Miracle week: Day 4

Miracles and the gospel

Be careful that in your desire to see God do miracles you do not take your eyes off the gospel. 

Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).  A heartless rich man ignores the righteous beggar at his gate, and he ends up in hell.  From hell he asks Abraham to send the beggar, called Lazarus, from heaven to his brothers to warn them, so that they will not also end up in hell.  Abraham tells the rich man that, ‘if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, then will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead’ (31).  Moses and the Prophets was a reference to the Bible as it was at that time.  Abraham is saying that if you reject the word of God, you will not be brought to faith through a miracle.

Sometimes God uses sign and wonders to point people to the gospel.  However, often the gospel is shared without signs and wonders and that is sufficient to bring people to faith.  Signs and wonders can be a supplement with the gospel but never a replacement for the gospel.  If someone is resistant to the gospel, like the rich man’s brothers, then a sign or wonder will not wake them up.  We see this with another Lazarus, in John 11.  Jesus raised this Lazarus from the dead.  But that did not cause all those who witnessed this miracle to put their trust in Jesus.  Some believed, but others went away to plot about how they might kill Jesus (John 11:15-16).  People’s rejection of Jesus is less about a lack of evidence than a hardness of heart.