MIRACLES OF THE LIVING GOD
List of contents:
I. Introduction
II. Categories of miracles:
A. Commanded events that violate the laws of nature
B. Commanded events utilizing the laws of nature
III. Essential characteristics of miracles
IV. Purpose of miracles:
A. Miracles validate divine revelations
B. Miracles are part of divine revelations
C. Miracles are God’s living interaction with humanity
V. Examples of miracles of the living God:
A. The Old Testament (the Torah, etc):
1. The divine call of Moses
2. The prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel:
The living God destroys a lifeless pagan god
3. Destruction of Sennacherib’s Assyrian army
4. Deliverance of three faithful Jewish men from the fiery furnace
B. The New Testament (Injil, etc):
1. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ
2. The many miracles of Jesus Christ
3. Miracles of the apostles of Christ
C. Miracles of the post-apostolic Christian era:
1. Moving Mount al-Muqattam
2. Apparitions of Virgin Mary, The Theotokos
3. The holy fire of Easter
VI. Conclusion
Inspirationals from the Holy Bible:
“God is wise in heart and mighty in strength” (Job 9: 4a);
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything
too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32: 27); “This man came to Jesus
by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher
come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God
is with him’” (John 3: 2); “Now God worked unusual
miracles by the hands of Paul” (Acts 19: 11); “And they
went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming
the word through the accompanying signs. Amen” (Mark 16: 20).
I. INTRODUCTION
The true living God is omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly free, perfectly
good, eternal by nature, and creator of all things: “The
heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork”
(Psalm 19: 1); “In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth” (Genesis 1: 1). All things depend on God. He depends
on nothing outside himself. He is necessarily the terminus and ultimate
principle of complete explanation of all phenomena. God’s existence
and power do not depend on the laws of the operation of the physical
world. God had designed, created and established the natural laws, and
keeps the behavior of the universe and everything therein conforming
to them.
The true almighty God is not a mere word in a book on a dusty shelf.
He is alive and all-powerful. He intervenes in the created natural order
with miracles from time to time for a variety of reasons. Genuine godly miracles
are the supernatural works of the true living almighty God. Those miracles
accompanied both the Jewish and Christian revelations, especially at
critical moments in their history. They continue to occur under certain
conditions in the history of the Christian Church. The following presentation
provides a panoramic view of the miracles of the living God since the
dawn of humankind’s history on Earth until this day.
II. CATEGORIES OF MIRACLES
Miracles are wonders performed by the divine power of the almighty
God for His glory, and for the benefit of man. Their effects are grasped
by the senses of sight, hearing, etc. God’s divine power in the
miracle acts either directly, or mediately through creatures or inanimate
things. God may act through creatures, such as angels (e.g. the deliverance
of the apostle Peter from prison in Acts 12: 3-10). God may also act
through men: Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7: 9-10, 14-21), the prophet Elijah
(1 Kings 17),the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 5), the Apostles (Acts 2:43),
St. Peter (Acts 9: 36-42), St. Paul (Acts 20: 7-12), the early Christians
(Galatians 3:5).
God may, also, channel His divine power through inanimate objects that
are related to Him in a special way:
1. Holy relics, e.g., the mantle of Elijah (2 Kings 2: 6-9, 14), the
body of Elisha (2 Kings 13: 20-21), the hem of Christ's garment (Matthew
9: 20-22), the handkerchiefs of St. Paul (Acts 19:12);
2. Holy images, e.g., the bronze serpent (Numbers 21: 5-9);
3. Holy things, e.g., the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred vessels of
the Temple (Daniel 5);
4. Holy places, e.g., the Temple of Jerusalem, the waters of the Jordan
(2 Kings 5), the Pool of Bethsaida (John 5: 1-16).
A. Commanded events that violate the Laws of Nature
God, who makes the natural laws operate, intervenes and transcends
them on occasion for a variety of reasons, without affecting their marvelous
stability and harmony. The miraculous events, which violate the laws
of nature, manifest the supernatural powers and glory of the almighty
living God as he intervenes directly in the natural order that he had
created. These miracles are scientifically inexplicable. Natural forces
alone could not produce them.
Miracles that violate the laws of nature abound in the Holy Bible.
It is edifying to cite a few examples herein. Isaac was born miraculously
after the Lord God had promised Abraham, his father, saying: “Sarah
your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac”
(Genesis 17: 19a; 21: 1-8). His mother Sarah was an old woman
of ninety years of age, well beyond the age of child bearing. And his
father Abraham was an old man of one hundred years of age: “Now
Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed
the age of childbearing” (Genesis 18: 11). God fed his
prophet Elijah, the widow who hosted him and her son for the years of
drought from a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar
(1 Kings 17: 12). Till the end of the drought, “The bin
of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according
to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:
16).
Christ performed miracles of creation—creating new substance.
He fed the hungry crowds by multiplying the few loaves of bread and
fishes to feed thousands of hungry people with plenty of left-over food
which they collected in baskets (Luke 9: 11-17; Matthew 15: 32-39).
He created two eyes for a man born blind (John 9). This man was born
without eyeballs. Jesus created in him a pair of new eyeballs from clay
with which he anointed the blind man’s eye sockets. This miracle
reminds us of God’s creation of Adam from clay (Genesis 2:7).
Christ raised Lazarus from the dead four days after his death after
his corpse had begun to decompose in his grave (John 11: 1-44).
Some of the diseases that Christ cured in His many healing miracles
are curable utilizing the medical knowledge of today, which was not
available in His day. However, the manner of His performing the healing
was miraculous, because it was instantaneous (e.g. the healing of the
leper, and the paralytic (Luke 5: 12-26), etc).
B. Commanded Events Utilizing the Laws of Nature
Sometimes God asks a prophet to command a certain event. God will then
do this event utilizing natural forces timed to precisely coincide with
the prophet’s command or prayer. For instance, God struck the
land of Egypt with ten plagues in order to get the Pharaoh of Egypt
to release the enslaved Israelites. In the eighth plague, God struck
the land of Egypt with locusts (Exodus 10: 3-20). When Moses stretched
out his staff as the Lord God had commanded him, “The
LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night.
When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts” (Exodus
10: 13b-14). God used natural forces to bring the locusts that
Moses asked for. He also used natural forces to remove the locusts from
the land of Egypt. When Moses prayed to the Lord to remove the locusts,
“The LORD turned a very strong west wind, which took the
locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one
locust in all the territory of Egypt” (Exodus 10: 19).
Similarly, the Lord God used natural forces upon the request of Moses
to cause the parting of the waters of the Red sea that the Israelites
might flee from the pursuing army of the Pharaoh: “Then
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea
to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into
dry land, and the waters were divided” (Exodus 14: 21).
III. ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MIRACLES
All miracles of our concern have important authenticating characteristics.
They occur at the command, or at the prayer, of the person to whom they
are attributed. That is, they are not random events of chance that may
occur by themselves. So, the miracles of Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha,
Christ, etc. occurred at their prayers, or at their command.
Miracles are God’s providence for man. Therefore, they are of
high moral character as pertains to their circumstances, and their purpose.
In general, faith is not required for performing miracles. For instance,
faith is absent as evidenced by the fear of the disciples at Christ
stilling the tempest (Mark 4:40), at Christ walking on the waters (Mark
6:51), at the large catch of fish (Luke 5:8-10), and in the miracles
of expelling demons. In some miracles, Christ requires faith, but faith
is not the cause of the miracle. It is only the condition and the environment
of His exercising His power and authority.
In His miracles, Christ does suddenly and locally what God has done,
or will do in the future universally in general. We cite a few examples
of these miracles herein.
Christ created new eyes from clay for a man born blind without eyeballs,
as God had created man from clay (John 9; Genesis 2: 7). Christ multiplied
little bread and fish to feed hungry thousands of people (Mathew 14:
15-21; 15: 32-39). Every year God multiplies little wheat sown in the
ground into much wheat at harvest. And every year, God multiplies the
fish in every river, lake and sea.
Christ raised Lazarus from the dead four days after his death after
his corpse had begun to decompose in his grave (John 11: 1-44). This
miracle anticipates and prefigures the general resurrection when Christ
will raise all the dead. Christ was transfigured on mount Tabor before
His disciples Peter, James and John. His face shown like the sun, and
his clothes became as white as the light (Mathew l7: 1-8). Christ walked
on the turbulent waters of the sea of Galilee (Mathew 14: 22-33). These
two miracles provide an anticipatory glimpse of the new human nature
of the faithful after resurrection.
It is important to distinguish between miracles of the almighty living
God and accomplishments of natural human talents. The achievements of
human talents and special abilities are not miracles. Some persons may
be gifted physically—they have strong large bodies. Others may
have strong photographic memories. Some are gifted in the area of languages.
They have the natural ability to learn many languages, including unwritten
dialects, quickly and retain them. Some are gifted in speech.
They talk very well and make captivating speeches. Others may be gifted
writers and poets. They author excellent prose and poetry. It is important
to stress the fact that language fluency, authoring and speech abilities
are human talents. They are not miracles of the living God.
Therefore, it is inappropriate to call any book a miracle because of
its eloquent language. Great works of gifted authors and poets could
not be called miracles. For instance, we cannot call the Eliad and the
Odyssey, the great works of the Greek poet Homer of the eighth century
B.C., miracles. Neither can we call the plays of William Shakespeare,
the great English writer of the sixteenth century A.D., miracles. By
the same token, we could not consider the Qur’an a miracle, even
if it were a great literary work, which it is not. The question
of why the Qur’an is not a miracle is analyzed in greater detail
in this page:
http://3lotus.com/en/Islam/Quran-Not-a-Miracle.htm
It is also important to distinguish between miracles, and cases of
neurological illness and demonic possession. If a person experiences
seizures and his mouth foams, he is either afflicted with epilepsy,
another neurological illness, or he is demon possessed. In fact, Jesus
exorcized demons that had tormented the possessed person in this very
same way: “Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out,
saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my
only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out;
it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from
him with great difficulty, bruising him. So I implored Your disciples
to cast it out, but they could not.” Then Jesus answered and said,
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with
you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” And as he was still
coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked
the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father”
(Luke 9: 38-42). There are striking similarities between the
symptoms that boy suffered from and what used to happen to Muhammad
when he claimed divine inspiration. Instead, was it a Satanic inspiration
all along?
Seizures leading to trances the way Muhammad experienced are not miracles
of the living God. God is all-holy, loving and faithful. Neither He
nor His angels betray, torment or do violence to His prophets that serve
Him. In fact, the Holy Bible teaches us that whenever the angel Gabriel
appeared to deliver a message to someone, he always gave that person
assurances of peace and safety: “But the angel said to
him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias… And the angel answered
and said to him: I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and
was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings” (Luke
1: 13a, 19); “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent
by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to
a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s
name was Mary. Then the angel said to her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for
you have found favor with God” (Luke 1: 26-27, 30).
IV. PURPOSE OF MIRACLES
The living God intervenes occasionally in the human sphere with miracles
for a number of very important reasons discussed herein. The primary
purpose and final cause of any godly miracle is two fold: the manifestation
of God’s glory, and the good of man. Hence, godly miracles do not produce
disorder or discord, nor do they have elements that are evil, useless,
or meaningless. That distinguishes them from mere wonders and tricks
performed by magicians and evil spirits, which lack the meaning and
purpose of the miraculous acts of God for men.
Godly miracles confirm and urge the acceptance of doctrines of faith,
attest the sanctity of God’s servants, confer benefits, and provide
divine justice. Godly miracles are the strongest and most certain evidences
of the authenticity and genuineness of divine revelation.
A. Miracles Validate Divine Revelations
There can be no genuine divine revelation without miracles. Miracles
prove and verify the divine origin of the revelation. Miracles are the
objective unquestionable hard evidence that guarantees, seals, validates,
and authenticates the subjective inspiration bestowed upon man’s
spirit.
God called Moses from the burning bush in mount Sinai in order to send
him to liberate the Israelites from the bondage of the Pharaoh of Egypt:
“Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that
you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt”
(Exodus 3: 10). Moses’ attention was attracted to God’s
call by the miracle he saw as “he looked, and behold,
the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed”
(Exodus 3: 2b). One of the most important questions Moses asked
was: “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to
my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you’”
(Exodus 4: 1). Moses was asking how he could prove to the Israelites
that God had indeed sent him. God responded positively to his legitimate
concern by empowering him to do miracles in order to prove the authenticity
of his revelation.
The Israelites confessed and worshipped the true living God in response
to the miracle that the prophet Elijah had done on mount Carmel (1 Kings
18: 20-40). The prophet Elisha healed Naaman, the commander of the Syrian
army, from his leprosy. As a result, Naaman believed in the true living
God (2 Kings 5: 1-15).
Miracles are not external to Christ. They are part of the very substance
of the Gospel of Christ. They are inseparable from His holy life and
supernatural teachings. He exercised Divine power in diverse ways at
every turn. He healed the sick; He expelled demons that tormented people;
He granted sight to the blind; He fed the hungry multitudes; He raised
the dead; He stilled the storm; He walked on the raging waters of the
sea; etc. In fact, Jesus Christ appealed often to His many powerful
miracles, some of which are unique in history, as the most decisive
proof of His divine Sonship to God the Father, and of the authenticity
of His divine mission: “If I do not do the works of My
Father (God the Father), do not believe Me; but if I do, though you
do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe
that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10: 37-38; 5: 36).
In addition, He condemned the obstinate Jews who did not believe in
Him after seeing His powerful miracles as having no excuse for their
disbelief (John 15: 22, 24). He gave His apostles, His disciples, and
the Church the power of working miracles in His name (Mathew 10: 8;
Luke 10: 9, 19; Mark 3: 15; 16: 17).
B. Miracles are Part of Divine Revelations
Miracles are not mere proofs of the authenticity of divine revelations,
but they themselves form part of the revelations. God manifests Himself
in a supernatural manner through miracles that reveal and teach different
aspects of His character and will, “Who made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, Who
executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The
LORD gives freedom to the prisoners. The LORD opens the eyes of the
blind; The LORD raises those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the
righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless
and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down” (Psalm
146: 6-9).
In the Old Testament (the Torah, etc), God revealed himself through
powers and miracles as the liberator of the enslaved Israelites from
the bondage of the Pharaoh of Egypt: “I am the LORD your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”
(Exodus 20: 2); “So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs
and wonders” (Deuteronomy 26: 8). Through powerful miracles,
God revealed that he judges the inequities of man in great events such
as the flood of Noah (Genesis 6: 5-8: 14), the destruction of the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19: 1-29), and the destruction of the
northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 17: 6-23) and the southern
kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25) because of their apostasies,
transgressions and inequities.
God has revealed and manifested his divine character fully as pertains
to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God,
through words, character and mighty miracles. God in Christ has manifested
His character of exceeding love, mercy and caring for humanity through
the miracles of healing the sick, feeding the hungry, raising the dead,
freeing the demon-possessed, and liberating those that follow him from
the bondage of sin and corruption. These miracles have showed His compassion
for sinful and suffering humanity. The many miracles of healing have
pointed to Christ’s spiritual work of healing the ills of the
human soul, and thereby, renewing it. The miracles of raising the dead
to life have emphasized that Christ came to give abundant life to humanity
and rescue it from the grip of spiritual death. In reply to the inquiry
of John the Baptist, “Jesus answered and said to them,
‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind
see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the
dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And
blessed is he who is not offended because of Me’” (Matthew
11: 4-6).
C. Miracles are God’s Living Interaction with Humanity
One of the main modes of God’s interaction with humanity is His
intervening in the natural order in response to the human situation.
He responds to man’s transgressions by warning, and chastening
followed by judgment. He responded to the inequities of the people at
the time of Noah by destroying them by a catastrophic flood while sparing
Noah and his family for a new beginning on the earth (Genesis 6: 5-8:
14). God responded to the moral decadence of the people of Sodom and
Gomorrah by destroying them with fire (Genesis 19: 1-29). God responded
to the arrogance of the Pharaoh of Egypt by striking him ten times (Exodus
7: 10-12: 36), and finally by destroying his army in the waters of the
Red sea (Exodus 14). God responded to the faithlessness of the Israelites
by condemning the generation that complained against Him to death in
the wilderness of Sinai and by preventing it from entering the Promised
Land (Numbers 14). God responded to the apostasies and immoralities
of the biblical cities of the land of Canaan by destroying them by the
army of Joshua whom he supported by powers and miracles in his military
campaigns (Joshua 6-12). God responded to the apostasies and transgressions
of the northern kingdom of Israel by destroying it by the Assyrian army
in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 17: 6-23), and the southern kingdom of Judah by
the Babylonian army in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25). God responded to the true
repentance of the people of the city of Nineveh as a result of the warning
of the prophet Jonah by forgiving their transgressions and saving the
city from destruction in judgment (Jonah 3).
God also responds positively to the prayers and acts of worship of
the faithful who live in fellowship with Christ. He is a personal God.
It is God’s pleasure in Christ to have a personal relationship
and communion with the human person whom He has made as a conscious
free being like Himself: “My delight was with the sons
of men” (Proverbs 8: 31b); “Then God said, ‘Let Us
make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth’” (Genesis 1: 26). In response to Moses intercession,
God provided manna and quails to feed the Israelites for forty years
in the wilderness of Sinai (Exodus 16: 3-36; Numbers 11: 6-9, 31-35;
Deuteronomy 8: 3, 16). God also provided them with water to drink in
the desert (Exodus 15: 23-25; 17: 1-7; Numbers 20: 7-13). In response
to the request of Joshua, God prolonged the day of the decisive battle
for the land of Canaan that he might be victorious (Joshua 10: 12-14).
God fed his prophet Elijah and the widow that hosted him in her house
and her son during the years of drought and famine (1 Kings 17: 8-16)
in the reign of king Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel (874-853
B.C.). God subsequently ended the drought based on Elijah request (1
Kings 18: 41-45). The Lord God struck the army of Sennacherib, king
of the Assyrian empire, in 701 B.C. in response to the prayer of Hezekiah,
king of the southern kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 19: 14-37); “And
it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out,
and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five
thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the
corpses--all dead” (2 Kings 19: 35). Subsequently, Hezekiah
was healed after he had cried out to the Lord God for healing (2 Kings
20: 1-11).
Christ healed the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead, exorcised
demons, and calmed the forces of nature in response to the human situation.
The interaction of the Lord God with the human situation through miracles
of healing, exorcism and other types of miracles has continued throughout
the Church age till this day, and will continue to the end of the age,
as God does not change.
V. EXAMPLES OF MIRACLES OF THE LIVING GOD
We briefly present herein a few miracles from different periods of
history.
A. The Old Testament (the Torah, etc)
1. The divine call of Moses
The Lord God called Moses to prophecy in the 15th century B.C. by the
miracle of the burning bush. The bush was aflame. But the fire did not
consume it.
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law,
the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert,
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the LORD appeared
to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and
behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight,
why the bush does not burn.” So when the LORD saw that he turned
aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said,
“Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then
He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your
feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover
He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face,
for he was afraid to look upon God. And the LORD said: “I have
surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard
their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So
I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and
to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land
flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the
Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the
Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel
has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians
oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that
you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh,
and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a
sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out
of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain”” (Exodus
3: 1-12).
The burning bush symbolized Virgin Mary when she was pregnant with
Jesus. The fire symbolized the divine power and glory of Jesus Christ
who indwelt her womb for nine months. As the divine fire had not consumed
the flaming bush, the divine power of Jesus Christ did not harm his
mother Virgin Mary.
Moses did not fear for his life in this encounter. It was not a scary
painful experience inciting terror in Moses’ heart. The true living
God is all-holy, loving and faithful. Neither He nor His holy angels
harm or torment His true prophets and apostles that serve Him. In fact,
the Holy Bible teaches us that whenever the angel Gabriel appeared to
deliver a message to someone, he always gave that person assurances
of peace and safety: “But the angel said to him, “Do
not be afraid, Zacharias… And the angel answered and said to him:
I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak
to you and bring you these glad tidings” (Luke 1: 13a, 19); “Now
in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee
named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. Then the angel
said to her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God”
(Luke 1: 26-27, 30).
2. The prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel:
The living God destroys a lifeless pagan god
In the reign of king Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel (874-853
B.C.), the Israelites apostatized after pagan gods called the Baal and
Asherah (Baal’s consort), and left the living God of their ancestors.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the
one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise
the other” (Matthew 6: 24a). The Lord God worked out a
great miracle through his prophet Elijah to restore the Israelites back
to him.
“Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said
to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’ And he answered,
‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have,
in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed
the Baals. Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount
Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred
prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.’ So Ahab sent
for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on
Mount Carmel. And Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How
long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow
Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not
a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet
of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore
let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves,
cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it;
and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no
fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call
on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’
So all the people answered and said, ‘It is well spoken.’
Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, ‘Choose one
bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call
on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.’ So they took
the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the
name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, ‘O Baal, hear
us!’ But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped
about the altar which they had made. And so it was, at noon, that Elijah
mocked them and said, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is
meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping
and must be awakened.’ So they cried aloud, and cut themselves,
as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed
out on them. And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no
one answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come near to me.’
So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the
LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according
to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of
the LORD had come, saying, ‘Israel shall be your name.’
Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and
he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of
seed. And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid
it on the wood, and said, ‘Fill four water pots with water, and
pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.’ Then he said,
‘Do it a second time,’ and they did it a second time; and
he said, ‘Do it a third time,’ and they did it a third time.
So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench
with water. And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the
evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘LORD
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You
are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these
things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may
know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts
back to You again.’ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed
the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it
licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD, He
is God! The LORD, He is God!’ And Elijah said to them, ‘Seize
the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!’ So they
seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed
them there.” (1 Kings 18: 17-40).
Mount Carmel is an 1,800 feet high mountain ridge jutting into the
Mediterranean Sea below the bay of Haifa. Places of worship to Baal
were located on Mount Carmel. The prophet Elijah defeated the Baal in
its own territory. Baal was the principal god of the Canaanite pagan
religion, which used ritual prostitution in its cultic worship practices
believing that it may achieve the fertility of the land. The Baal both
owned and fertilized the land. The Israelites committed the sin of trying
to combine the worship of their true living God with that of the Baal,
the Canaanite false god. Consequently, the Lord God withheld both dew
and rain from the Land three years and six months (1 Kings 17: 1; 18:
18; Luke 4: 25; James 5: 17).
Elijah ordered 12 jars of water be poured out to soak the wood of the
stone altar that he built, wet the ground around it, and fill the trench
around it in order to leave no doubt about the truth and power of the
miracle about to happen. The 450 prophets of the Baal had kept up their
rituals for the good part of the day, and ended up with dead silence
from the false god who could not answer. Elijah’s prayer lasted
only less than a minute, but produced a powerful visible response from
the true and only living God. This convinced the Israelites of the one
true God. After their repentance and return to the Lord God, He sent
lots of rain on their thirsty drought stricken land (1 Kings 18: 41-46).
At the end, Elijah commanded that the prophets of the Baal be seized
and executed for their wicked crimes against man and God.
3. Destruction of Sennacherib’s Assyrian army
Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.), king of the mighty Assyrian empire, invaded
with a huge army the southern kingdom of Judah in the reign of king
Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.). The Assyrian army laid siege to the capital
city of Jerusalem. Hezekiah did not have sufficient troops to defend
his capital. Sennacherib blasphemed the living God and sent messengers
to Hezekiah saying: “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah
king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust
deceive you, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand
of the king of Assyria. Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be
delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers
have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who
were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and
the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’” (2
Kings 19: 10-13). Hezekiah pleaded with the Lord in a fervent
prayer. The Lord God interceded and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops in
one night in 701 B.C.
“And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the
messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD,
and spread it before the LORD. Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD,
and said: ‘O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the
cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear;
open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib,
which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings
of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast
their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's
hands--wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore,
O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms
of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.’ Then
Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, ‘Thus says the
LORD God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib
king of Assyria, I have heard.’ Therefore thus says the LORD concerning
the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot
an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound
against it. By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And
he shall not come into this city,’ Says the LORD. ‘For I
will defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant
David's sake.’’
And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the
LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred
and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning,
there were the corpses--all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed
and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. Now it came
to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that
his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword;
and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son
reigned in his place” (2 Kings 19: 14-20, 32-37).
Despite the fact that the Assyrians worshipped false gods made of
stone, God used the Assyrian empire in judgment on the nations of
the Fertile Crescent for their transgressions and excesses. Sennacherib,
one of its great kings, was but God’s instrument of correction
for neighboring nations. God preordained the conquests of the Assyrian
armies as He tells us by His prophet Isaiah: “Did you
not hear long ago how I made it, from ancient times that I formed
it? Now I have brought it to pass, that you (Sennacherib) should be
for crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins” (Isaiah 37:
26-29).
Although Hezekiah did not know how God would accomplish His promises,
he fully trusted in God and in His word delivered by His prophet Isaiah.
That helped strengthen Hezekiah’s faith as he continued to pray
and wait for God to accomplish His plan.
The prophecy of the Assyrian army’s withdrawal from the vicinity
of Jerusalem was fulfilled shortly thereafter. However, the prophecy
of Sennacherib’s demise (Isaiah 37: 7) was fulfilled some twenty
years later in 681 B.C. when two of Sennacherib’s sons assassinated
him in the temple of his pagan god. This completed the fulfillment
of the divine prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Assyrian empire. The
will of God is always fulfilled in His appointed time (2 Peter 3:
4-9).
Subsequently, God judged the Assyrian empire for its ruthlessness,
cruelty and apostasies. It fell in 612 B.C. when its capital city,
Nineveh, was destroyed as prophesied by the prophet Nahum.
4. Deliverance of three faithful Jewish men from the
fiery furnace
Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.), the greatest king of the Babylonian
empire, set up a golden image and commanded that all peoples in the
empire worship it: “At the time you hear the sound of
the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds
of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar
has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast
immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace” (Daniel
3: 5-6). Three Hebrew men, who were captive in Babylon, refused
to do that. As a result, he ordered them thrown in the fiery furnace.
The living Lord God whom they worshiped rescued them from the fire unharmed.
“Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command
to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men
before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, ‘Is it
true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods
or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now if you are ready
at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery,
in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the
image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall
be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who
is the god who will deliver you from my hands?’ Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,
and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be
known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship
the gold image which you have set up.’
Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression
on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke
and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it
was usually heated. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who
were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast
them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in
their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments,
and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore,
because the king's command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly
hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and
spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men
bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to
the king, ‘True, O king.’ ‘Look!’ he answered,
‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and
they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’
Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace
and spoke, saying, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants
of the Most High God, come out, and come here.’ Then Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps,
administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together,
and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the
hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected,
and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying,
‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who
sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and
they have frustrated the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that
they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore
I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks
anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego
shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap;
because there is no other God who can deliver like this.’ Then
the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province
of Babylon” (Daniel 3: 13-30).
These three men loved the Lord more than life itself in accordance
with the divine commandment: “You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
strength” (Deuteronomy 6: 5). The Lord was the center
of their lives. He was more important to them than fame, position,
or security. They were ready to lay down their lives for Him, and
to be burned alive in the fiery furnace rather than betray Him (Acts
20: 24).
They acknowledged Nebuchadnezzar as king and obeyed him in civil
matters: “Let every soul be subject to the governing
authority,” “Render therefore to all their due: taxes
to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear,
honor to whom honor” (Romans 13: 1a, 7). However, their
ultimate allegiance was to the King of kings and the Lord of lords—the
true living God, the almighty. If a conflict arises between the commandments
of God and the decrees and regulations of civil authorities, “We
ought to obey God rather than men;” “Render therefore
to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things
that are God’s” (Acts 5: 29b; Matthew 22: 21b).
The three men got out of the furnace when the king asked to. They
were and unharmed. The fire had no effect on their bodies and clothes.
Only their bonds were gone. The almighty living God they loved and
served was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace.
Before that awesome display of the power of the almighty living
God, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged and praised Him. He then decreed
death and destruction for any one who blasphemed the true living
God of the Israelites. This mighty miracle shows us the sovereignty
of the true living God over the powerful kingdom of Babylon, which
had taken the Israelites captive.
B. The New Testament (Injil, etc)
1. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ
The birth of Jesus Christ was miraculous. He was born from a virgin,
who never had contact with any man. He had no natural human father.
This is a unique miracle in the history of humankind. The angel of the
living God announced his miraculous conception to his virgin mother
Mary:
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by
God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to
a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name
was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice,
highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’
But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered
what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do
not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold,
you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call
His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the
Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom
there will be no end.’ Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How
can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered
and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy
One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth
your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is
now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing
will be impossible.’ Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant
of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the
angel departed from her” (Luke 1: 26-38).
The birth of Jesus and His infancy fulfilled Old Testament (the Torah,
etc) prophecies provided centuries before Christ (Isaiah 7: 14; 9: 6-7;
Micah 5: 2; Hosea 11: 1b; Jeremiah 31: 15). God initiated the whole
process of the birth of Jesus. The power of the almighty living God
Himself, manifest in His Holy Spirit, miraculously brought about the
virginal conception which was the direct action of the Holy Spirit.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His
mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1: 18, 20-21;
Luke 1: 35).
The spiritual divine sonship of Jesus Christ to God the Father is real
and unique. He is Emmanuel—“… God with us”
(Matthew 1: 23). The incarnation of the eternal Son of God
was a divine act of self-limitation in the human form (Philippians 2:
5-8). The name of “Jesus” (Hebrew: Joshua) means in Hebrew
“God is salvation:” “you shall call His name
Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:
21b; Luke 1: 31). The name of “Christ” means “the
Anointed” (by the Holy Spirit of God the Father).
The virgin birth of Christ established two facts with equal effectiveness.
On the one hand, it asserted a real human nature in Christ taken from
His mother, the Virgin Mary, who gave Him His human birth. On the other
hand, it asserted a real divine nature because of His exceptional birth
which was unique in the history of humankind, setting Jesus apart as
one whose entrance into the world was due to a new mode of contact of
God with the human race: “Great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3: 16a).
The two natures are united without confusion or alteration to either
nature in the person of Christ.
St. Mary freely and fully submitted to the will of God (Luke 1: 38)
disregarding any shame a premarital pregnancy could bring her, as she
was engaged, but not married, to Joseph. She was the home of the fetus
of Jesus for nine months. Likewise, Christ is the present and eternal
home for all who believe in Him and live in fellowship with Him. Jesus
is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”
(John 1: 29b). Jesus, the lamb of God, was born in a cave used
as a barn for animals (Luke 2: 7). Angels announced His birth first
to shepherds keeping watch over their flock at night (Luke 2: 8). All
that points to Jesus offering of himself on the cross to atone for the
sins of those who believe in Him.
The angels of the living God protected Jesus in His conception and
in his infancy from Joseph (Matthew 1: 19-21), from king Herod who wanted
to kill Him (Matthew 2: 12-13), and from king Archelaus (Matthew 2:
22).
2. The many miracles of Jesus Christ
Throughout his brief three-year ministry on earth, Christ performed
countless miracles, some of which were unique in humankind’s history—miracles
that no one had done any thing like before. Christ did a lot
more miracles than any prophet in human history. The most powerful
miracle he did was raising a man called Lazarus from the dead after
four days in the grave where his corpse had begun to decompose (John
11: 1-44). Other powerful miracles are miracles of creation of new substance.
Jesus fed thousands of hungry people with plenty of left-over food by
multiplying a few loaves of bread and fishes (Luke 9: 11-17; Matthew
15: 32-39). Jesus created two new eyeballs for a man born blind without
eyeballs (John 9). In addition, Christ performed countless miracles
of healing all kinds of illnesses, and exorcisms of demons tormenting
people, thereby liberating those people from the control of the demonic
powers of darkness.
Christ performed his miracles publicly so that people might see them
and believe. Based on the Gospel (Injil) information, Christ did at
least 900-1000 miracles. About 15,000 people saw those miracles. In
addition, approximately another 86,000 friends and family members knew
the sick people before and after their healing, and could confirm that
they were sick and were subsequently healed. This means that approximately
one out of every twenty persons living in Palestine at that time either
had seen a miracle, or knew someone who had been healed. Only a small
representative proportion of the miracles of Christ is described in
the Gospels. “And truly Jesus did many other signs in
the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but
these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name”
(John 20: 30, 31; 21: 25).
3. Miracles of the apostles of Christ
The apostles of Christ worked many miracles in His name in the first
century A.D. that people might believe the gospel of Christ (Acts 2:
43; 8: 7). Christ gave them the power to work miracles (Mark 3: 15;
16: 17). The apostle Peter healed the sick (Acts 5: 15), and raised
a faithful woman called Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9: 36-43). The apostles
Peter and John healed a lame man (Acts 3: 2-11). Peter and other apostles
were miraculously released from prison (Acts 5: 19-23; 12: 6-11; 16:
25-30). The apostle Paul struck Elymas the sorcerer with blindness (Acts
13: 6-12); healed the cripple (Acts 14: 8-10); cast out evil spirits
and cured the sick (Acts 16: 18; 19: 11-12; 28: 8-9); and raised the
dead man Eutychus to life (Acts 20: 9-12). The apostle Paul reminded
the believers of his miracles in some of his epistles (Romans 15: 18-19;
2 Corinthians 12: 12).
C. Miracles of the post-apostolic Christian era
Throughout the course of Church history well-authenticated miracles
have continued to take place in the Church. Many miracles of healing,
exorcism, speaking in tongues and prophecy continue to occur till this
day in the name of Christ. In addition, other types of miracles take
place in response to the human situation. We cite three major miracles
herein—two of them occurred in Egypt and one in Jerusalem.
1. Moving Mount al-Muqattam.1
The purpose of God in his plan of salvation is not to leave himself
without a witness in the Middle East. His sovereign choice is that his
witness be located in Egypt where the largest surviving, and therefore
the most important, Dhimmi Christian community in the Middle East lives
on: "In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in
the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border”
(Isaiah 19: 19); "The Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, blessed
is Egypt My people" (Isaiah 19: 25a). Every one thousand
years, Christ makes his powerful statement in Egypt corroborating this
prophecy. He seems to declare out loud that his witness in Egypt shall
remain for the following one thousand years, or till his second coming
in glory, whichever occurs first.
The first millennium was characterized by a series of persecutions
of the Coptic Church of Egypt by the Romans, the Chalcedonian Byzantines
and the Muslims. This miracle occurred at the end of the first millennium
in the tenth century in the reigns of the Fatimid Muslim caliph al-Muizz
(952-975) and the Coptic Patriarch Ephraem the Syrian (the 62nd Patriarch
-- 975-978). The Muslim caliph had a finance minister called Jacob-ibn-Killis,
who had changed his religion from Judaism to Islam in order to get a
high position in the government. Jacob hated Christians and Christianity.
He strove to prove that Christianity is a false religion. He requested
that a debate be arranged with Coptic representatives in the court of
the caliph. The Caliph granted him the debate. He failed the debate,
and the top Coptic theologian, Bishop Sawires Ibn el-Muqaffa’,
prevailed. This infuriated him greatly, and he walked out of the debate
determined to do whatever he could to obliterate Christianity from Egypt.
In order to accomplish that, he spoke to the Muslim caliph about Jesus’
teaching to his disciples in Matthew 17: 20: “For assuredly
I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this
mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and
nothing will be impossible for you.” He advised the caliph
to have the Christians of Egypt prove the truthfulness of their religion
by moving a huge mountain called al-Muqattam at the outskirts of the
city of Cairo. The caliph summoned the Coptic Patriarch Ephraem and
gave him three choices: either to move the mountain; or all the Copts
of Egypt convert to Islam; or all the Copts be dispossessed and exiled.
Upon his request, the Patriarch was granted three days in order to prepare
for what was to be done. The Patriarch then ordered the Christians of
Egypt to fast every day to sunset, and to continually offer prayers
that the Lord may protect his Church from final annihilation. The Church
kept vigil and prayer for three days and three nights. In the morning
of the third day, the Patriarch was totally exhausted. He dosed off
briefly in the ancient church of St. Mary, known as the hanging church,
where he was maintaining vigil (this church still stands till this day
in Old Cairo). He saw a vision of St. Mary, the Theotokos. She gave
him detailed directions to find a man on whose hands the Lord would
move the mountain. He followed her directions and found that man who
was a poor tanner called Simeon clothed in filthy rags. Simeon was one-eyed.
He plucked out his other eye when a woman tried to seduce him, as he
understood Jesus’ teaching of Matthew 5: 29 literally. He used
to carry water jugs to provide water to the elderly, the handicapped,
and the destitute—the brothers of the Lord (Matthew 25: 35,40).
Simeon informed the Patriarch of what was to be done.
The Patriarch informed the caliph that the Lord would move the mountain.
The caliph took all the prominent men of his court and his private guards
and went to the vicinity of the mountain. The Patriarch took Simeon
the tanner in his filthy rags, his bishops and a large congregation
of the Copts and went to the foot of the mountain. After celebrating
the divine liturgy, he and all the people bowed down crying out to the
Lord and saying "Lord have mercy." At that moment, the earth
shook, and a loud noise was heard as the rocks at the base of the huge
mountain began to fracture. As the Patriarch and the congregation raised
their heads up, the mountain was lifted up to the sky, as if by invisible
hands, till the sun shone through underneath it. As they bowed down
glorifying the might of the Lord, the mountain came down. They did that
three times, and the Mountain rose and descended three times following
their movement. This frightened the caliph, his court, and his troops.
He ran to the Patriarch trembling with fear and begged him to stop,
as he now knew for certain that Christ was true. As a result of this
miracle, Christianity was spared in Egypt, and the conditions of the
Copts were greatly improved during the reign of that caliph. New churches
were built and ruined churches were repaired. Al-Muizz favored the Copts
so much that he ordered the tearing down of a mosque that was built
facing the church of Anba Shinuda in Old Cairo. Despite Muslim denials,
there is a strong historical circumstantial evidence that al-Muizz converted
to Christianity, was baptized, abdicated the throne to his son, al-Aziz,
and spent the latter part of his life in a desert monastery.2
In fact, his son, al-Aziz married a Melkite Christian woman, favored
the Copts in high administrative positions, permitted the building of
new churches and restoration of old ones, and lifted the heavy tax burden
off the Copts.
2. Apparitions of Virgin Mary, The Theotokos.3
One thousand years later, at the end of the second millennium, Christ
made His second public statement in Egypt without delay.
Apparitions of Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, began to occur on April
2, 1968 inside and atop the domes of her church in al-Zaitun, a suburb
of the city of Cairo. These apparitions continued to occur intermittently
for over a year during the reign of the saintly Patriarch Cyril VI,
the one hundred and sixteenth Patriarch of the Coptic Church. In some
nights, her appearances lasted several hours continuously before thousands
of people. Some of her appearances were accompanied by the appearance
of luminous heavenly beings resembling doves flying above her luminous
figure. And sometimes, lights flooded the central dome of the church,
and luminous clouds hovered above the domes of the church.
People took photographic pictures of her. It is
estimated that over a million people from all walks of life, including:
Copts, Muslims, European and American tourists, the president of Egypt
Nasser, his wife and daughters saw her. Many healing miracles occurred
to sick people in the crowd signifying exceeding grace. These public
apparitions are unprecedented in history. Never before has Virgin Mary
appeared publicly to so many people for such a relatively long period
of time. Once again, Christianity was spared in Egypt. Christ has issued
his timely statement loud and clear that his witness in Egypt shall
remain another millennium, or till his second advent in glory, whichever
occurs first.
For more information on this miracle, including photographic pictures,
please visit this website:
http://www.zeitun-eg.org/zeitoun1.htm
3. The holy fire of Easter
Quite often, light and fire are associated with God’s activity
and with manifestation of the presence of His glory. The Lord called
Moses form the burning bush that was not consumed by fire (Exodus 3:
2-4). When the lord descended on Mount Sinai to give the law to Moses,
“Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the
Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of
a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly” (Exodus 19:
18); “The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming
fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel”
(Exodus 24: 17); “Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount
Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand
when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the
skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all
the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone,
and they were afraid to come near him” (Exodus 34: 29-30).
The Lord led the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai in pillars of
cloud and fire: “And the Lord went before them by day
in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light, so as to go by day and night” (Exodus 13:
21). At the dedication of Solomon’s temple, the Lord
manifested the presence of His glory by a bright cloud that filled the
temple (1 Kings 8: 10-11; Ezekiel 10: 4). The prophet Elijah offered
to the Lord an animal sacrifice (a bull) on Mount Carmel in order to
convince the Israelites that the Lord is the true God, not the pagan
gods they had apostatized after, “Then the fire of the
LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones
and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench”
(1 Kings 18: 38). When Jesus was transfigured before some of
His disciples on Mount Tabor, “the appearance of His face
was altered, and His robe became white and glistening” (Luke 9:
29). When the women went to the tomb of Jesus after His resurrection,
they saw “two men (angels) in shining garments” (Luke 24:
4).
In the early afternoon of the Orthodox Holy Saturday (Easter Saturday),
that precedes the Orthodox Easter Sunday, a delegation from the local
non-Christian authorities (used to be Muslims, now Israelis) enter the
tomb of Christ in the small chapel located inside the church of the
Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher), and check it out in order to ascertain
that it does not contain any hidden source of fire whatsoever. They
then seal its door with wax. This is reminiscent of what the Roman authorities
had done after Christ’s burial. It sealed His tomb and posted
Roman guards at it “lest His disciples come by night and
steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the
dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first”
(Matthew 27: 64b). Then all the sources of light are extinguished
in the church. After circling the chapel that contains the tomb of Christ
three times in the wake of a large procession, the Orthodox Patriarch
of Jerusalem enters the tomb with two unlit candles. He kneels in front
of the stone where Christ was laid after His death on the cross. He
prays fervently for a few minutes. Then the holy light springs out of
the stone. The celestial holy light appears as a blue indefinable light
that may take many hues and colors. At the first moments of its appearance,
it does not burn. It lights the Patriarch candles. The light then is
passed on to the candles of the waiting faithful from the Patriarch
candles. In addition, the holy light lights unlit closed oil lamps hanging
in different places in the chapels and church beyond the reach of the
faithful pilgrims. It also lights the candles of some pious pilgrims.
It may move around the chapels and church. A person who receives the
light directly on his candle as it bursts spontaneously into flames,
leaves Jerusalem changed.
The miracle of the holy fire has taken place regularly in the same
manner and in the same place every year without failing for over sixteen
centuries since the forth century AD. This regularity of the miracle
demonstrates Christ’s faithfulness towards us. He provides the
holy flame annually despite our human frailties and failures.
The Paschal holy fire continues to shine on Orthodox Easter Saturday
till this day announcing the most powerful miracle in human history,
the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead
on the third day triumphing over death, not only His death but also
the death of all who are in communion with Him. It makes His resurrection
very real and close to us. The Paschal fire is a gift of Christ’s
love unique to the Orthodox Church. The Paschal candle represents Christ’s
person, and its flame symbolizes his resurrection as the light of the
world: “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I
am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but have the light of life’” (John 8: 12). The
passing of the light to the faithful congregation symbolizes Christ
giving his life to his faithful believers.
During the reign of the Coptic Patriarch Peter al-Gawly (1810-1852),
some opportunistic people claimed before Ibrahim Pasha, the son of the
Muslim Turkish ruler Muhammad Ali Pasha, that Christians fabricated
the Paschal fire, and that it was not true. Ibrahim Pasha called Patriarch
Peter and asked him to prove to him the veracity of the Paschal fire.
The Patriarch traveled to Jerusalem. Both the Coptic Patriarch of Egypt
and the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem prayed in the tomb of Christ
at the church of the Holy Sepulcher on the Orthodox Easter Saturday.
The bright holy fire burst from the empty tomb of Christ, moved about
the church, and split a massive concrete column at the left of the church
entrance on his way out to meet the faithful that were congregating
and waiting outside the church. This column still stands till this day
testifying to, and declaring, the truthfulness and the power of the
life giving resurrection of Christ the Lord. After seeing this miracle,
Ibrahim Pasha became hysterical and trembled with fear. He ran to the
Coptic Patriarch asking for peace.
The following webpage provides additional information on the subject
matter:
http://www.holyfire.org/eng/doc_MiracleEncounters.htm
VI. CONCLUSION
Throughout the history of humankind and until this day, the true living
almighty God of the universe declares himself to humanity, his intelligent
creation, through miracles and mighty powers in order to confirm the
truthfulness and genuineness of his revelations to humankind, in order
to reveal his divine character, and in order to respond to the actions
of people and prayers of the faithful.
God authenticated the call of the prophet Moses with powerful miracles.
Jesus Christ radiated the immediacy of God’s presence by his words
and actions which included many powerful miracles bearing witness to
his divine authority and his saving power. By contrast, Muhammad
was unable to perform any miracle? Muhammad’s claims to prophecy
were never authenticated by miracles. In fact, he declared
in the Qur’an that he could not do any miracles: “For they
say: ‘How is it no signs were sent down to him from his Lord?’
Say: ‘The signs are with God. I am only a warner, plain and simple’”
(al-‘Ankabut 29: 50); “’And we shall not believe in
your having ascended till you bring down a book for us which we could
read.’ Say: ‘Glory to my Lord. I am only man and a messenger’”
(al-Isra’ 17: 93b).
Miracles of the Lord God are indispensable to our apprehension
of a real living God, to our belief in him, and to our trust in his
saving work in our own souls and lives. A god who does not manifest
himself in powers and miracles is an abstract idea that lives only in
the mind of the person who believes in it. It is a powerless god. It
is a god that does not exist in reality.