"What Is A Miracle?”

“What is a Miracle?”

John 2:1-11

INTRODUCTION: The story of Jesus turning water into wine is the first recorded miracle He ever performed.

QUOTE: Comedian Mark Lowry said, “I think that it is great that Jesus’ first miracle wasn’t raising the dead, or giving sight to the blind, but His first miracle was one ‘just to keep the party going!’”

SURVEY: Miracles are interesting subjects to most people, especially Americans. In fact according to a Newsweek Poll the:

Percentage of Americans who believe in divine miracles: 84

Percentage who believe in the reality of miracles described in the Bible: 79

Percentage who have personal experiences with miracles: 48

Percentage who know of people who have: 63

Percentage who have prayed for a miracle: 67

Percentage who believe God or the saints cure or heal sick people who have been given no chance of survival by medical doctors: 77

What is a miracle exactly? Let me give you my definition:

I believe that God, through infinite wisdom, created natural processes. A seed grows into a tree, which then bears fruit, which contains seeds, which can then produce another tree. This is considered a ‘natural’ process, and I believe it was instituted by God. By natural I mean that there are certain laws that govern nature that God has set in order. A tree doesn’t grow without a seed according to God’s natural law.

So what are miracles? I believe that a miracle is when God intervenes in the natural process He created and makes something supernatural.

That is what is so intriguing to many people about miracles – they cannot be studied because they break scientific ‘laws’.

ILLUSTRATION: “I can explain that” A young man in college was reading the bible when a liberal professor walked by. “Wow” said the young man. The professor, interested in what caused his excitement, asked the young man what he was reading. The young man said that God had parted the Red Sea to allow the Hebrew people to cross. The professor started to explain how at that period in history there was a drought and really the Sea was only about three inches deep, so it was not really a miracle. “Oh” said the disheartened young man as he went back to reading. “Wow!” the boy said again, even more excited. The professor said, “What is it now?” to which the young man replied, “God just drowned the whole Egyptian army in three inches of water!

The miracle at Cana is one of my favorite in scripture, not so much because it was Jesus’ first, or that He was ‘keeping the party going’, but because the miracle of turning ordinary water into perfectly fermented wine is a great picture of the many other miracles found within the scriptures.

The miracle first relates to the:

I. CREATION MIRACLE

a. Many scientists contest the story of creation because of the time factor

i. They argue that it would be impossible for the world to be created in six days because it takes time to form elements and cells and matter

ii. ILLUSTRATION: A good argument made by secular scientists is about the speed of light. They say that it takes many years for light to hit the earth once it has left the sun, and if the sun was created in the third day, the light would not have made it to the earth for many years.

b. I often use the miracle at Cana to rebut this argument

i. Does it not take wine time to age?

• In fact, the older the wine, the more valuable it is

ii. Jesus took ordinary well water and, in an instant, He produced perfectly aged wine

iii. Coincidentally He also used six clay pots, and there were six creation days

c. Jesus, who we know according to John’s gospel made all things, proves His power over the natural elements with a simple miracle – which had a profound meaning

i. Where scientists fail when looking at the creation story is that they forget that the God of this universe created natural laws, and is not bound by them

ii. Jesus, who is God the Son, proved time and time again throughout His ministry, that He was not bound by scientific laws

d. God did not have to take ‘time’ to create anything

i. He spoke all things into existence

• First light, then the firmament, then the land, then the herbs and trees, then the sun, moon and stars, fish and birds, then the cattle, creeping things and beasts

ii. In fact, the only thing God did not ‘speak’ into existence was man

• The Word of God declares that man was fashioned from the dust of the ground

• Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”