An event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God, operating without the use of means capable of being discerned by the senses, and designed to authenticate the divine commission of a religious teacher and the truth of his message (John 2:18; Matt. 12:38). It is an occurrence at once above nature and above man. It shows the intervention of a power that is not limited by the laws either of matter or of mind, a power interrupting the fixed laws which govern their movements, a supernatural power. "The suspension or violation of the laws of nature involved in miracles is nothing more than is constantly taking place around us. One force counteracts another: vital force keeps the chemical laws of matter in abeyance; and muscular force can control the action of physical force. When a man raises a weight from the ground, the law of gravity is neither suspended nor violated, but counteracted by a stronger force. The same is true as to the walking of Christ on the water and the swimming of iron at the command of the prophet. The simple and grand truth that the universe is not under the exclusive control of physical forces, but that everywhere and always there is above, separate from and superior to all else, an infinite personal will, not superseding, but directing and controlling all physical causes, acting with or without them."
God ordinarily effects his purpose through the agency of second causes; but he has the power also of effecting his purpose immediately and without the intervention of second causes, i.e., of invading the fixed order, and thus of working miracles. Thus we affirm the possibility of miracles, the possibility of a higher hand intervening to control or reverse nature's ordinary movements.
In the New Testament these four Greek words are principally used to designate miracles:
(1.) Semeion, a "sign", i.e., an evidence of a divine commission; an attestation of a divine message (Matt. 12:38, 39; 16:1, 4; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; 23:8; John 2:11, 18, 23; Acts 6:8, etc.); a token of the presence and working of God; the seal of a higher power.
(2.) Terata, "wonders;" wonder-causing events; portents; producing astonishment in the beholder (Acts 2:19).
(3.) Dunameis, "might works;" works of superhuman power (Acts 2:22; Rom. 15:19; 2 Thess. 2:9); of a new and higher power.
(4.) Erga, "works;" the works of Him who is "wonderful in working" (John 5:20, 36).
Miracles are seals of a divine mission. The sacred writers appealed to them as proofs that they were messengers of God. Our Lord also appealed to miracles as a conclusive proof of his divine mission (John 5:20, 36; 10:25, 38). Thus, being out of the common course of nature and beyond the power of man, they are fitted to convey the impression of the presence and power of God. Where miracles are there certainly God is. The man, therefore, who works a miracle affords thereby clear proof that he comes with the authority of God; they are his credentials that he is God's messenger. The teacher points to these credentials, and they are a proof that he speaks with the authority of God. He boldly says, "God bears me witness, both with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles."
The credibility of miracles is established by the evidence of the senses on the part of those who are witnesses of them, and to all others by the testimony of such witnesses. The witnesses were competent, and their testimony is trustworthy. Unbelievers, following Hume, deny that any testimony can prove a miracle, because they say miracles are impossible. We have shown that miracles are possible, and surely they can be borne witness to. Surely they are credible when we have abundant and trustworthy evidence of their occurrence. They are credible just as any facts of history well authenticated are credible. Miracles, it is said, are contrary to experience. Of course they are contrary to our experience, but that does not prove that they were contrary to the experience of those who witnessed them. We believe a thousand facts, both of history and of science, that are contrary to our experience, but we believe them on the ground of competent testimony. An atheist or a pantheist must, as a matter of course, deny the possibility of miracles; but to one who believes in a personal God, who in his wisdom may see fit to interfere with the ordinary processes of nature, miracles are not impossible, nor are they incredible.
Miracles Recorded in the Old Testament
| 1. The flood | Gen. 7, 8 |
| 2. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah | Gen. 19:24 |
| 3. Lot's wife turned into a "pillar of salt" | Gen. 19:26 |
| 4. Birth of Isaac at Gerar | Gen. 21:1 |
| 5. The burning bush not consumed | Ex. 3:3 |
| 6. Aaron's rod changed into a serpent | Ex. 7:10-12 |
| 7. The ten plagues of Egypt--(1) waters become blood, (2) frogs, (3) lice, (4) flies, (5) murrain, (6) boils, (7) thunder and hail, (8) locusts, (9) darkness, (10) death of the first-born | Ex. 7:20-12:30 |
| 8. The Red Sea divided; Israel passes through | Ex. 14:21-31 |
| 9. The waters of Marah sweetened | Ex. 15:23-25 |
| 10. Manna sent daily, except on Sabbath | Ex. 16:14-35 |
| 11. Water from the rock at Rephidim | Ex. 17:5-7 |
| 12. Nadab and Abihu consumed for offering "strange fire" | Lev. 10:1, 2 |
| 13. Some of the people consumed by fire at Taberah | Num. 11:1-3 |
| 14. The earth opens and swallows up Korah and his company; fire and plague follow at Kadesh | Num. 16:32 |
| 15. Aaron's rod budding at Kadesh | Num. 17:8 |
| 16. Water from the rock, smitten twice by Moses, Desert of Zin | Num. 20:7-11 |
| 17. The brazen serpent in the Desert of Zin | Num. 21:8, 9 |
| 18. Balaam's ass speaks | Num. 22:21-35 |
| 19. The Jordan divided, so that Israel passed over dryshod | Josh. 3:14-17 |
| 20. The walls of Jericho fall down | Josh. 6:6-20 |
| 21. The sun and moon stayed. Hailstorm | Josh. 10:12-14 |
| 22. The strength of Samson | Judg. 14-16 |
| 23. Water from a hollow place "that is in Lehi" | Judg. 15:19 |
| 24. Dagon falls twice before the ark. Emerods on the Philistines | 1 Sam. 5:1-12 |
| 25. Men of Beth-shemesh smitten for looking into the ark | 1 Sam. 6:19 |
| 26. Thunderstorm causes a panic among the Philistines at Eben-ezer | 1 Sam. 7:10-12 |
| 27. Thunder and rain in harvest at Gilgal | 1 Sam. 12:18 |
| 28. Sound in the mulberry trees at Rephaim | 2 Sam. 5:23-25 |
| 29. Uzzah smitten for touching the ark at Perez-uzzah | 2 Sam. 6:6, 7 |
| 30. Jeroboam's hand withered. His new altar destroyed at Bethel | 1 Kings 13:4-6 |
| 31. Widow of Zarephath's meal and oil increased | 1 Kings 17:14-16 |
| 32. Widow's son raised from the dead | 1 Kings 17:17-24 |
| 33. Drought, fire, and rain at Elijah's prayers, and Elijah fed by ravens | 1 Kings 17, 18 |
| 34. Ahaziah's captains consumed by fire near Samaria | 2 Kings 1:10-12 |
| 35. Jordan divided by Elijah and Elisha near Jericho | 2 Kings 2:7, 8, 14 |
| 36. Elijah carried up into heaven | 2 Kings 2:11 |
| 37. Waters of Jericho healed by Elisha's casting salt into them | 2 Kings 2:21, 22 |
| 38. Bears out of the wood destroy forty-two "young men" | 2 Kings 2:24 |
| 39. Water provided for Jehoshaphat and the allied army | 2 Kings 3:16-20 |
| 40. The widow's oil multiplied | 2 Kings 4:2-7 |
| 41. The Shunammite's son given, and raised from the dead at Shunem | 2 Kings 4:32-37 |
| 42. The deadly pottage cured with meal at Gilgal | 2 Kings 4:38-41 |
| 43. A hundred men fed with twenty loaves at Gilgal | 2 Kings 4:42-44 |
| 44. Naaman cured of leprosy, Gehazi afflicted with it | 2 Kings 5:10-27 |
| 45. The iron axe-head made to swim, river Jordan | 2 Kings 6:5-7 |
| 46. Ben hadad's plans discovered. Hazael's thoughts, etc. | 2 Kings 6:12 |
| 47. The Syrian army smitten with blindness at Dothan | 2 Kings 6:18 |
| 48. The Syrian army cured of blindness at Samaria | 2 Kings 6:20 |
| 49. Elisha's bones revive the dead | 2 Kings 13:21 |
| 50. Sennacherib's army destroyed, Jerusalem | 2 Kings 19:35 |
| 51. Shadow of sun goes back ten degrees on the sun-dial of Ahaz, Jerusalem | 2 Kings 20:9-11 |
| 52. Uzziah struck with leprosy, Jerusalem | 2 Chr. 26:16-21 |
| 53. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego delivered from the fiery furnace, Babylon | Dan. 3:10-27 |
| 54. Daniel saved in the lions' den | Dan. 6:16-23 |
| 55. Jonah in the whale's belly. Safely landed | Jonah 2:1-10 |
Miracles Recorded in the Gospels
| 1. Cure of two blind men | Matt 9:27-31 |
| 2. Piece of money in the fish's mouth | Matt 17:24-27 |
| 1. The deaf and dumb man | Mark 7:31-37 |
| 2. The blind man of Bethsaida | Mark 8:22-26 |
| 1. Jesus passes unseen through the crowd | Luke 4:28-30 |
| 2. The miraculous draught of fishes | Luke 5:4-11 |
| 3. The raising of the widow's son at Nain | Luke 7:11-18 |
| 4. The woman with the spirit of infirmity | Luke 13:11-17 |
| 5. The man with the dropsy | Luke 14:1-6 |
| 6. The ten lepers | Luke 17:11-19 |
| 7. The healing of Malchus | Luke 22:50, 51 |
| 1. Water made wine | John 2:1-11 |
| 2. Cure of nobleman's son, Capernaum | John 4:46-54 |
| 3. Impotent man at Bethsaida cured | John 5:1-9 |
| 4. Man born blind cured | John 9:1-7 |
| 5. Lazarus raised from the dead | John 11:38-44 |
| 6. Draught of fishes | John 21:1-14 |
| Common to Matthew and Mark |
| 1. Syrophoenician woman's daughter cured | Matt 15:28 | Mark 7:24 |
| 2. Four thousand fed | Matt 15:32 | Mark 8:1 |
| 3. Fig tree blasted | Matt 21:18 | Mark 11:12 |
| Common to Matthew and Luke |
| 1. Centurion's servant healed | Matt 8:5 | Luke 7:1 |
| 2. Blind and dumb demoniac cured | Matt 12:22 | Luke 11:14 |
| 1. Demoniac cured in synagogue at Capernaum | Mark 1:23 | Luke 4:33 |
| Common to Matthew, Mark and Luke |
| 1. Peter's wife's mother cured | Matt 8:14 | Mark 1:30 | Luke 4:38 |
| 2. The tempest stilled | Matt 8:23 | Mark 4:37 | Luke 8:22 |
| 3. Demoniacs of Gadara cured | Matt 8:28 | Mark 5:1 | Luke 8:26 |
| 4. Leper healed | Matt 8:2 | Mark 1:40 | Luke 5:12 |
| 5. Jairus's daughter raised | Matt 9:23 | Mark 5:23 | Luke 8:41 |
| 6. Woman's issue of blood cured | Matt 9:20 | Mark 5:25 | Luke 8:43 |
| 7. Man sick of the palsy cured | Matt 9:2 | Mark 2:3 | Luke 5:18 |
| 8. Man's withered hand cured | Matt 12:10 | Mark 3:1 | Luke 6:6 |
| 9. A lunatic child cured | Matt 17:14 | Mark 9:14 | Luke 9:37 |
| 10. Two blind men cured | Matt 20:29 | Mark 10:46 | Luke 18:35 |
| Common to Matthew, Mark and John |
| Jesus walks on the sea | Matt 14:25 | Mark 6:48 | John 6:15 |
| Common to all the evangelists |
| Jesus feeds 5,000 "in a desert place" | Matt 14:15 | Mark 6:30 | Luke 9:10 | John 6:1-14 |
| In addition to the above miracles wrought by Christ, there are four miraculous events connected with his life - |
| 1. The conception by the Holy Ghost | Luke 1:35 |
| 2. The transfiguration | Matt 17:1-8 |
| 3. The resurrection | John 21:1-14 |
| 4. The ascension | Luke 2:42-51 |
Copyright Eastman's Bible Dictionary
