Limitation of Miracles

 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16: 28 – 31)

How much power is there in the manifestation of God’s power? How far does that power reach?

Have you like me wondered why Nebuchadnezzar, with all the evidence he had of the might and overarching power and wisdom the God of Israel did not believe in Him? How come that his proclamations and confessions of the same were unable to reach his person?

Again, have you wondered why, after Jesus raised Lazarus some of the witnesses went to report the miracle to the authorities? Why did the same authorities, after that clear demonstration of God’s power, thought it was prudent to kill the evidence (Lazarus) instead of allowing it to change their lives or influence their faith?

How come the authorities, after the soldiers who were guarding Jesus’ tomb reported what they had witnessed, decided to bribe them to change the narrative of what was clearly evident to them instead of believing in the risen Christ?

Why did Israel not return to God after the prophesied drought and later the great demonstration of the inability of the gods they worshiped to compete or even compare with the God of Elijah?

A miracle has no power of its own to transform a life.

I will compare a miracle to a display of some dramatic and exciting event.

Let me give an illustration of something I heard some time ago.

There was once an exceptional tight rope walker who could do wonders on that rope.

One day he tied a rope between two tall buildings with his ever-increasing audience on the street below.

He asked them, ‘do you believe I can walk from this building to the other?’

‘Yeeeessss’, the crowd roared

He of course walked across easily.

‘Do you believe I can push a wheelbarrow across?’

‘Yeeesss’, again the crowd roared, even louder than the first time

Then he did it.

‘Do you believe I can push a loaded wheelbarrow across?’

The response was now deafening, ‘Yeeeessssss’

And he was able to of course do it.

‘Do you believe I can carry someone on the wheelbarrow across?’

The noise was now maddening, bringing the whole town to a standstill as people who had been unaware of the drama were drawn by the noise.

‘Who will ride on the wheelbarrow?’, he asked

The hush was louder than the most deafening roar.

A miracle draws many onlookers, none of who is ready to commit

Believing in miracles is easier than believing the source of the same.

You see, as long as it was someone else being on the wheelbarrow, it was very easy to believe in the skill of the performer. Being on that wheelbarrow required commitment, a commitment that had the capacity of hurling the believer to death should that faith be misplaced.

That is why Jesus did not just perform miracles. He only performed miracles as part of His teaching. Miracles were the fillers of His teaching.

We love miracles because we love drama; both are spectator events

Faith, however, is not like that.

Faith requires a commitment. Something deeper than drama must be present to activate that.

What then activates faith? What has the power to make faith alive?

The word has the power to activate faith.

Incidentally you realise that the power of culture is vested in the release of increasing doses of doctrine from the earliest age.

We do this, we don’t do this, we believe this, are all vomits (sorry I have to use such a word), of the message that has been seeping deep in a person’s spirit from the earliest moments of their lives. They have been indoctrinated by message after message of their culture, as of anything else that no miracle has the capacity to alter that ‘faith’.

Why does a doctor who teaches on the dangers of smoking or alcoholism sink into the same vices?

The message running their lives is contrary to everything they learnt in school. You can call it the operating system (OS) of their lives.

Only the word of God has the power to change that operating system to one that will operate on what pleases God and of course is most beneficial to man.

Why does a preacher (pastor, apostle, prophet, deacon) who preaches so powerfully against unfaithfulness become unfaithful?

Their OS has not been infused with God’s word enough to deter them. They know enough of the word to make a living but not enough to change their OS. They know enough to preach but that enough is not enough to turn their lives around.

Why do many minister’s children become children of Belial yet from their infancy they have been face to face with the Christian life, even miraculous life?

They were onlookers, spectators to the spectacle that was ministry and the God their parents served.

They are like those onlookers shouting the shrillest, yeeesss, but are unable or unwilling to commit to that tight rope walker’s wheelbarrow.

Yes, Jesus can do and does do. But I do not know enough about Him to commit my whole life to His transformation.

Ever wondered why the Levites were separated from regular occupations? What then were they commissioned to do?

The word, plain and simple.

They were the custodians of God’s word to Israel.

Why was Ezra called a scribe and not priest yet his family tree is plainly priestly?

The priesthood was a small part of the Levitical calling; the main one being the instruction of Israel on God’s word.

A scribe was a copyist of the scriptures. That is why we read this

For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. (Ezra 7:10)

That was the Levitical calling.

Why did Solomon fail where David succeeded?

The word

And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17: 19, 20)

His matchless wisdom was no match to the corruption prevalent in his success. And God knew that when He said this. Only a consistent intake of God’s word is able to help us defeat the onslaught of the forces of evil in the world.

His earlier devotion was again no match to the slithering and smothering allure of the world.

David could repent because he had hid God’s word in his heart (Psalm 119:11)

The word of God gave him balance in all his life, whether he was running from an enemy he respected highly or was sitting on the seat of ultimate power.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

Many people wonder why I am madly insistent on our need to spend the best of our times on the scriptures. Many wonder why all the fuss yet a verse a day for them does wonders. Many are puzzled when they find my messages always infused with the scriptures. Some are maddened by the fact that when we argue I insist on only the scriptures (all of it) is admissible in any argument we have.

It didn’t start here. It started long ago.

You see, I got saved as a child. I also had very many questions that those who led me to faith (EA Revival charismatics)were unable to answer, many times implying that my quests were the evidence of a lack of faith

But that did not reduce my inquisitiveness about my faith.

Incidentally, there were very few Bibles at that time and so it was not easy to even look for answers from the scriptures.

I became a rebel of sorts in my teenage, a combination of many other things.

Then, at eighteen I rededicated my life to Christ. I also had my own Bible.

That launched me into the greatest plunge in the Bible, reading the New Testament in a month. And I continued in that passion, to date. I do not know how many times I have read the Bible through because there are times I have read two and even three times through the Bible in a year.

At one time I thought to use reading plans but I found them inadequate for my daily scripture consumption.

What did that do to me? You may ask.

In a short while, I discovered that most of the questions I had been wrestling with since childhood were resolved. I did not even know when they were answered, only realising that they were no longer troubling my spirit.

That is why my greatest burden as a minister is to get God’s people to consistently read God’s word.

Another thing I realised as I continued to grow in the scriptures was that I started changing. Some grey areas became glaring black and white.

Even my character changed as people who have known me for a long time will tell you.

The word is transformational (John 17:17)

That is what the world needs to be able to believe in Christ.

Let us for a moment go back to our star performer, the tight rope walker.

I want us to apply a small twist on the tail (oops, tale)

As things stand, everybody in that congregation is convinced that the performer can easily carry someone on his wheelbarrow along that rope. They know that he will do so.

They can bet their life savings on the fact that he could carry someone ELSE along that rope.

Now suppose with me that in that great hush someone says that he was willing to be on that wheelbarrow?

The gapes in those aaahhs would have allowed someone to see through to their stomachs.

‘How many will pay me to be on that barrow?’, he would then ask

Everybody would of course be willing to stake everything they had to pay to see this spectacle of someone doing what they were all scared to risk.

Then he would organise for a finance team to collect all those offerings which would fill a few sacks.

They would then come back for more to of course encourage this foolish daredevil stake his life on a rope high above the ground.

Again, suppose with me that the performer was as shrewd as they come.

He had thus organised for this whole spectacle to fleece the spectators.

They guy thus goes up the building, apparently to ride on the barrow. But they have their own plan where they have made an image and dressed it like the person who had committed to ride that barrow.

He therefore places the image on the barrow and, due to the distance between the rope and the ground, nobody can see whether it was a person on the rope or not.

The crowd would therefore leave very pleased and the performer and his team very rich.

This of course takes us to miracles versus the word.

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. (Exodus 20:19)

Is this not similar with what I have just described?

What did Moses have that would shield him from the death that Israel would have experienced had God continued to speak to them?

He knew God and had heard from Him consistently.

Israel was scared of staking their lives on the power resident in God’s word that they threw Moses in that fray to die on their behalf if his faith would have been misplaced.

Only that it wasn’t.

Many people hate me for pouring scorn on their dads and mums of the faith, calling them plain conmen, whether they are aware of the fact or not.

They are like that team the performer raised to fleece the audience because none in the audience was willing to take the plunge.

And nowhere are people unwilling to take the plunge than in the things of God.

I fear God will order me to leave my job.

I am afraid that God will order me to break my relationship.

I am scared God will ask me to become a missionary to Gaza or Ukraine.

I am scared God will want me to hate music and dancing.

These are all reasons (I will not call them excuses) for refusing to get on that wheelbarrow called submitting to God’s will.

That is always because we do not know God enough to stake our lives on His orders. And miracles are not the route to know God.

Only God’s word has the capacity of giving us enough knowledge of God to be in a position to make an informed plunge into God’s will and orders.

This is because in my illustration, nobody in the audience could have finally been persuaded to be on that barrow even if ten people had ridden on it.

The only reason someone could have ridden that barrow was adequate information and experience with the performer.

I am sure you have watched acrobats doing those stunts that had you swallow your heart again and again. I know some of you have watched magicians performing those crazy acts.

However, apart from giving them your heart or money, I doubt anyone of you would be crazy enough to stake their life on the guillotine or having someone doing those crazy acts over your head.

Those volunteers are part of the acts.

I am sure that even if you have watched that act unlimited times it would be impossible to take that risk.

Yet if the performer took you into his secret, you will very gladly take the plunge as it would cease from being such.

That is what the Bible does to the believer. It allows us to know God enough to stake our all in Him.

People prefer the tithe doctrine which is plain OT because giving 100% to God is too huge a risk to take. What if God orders me to fast for the whole month? What if God does not supply adequately for my needs?

We want to be called believers but we do not want (we fear) to trust God completely with our everything.

Yet that is what the spiritual broker and conman prey on.

They will pretend to be Moses willing to get into that consuming fire for us in exchange of our feeding their every fancy. You see, everyone in that audience was ready to pay dearly to watch the risk taker on that barrow.

Nowhere is this more evident than the faith realm.