
6. It is a correct assumption that the believer priest has been given by God all the rights and privileges related to prayer.
7. However, when such a prayer involves asking for a miracle, the content of the intercession must be couched in phrases that recognize the principle of the sovereignty of God.
8. A prayer may or may not be answered depending on the overriding concept that relates to cause and effect. A prayer may be granted with disastrous results.
9. We do not know all the facts surrounding the suffering of those whom we love. We do not know if their suffering is divine discipline, divine blessing, an advance in the spiritual life.
10. Consequently, in intercessory prayer we do not have the right to ask outright for a miracle, because miracles are the monopoly of God and God knows best. We do have the right to petition God under the concept “if it be Your will.” Sometimes it is the will of God and the prayer becomes effective under those conditions. Therefore, we put the ones we love under the providential care of God.
11. Conclusion.
a. Miracles are the monopoly of God derived from His sovereignty, His omniscience, and His omnipotence.
b. Satan removes demons from those who have demon induced illnesses to make it appear as if a so-called “faith-healer” has healed the person.
c. Supernatural phenomena is related to God, copied by angels (for example the function of the weather angels and the function of demon possession), and confused by mankind.
d. Paul deviated from the truth when he prayed for a miracle in 2 Cor 12:7-10 in the removal of the thorn in the flesh.
e. God has given every Church Age believer the operational type spiritual life which has equivalent power to miracles on a day-by-day basis, and there are no miracles in our spiritual life. Our spiritual life has the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit and the power of Bible doctrine in the soul of the believer.
B. Miracles Related to the Hypostatic Union (See the Doctrine of the Hypostatic Union).
1. There are two categories of miracles found in the Bible.
a. There are supernatural miracles. These are beyond natural laws or phenomena and are performed by God either directly or indirectly (when God the Holy Spirit is the agent).
b. There are extra-natural miracles (something beyond the ordinary), which is the function of angels, especially demons who produce healing when they leave a person’s body.
2. Miracles are the decision of the sovereignty of God when all the facts from divine omniscience demand it. Then the omnipotence of God goes into action and a miracle is performed. All miracles come from the sovereignty and wisdom of God. No human being ever performed a miracle. This was even true in the use of the gift of miracles during the pre-canon period of the Church Age. The sovereignty of God plus the wisdom of God plus the power of God equals a miracle. Miracles are not the decision of human beings in prayer, in hope, or in wishes.
3. Such miracles are always compatible with the will and plan of God. Satan’s counterfeit of miracles is the removal of a demon who has induced an illness to make it appear as if the person has been healed.
4. All miracles in the hypostatic union were performed by the sovereignty of God apart from the prototype spiritual life, which was under the custodianship of the human nature of our Lord in hypostatic union. You have a spiritual life which is far greater than a miracle. Miracles are not a problem solving device.
5. There are three categories of miracles performed by our Lord during the hypostatic union.
a. Creation related miracles were performed by the omnipotence of the divine nature of Christ because He is the creator of all things. Creation related miracles were not subject to the doctrine of kenosis. These miracles were not in conflict with the doctrine of kenosis or the function of the prototype spiritual life. These miracles are based on the fact that Jesus Christ created the universe and during the hypostatic union He continually used His divine power to perform certain miracles like holding the universe together, calming the storm, turning water into wine, and bringing Lazarus back from the dead. These miracles were authorized and legitimate and did not conflict with the Father’s plan for the dispensation of the hypostatic union. What Satan was offering by way of temptation was a miracle that would involve using a creation miracle to compromise the Father’s plan.
b. Messiah related miracles were performed by the deity of our Lord to give accreditation to the humanity of Jesus Christ as the son of Abraham, the son of David, and the Messiah of Israel. Jesus Christ in His divine nature is the God of Israel. In His humanity He is the king of Israel. Accreditation is authoritative credibility which demands faith or acceptance. Messiah related miracles are direct from the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. An example was the casting out of demons, the healing of the blind, lame, etc. Messiah related miracles were neither in opposition to kenosis or to the Father’s plan for the dispensation of the hypostatic union.
c. Agent related miracles were p performed through the agency of the Holy Spirit during the hypostatic union, Mt 12:28; Lk 4:14-18. Agent related miracles were performed by the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit. The humanity of Christ could not perform miracles; they had to be performed by God the Holy Spirit. No miracles are related to the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union. The miracles which came from the Spirit also did not conflict with the Father’s plan, Mt 12:28; Lk 4:14-18. These miracles were designed to give credibility to our Lord’s messages.
6. All three of these categories were legitimate in the hypostatic union because they were a part of the plan of God for the dispensation of the hypostatic union. All three categories of miracles were the legitimate function of the person of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union, but they form a dichotomy, since miracles are not part the spiritual life and the spiritual life is not a part of miracles. Satan attacks this dichotomy at the point of miracles. The first two temptations of Satan were designed to form a compromise or spurious (not compatible with the will or plan of God) miracle.
7. Miracles were a part of the divine plan for the dispensation of the hypostatic union because they did not contradict kenosis and because they did not function independently of the prototype spiritual life. Miracles were never performed by the humanity of our Lord in hypostatic union. Miracles have never been a part of the spiritual life of any dispensation. Miracles are a distraction to your spiritual life. You have been given the filling of the Holy Spirit as an equivalent power to miracles.
8. The humanity of our Lord was being tempted by Satan to perform a lawful miracle in an unlawful manner. What was wrong then with Satan’s suggestion to perform a miracle to turn stones into bread? The source— Satan.
9. Conclusion.
a. Jesus Christ refused to solve a problem apart from the spiritual life. Jesus Christ provided the only solutions to your problems. When you go to outside solutions, like psychological therapy, you have rejected the greatest spiritual life in history.
b. Why pray for a miracle when you have a day to day spiritual life that is far greater and far more powerful in a moment by moment existence? Miracles are not problem solving devices. Miracles are not a part of the spiritual life. God does not perform miracles in answer to prayer. You have problem solving devices. God performs miracles without your prayers. Human beings do not perform miracles.
c. For the believer there is no solution to the problems of life apart from the ten problem solving devices. Miracles are not designed to solve your problems. Example—Paul prayed for a miracle three times to have his thorn in the flesh removed and the answer was “No.”
d. For the believer there is no solution to the problems of life through miracles. Miracles are even used by God for divine discipline, so they are not problem solving devices. The spiritual life and miracles are a dichotomy.
e. Moses performed a lot of miracles but they were not a part of his spiritual life. The miracles were performed by God for Moses even when he was out of fellowship, e.g., the second Meribah, Num 20:1-13. A miracle was performed when Moses was out of fellowship because the spiritual life of the believer does not include miracles.
f. Satan’s attack in the three temptations were to destroy the distinction between miracles, which always come from God, and the function of the prototype spiritual life. The only way to do it is to tempt the Lord to use a spurious miracle that would be contrary to the divine objectives of the dispensation of the hypostatic union and destroy the prototype spiritual life.
(1) The dichotomy of miracles and the prototype spiritual life caused Satan to assume that he had discovered a weak spot in the line of defense in the area of miracles. The dichotomy between miracles and the prototype spiritual life is that miracles always belong to the divine nature and the prototype spiritual life is under the custodianship of the human nature of Jesus Christ.
(2) The strategy of Satan was to use a false, compromising, or spurious miracle to destroy both kenosis and the prototype spiritual life. Satan tempted Jesus Christ to by-pass the prototype spiritual life, to operate independently of Bible doctrine circulating in His stream of consciousness, to get Him to reject the problem solving devices. The temptation was to do a right thing in a wrong way. The miracle of compromise called for the human nature of Christ to use His divine nature to turn the stones of the desert into bread. This was tempting Jesus Christ to perform a lawful thing in a unlawful manner.
(3) Satan underestimated the power of the prototype spiritual life. Our Lord defeated Satan with the power of Bible doctrine, the word of God metabolized in the soul.
g. The spiritual life is far greater than any miracle or any ecstatic experience. Miracles come from the sovereignty, omniscience, and omnipotence of God and are not performed by human beings unless that human being is the direct agent of God or it is being done through the filling of the Spirit. There is no solution to life through miracles.
10. Miracles were performed by God during the pre-canon period of the Church Age related to various spiritual gifts to validate the message of the apostles until their authority was established. No human being ever performed these miracles. These miracles were performed by God the Holy Spirit indwelling these believers to validate their message as being from God.
© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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