A message to the if-I-could-just-see-a-miracle crowd

Are you someone who doesn’t believe in God, but swears you would if you saw a bona fide miracle happen in front of you? If so, how about we play let’s pretend?  

Pretend that you saw the wildest supernatural plagues explode on the land and people of Egypt, including the death of every Egyptian's firstborn son. You walked on dry ground as walls of the Red Sea’s waters stood on either side of you. You watched the Egyptian army drown as those same walls of water came crashing down on them.

You were led by a pillar of cloud by day and another unearthly pillar of fire by night. Food called manna came to you preternaturally every single day. You drank water that came unexplainably out of a rock multiple times. Your clothing and shoes never wore out over the many years you traveled to a land you were promised.   

And yet, after seeing and experiencing each of those things and more, you turned your back on the God who was responsible for all of it. Think that wouldn’t be possible?

Listen to what God’s man back then, Moses, said to the people who witnessed those things: “And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, ‘You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear’”(Deut. 29:2–4).

The bottom line with miracles is, unless your heart is right, they’ll have zero impact and leave you no more enlightened than you were before.

Need more proof? How about we play let’s pretend again, but this time with Jesus and some of His miracles? But before we do, remember that, although Christ’s biographies sometimes make you feel like healings, exorcisms, and other such miracles were a common thing back in His day, nothing could be further from the truth. They were every bit as extraordinary as if they happened today.

Our first stop is a guy with a shriveled and mutilated hand (Mark 3:1–6). Jesus tells the man to stretch it out and it’s miraculously restored. And what’s the effect on the religious leaders who were supposed to know God better than anyone? “The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”

Next is a woman who hadn’t been able to stand up straight for 18 years (Luke 13:10–14). Jesus frees her from the affliction and the response of the one running the show at the temple is: “But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, ‘There are six days in which work should be done; so, come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.’”   

What did Moses say again? Something about not having a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear?

My favorite New Testament example is the raising of Lazarus (John 11). Everyone is amazed and is flocking to see him after he walked out of his tomb. Heck, wouldn’t you? But look what happens right after: “The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He [Jesus] was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus” (John 12:10-11).  

So, let’s get this straight: they’re looking to kill a guy, who is the object of a stupendous and undeniable miracle because the crowds were putting their trust in Christ due to the man’s resurrection. Yikes!

All these cases should be enough to get my point across to you, but wait, I have one bonus example, this time with the apostle Paul.

Paul heals a guy at Lystra who had never walked and the people there are so jazzed they start calling Paul a god and are ready to make sacrifices to him (Acts 14:8–19). Surely nothing could go wrong there, could it? Think again; the very next verse reads: “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”

OK, I’m done now.

To recap: all these examples showcase people who directly observed astounding miracles and were unfazed by them. How could that happen?

Go back to what Moses already told us: “Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear”

The legendary radio Bible teacher J. Vernon McGee is spot on with his commentary on this when he says:

“In spite of seeing all the signs, they still did not perceive. Isaiah has a great deal to say about that. Paul in Romans deals with the blindness of Israel: ‘According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear; unto this day’ (Rom. 11:8). Does this mean that God will not permit them to comprehend, that God turns them off? No, it means they are already off. God has to turn us on! That is something which we need to recognize today. Until God opens the eyes and the ears of men and women, they cannot hear the Gospel. Now do not misunderstand me — they can hear the words, but they cannot hear the Gospel with understanding.”

No, they can’t. This is why St. Augustine stirred the pot so much back in his day when he wrote a prayer to God that read, “Grant what thou commandest, and command what thou dost desire.”

Augustine’s detractors, both back then and today, are fine with the second part, but not the first. And yet Scripture says plainly we need God to open our minds and hearts before we can do what He commands: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18) and “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14).

This means even an irrefutable miracle in the face of someone, as McGee says, who is not “turned on” by God, will be waved off and leave the person no better.

So, if you’re someone who doesn’t believe in God today and thinks an external miracle will convince you, I have some advice. Like Augustine, ask God instead to grant you what you really need: a changed heart and mind so you can truly know Him. Truth is, the miracle of the new birth (John 3) is the biggest miracle God pulls off and it happens every day. Here’s to hoping and praying it happens to you.