Articles

No Miracles, No Jesus!

Coming to faith in Jesus is not the ‘greatest miracle,’ as is often taught.


Author
Steven Lyn Evans

‘No miracles, no Jesus,’ it’s not merely a provocative title but it’s also the Gospel truth! When we read the Holy Scriptures we can clearly see that for Jesus, Paul, and the New Testament believers, miracles were an integral part of the Kingdom that Jesus introduced. For followers of Jesus, including followers today, miracles are a sign of the Kingdom of God. As the Apostle Paul teaches: ‘For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power’ (1 Corinthians 4:20).

Whilst no miracles, no Jesus, is a vital truth, we should take care not to presume that all miracles are from God: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders (Thessalonians 2:9). We must emphasise miracles but also the fruit of the Holy Spirit, a Godly yielded life.

We live in the world with a fragmented group of people all claiming to represent the ‘church’ of Jesus Christ. As the world looks on, they need to know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not about dead religion, dry theology, or human thinking and traditions. Rather, it is about a mountain moving, world changing, abundant, victorious life.

Coming to faith in Jesus is not the ‘greatest miracle,’ as is often taught. In truth, it’s not a miracle at all, the Bible never describes it as such. Rather, salvation is an action of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8). A miracle in Biblical terms must show something physical that goes beyond natural law. For example, water is turned into wine, the blind see, the lame walk, etc. It’s tangible in the natural realm in some way. However, coming to faith takes place on the inside of a person, not the outside. In erroneously describing coming to faith as a miracle, those who often don’t experience true Biblical miracles, are deluded into thinking they have ‘miracles’ even the ‘greatest miracle!’ Thereafter, they are content not to be challenged by the Biblical truth about miracles. In this way, the enemy of our faith robs real miracles from many people, who might otherwise have studied about miracles and subsequently received miracles. The principle of needing to believe before we receive is shown in Jesus’ teaching: ’And all things, whatever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive’ (Matthew 21:22).

The ministry of a believer is to preach, teach, and heal. In this way we follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ: And Jesus
went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people (Matthew 4:23). Without this healing miracle dimension, how could we pretend to be ministering in the same way as Jesus? How could we be in line with what He taught? The Bible teaches us that perfect love is being like Jesus: ‘Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world’ (1 John 4:7).

Some claim that miracles ended with the passing of the first Apostles. This position demands no action of faith, no following of Jesus’ teachings (Mark 16:17,18 etc.), it is in truth a denial of Biblical teaching and also a denial of the testimonies of those multitudes who have ministered and also received the miracles of God.

Miracles are the manifestation of God’s love, God’s compassion for people. God’s desire to see people touched through miracles reflects His great love for mankind. When you experience the miracles of God, you experience the love of God. People who deny that God heals today are really promoting ‘another Gospel’ (Galatians 1:6). It’s orientated around mankind, rituals, theory, dead religion, not God and His power. The supernatural, that activity which is beyond the natural experience of mankind, that which is miraculous, of God, is a vital component of a Biblical believer’s ministry. It ought to be a vital component of all who follow Jesus Christ: ‘And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues... they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover’ (Mark 16:17,18b)

We are told within the New Testament about the emphasis that was clear within the Apostle Paul’s ministry. He writes: ‘And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God’ (1 Corinthians 2:4,5). In other words, for the Apostle Paul, as it was for Jesus Christ, the distinguishing factor, was that he preached ‘in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’ We can also see that ministry in the book of Acts, where the power of God worked through the Apostle: ‘Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them’ (Acts 19:11,12).

The miracles of God are part of the Christians call to ‘reign in life’ (Romans 5:17b). This reigning in life is part of our privileged position as ambassadors, holding authority within God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom was a vital portion of the Gospel that Jesus preached, it always manifests in miracle power. Paul teaches: ‘For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power’ (1 Corinthians 4:20). Therefore, anyone truly understanding the Gospel of the Kingdom will manifest the power of God, and His miracles.

Within my own ministry I’ve been privileged to witness God heal the lame, open deaf ears, restore sight to the blind, heal many different diseases and sickness, sometimes after all medical hope was gone. The secular press have featured these miracles of God on front page headlines. This hasn’t happened since the days of the Evangelist Smith Wigglesworth. However, this type of ministry ought not to be so rare. No miracles, no Jesus!

So why is it so rare? Unbelief yes, but also there is a lot of poor and erroneous teaching around, and a lot of people don’t recognise the errors. Authentication must be Bible based and Holy Spirit sensitive.

Here are 3 points for you to embrace:

  1. Put God first place in your life, worship Him and pray continuously.

  2. Leave the limits of natural human rational behind (1 Corinthians 2:16). Decide instead to have a transformed mind (Romans 12:2).

  3. Embrace the truth of the Holy Bible accurately (2 Timothy 2:15).


I decided that I would conform my expectations to the Bible, rather than reducing the Bible to the limits of my understanding and previous experiences. If you will do the same, many lives will be impacted and you will experience the truth of: ‘No miracles, no Jesus!’