People often use the word “miracle” inappropriately. Sometimes people talk about “the miracle of birth”. While childbirth is an amazing and wonderful event, it is hardly miraculous. It is a perfectly natural event. I once heard someone say that every time we travel in a car and arrive safely at our destination it is a miracle. Not hardly!

Before we go any farther, let’s try to define the word. A miracle is an action that goes against the laws of nature and creates or enhances faith in God. Miracles are rare events that don’t happen every day. They cannot happen naturally. A miracle is when God intervenes during the course of human events and does something that is otherwise impossible. The intended result of a miracle is to either cause people to start believing in God, or to increase the faith that they already have.

Sometimes we must distinguish between a miracle and the daily providential care of God. For example, suppose that a bridge falls immediately after you cross it. Was that a miracle? No, bridges sometimes collapse because of the law of gravity. Now if a bridge that had collapsed reassembled itself right before you needed to cross it, that would be a miracle!

We see miracles in the Old Testament: The Red Sea parted, an axe head floated to the top of the water, a donkey talked, the dead were raised, and fire came down from heaven to burn up a water-soaked sacrifice.

More often we think about the miracles Jesus performed in the New Testament: Changing water to wine, walking on water, calming the storm, exorcisms, various healings, and raising the dead.

There are several purposes for the miracles of Jesus: To prove his identity, to demonstrate his mission to save, to draw a crowd, to show compassion, to reward faithfulness, to fulfill prophecy, and to display the glory of God.

Notice that Jesus enabled his disciples to perform miracles as they went out preaching the good news of the kingdom. This would ensure that their message would be heeded by those who were truly seeking God.

Notice also that the apostles performed miracles after the crucified and resurrected Jesus ascended into heaven. This was to convey the idea that the church would continue the ministry of Jesus here on earth.

The primary purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to demonstrate God’s salvation. Miracles give us a brief look at heaven, where there will be no more crying, suffering, death or pain. When Jesus performed a miracle, he brought a little bit of heaven to earth for a moment.

(For this article, I relied heavily on a lecture given by Mark Scott.)