Did The Miracles In The Bible Really Happen
Author: Frank Harber Ph.D
Many question the accuracy of the creation account of Adam and Eve, the Noachic flood, the crossing of the Red Sea during the Exodus, the story of Jonah, Christ’s walking on water, or even the resurrection of Jesus. But these are actually questions of faith. Jesus confirmed the accounts of Adam and Eve, Noah, and Jonah as being historical fact (Matt. 12:40, 19:4).
To reject the above stories is to reject the authority and truthfulness of Jesus. If Jesus were found to be mistaken on these issues, could He not also be mistaken on the larger issues of salvation and eternal life?
This point is illustrated in Jesus’ healing of the paralytic. Jesus proved that what He said about spiritual matters was true by performing a verifiable physical healing: “Which is easier to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed, and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.” — He said to the paralytic, “I say to you arise, take up your bed, and go to your house” (Mark 2:9-11).
Jesus emphasized this same truth when He said, “If I have told you earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12).
Some would try to hold that the Bible is authoritative on matters of faith but may be mistaken in other areas. The Bible does not contain two sets of verses; it is of a holistic nature, and if two kinds of verses in the Bible were found, who would decide what was what? Finite humans cannot be the final judge of difficulties. We often seek to discredit what we cannot understand. Just because we do not know “how” all the miracles in the Bible occurred does not mean they did not happen. The top scientists in the world have great difficulty understanding the writings of Albert Einstein. How much more difficult is it then for finite humans to understand the infinite God?
A certain man once came up to a Christian and said, “I have a problem believing that a man could survive for three days in the belly of a whale,” to which the Christian replied, “That’s not what’s so difficult to believe. I have more difficulty trying to understand how God could make a man and how God could make a fish.”
The denial of the miraculous stories in the Bible is not a question of accuracy but of faith.