Why Miracles Still Happen Today

Somewhere deep inside all of us, we know that God is real. But finding evidence of God's existence can seem difficult. There is no reason God shouldn't interact with us, so where are the miraculous acts of God? Are miracles real? Did the miracles in the Bible really happen? Do miracles still happen today? Or maybe miracles still happening today and we just don't know how to find them. We're going to explore from a biblical point of view why miracles still happen today.

Jesus Wants Miracles Today

Jesus became famous for the miracles he did. Not even the powerful works of Moses and Elijah could could compare. Jesus spent three years training his disciples to do miracles as well: “He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.”

Jesus told his disciples to “make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” So Jesus' command to do miracles applies not just to the disciples that were with him, but to all the disciples after them as well. That includes us today! Jesus even said, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Cessationism

Christians have developed a theology called cessationism to reconcile Jesus' commands with the lack of miracles they see in their lives today. The biblical justification of this theory is based on just a single passage taken out of context:

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:8-13

It’s commonly believed that “the perfect” Paul referred to is the Bible. Cessationists reason that since we have the complete Bible, spiritual gifts are no longer necessary. Therefore they don't believe miracles still happen today. But this notion is preposterous -- I offer a number of reasons why.

Why Cessationism is Wrong

1. Paul wouldn’t contradict Jesus’ command to do miracles. Paul wrote a follow up letter to the Corinthians in which he said: “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”


2. Paul only mentions tongues, knowledge, and prophecy here. Presumably, other miraculous gifts like healing and casting out demons sill continue today. 


3. If we somehow assume all spiritual gifts ceased today, we'd have to give up gifts like pastors, administrators, knowledge, evangelism, and discernment. This doesn't seem wise, does it?


4. The cessation of spiritual gifts doesn’t necessarily mean the end of miracles because they’re two different things. When the disciples fed the 5,000 and 4,000, cast out demons, healed the sick, and walked on water with Jesus, did they do it with spiritual gifts? Nope! The disciples didn’t receive the Spirit until the day of Pentecost after Jesus left. 


5. Would the completion of the Bible cause demons to give up their attacks? If anything, they would be compelled to attack even harder. Why would we let demons run rampant and ignore Jesus’ command to cast them out just because we now have the Bible?


6. The Bible is essentially a how-to book on miracles. From creation on the first page to the promise of eternal life with Jesus on the last, the Bible tells of God’s miraculous interaction with humanity over and over again. To say that God no longer interacts with humans because the Bible is complete overlooks the whole purpose of the Bible.


7. There are plenty of perfect things other than the Bible that Paul could be talking about. There is no more evidence that the perfect is the Bible than In-N-Out Burger (a perfect double-meat animal style and fries well... mmmmm)! But I don’t think Paul's referring to a burger joint, so let’s throw out the Bible theory too and find some more clues.

When Miracles Will End

To understand when miracles like tongues, knowledge, and prophecy will cease, we must know what “the perfect” is that Paul was writing about. Fortunately for us, Paul wrote a very similar passage to the Ephesian church which gives us great insights:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16

Paul speaks of the same themes in both passages: spiritual gifts, when they will end, edification of the church, growing from childhood to maturity, knowledge, and the importance of love. When we compare, we can see clearly that spiritual gifts are for building up of the church through knowledge of Christ. Gifts will remain until we until we become mature and perfect like Christ. Here’s the kicker -- the word “perfect” in Corinthians is translated from the Greek word teleios, which is the very same word translated “mature” in Ephesians. Teleios means full-grown and complete. “The perfect” does not refer to the Bible, Heaven, the destruction of the temple, nor the resurrection. It refers to the completion, fullness, and maturity of ourselves becoming like Christ.

Becoming like Christ is not an event, but a process that we are in today. This is why Paul compared it to growing up and running a race. Now, let me ask, as “the perfect” manifests in us and we become more like Christ, will miracles happen more or less? If we are like Christ, we will walk in the same miraculous power he did. Jesus even said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.” Paul isn’t saying that miracles will cease. Quite the opposite -- Paul is encouraging us to continuously seek still greater miracles. Paul says that when we become fully like Christ, we will live a miraculous life without even needing spiritual gifts!

Miracles are Happening Today

There is biblical reason why miracles still happen today. But where is the evidence? Do miracles still happen today? Yes! While miracles aren't common for everyone, they should be common for believers. Today, miracles are a normal part of my life. In the past year, I’ve laid my hands on people and seen pain leave knees and shoulders, limps stop, headaches disappear, demons cast out, people speak in tongues, uneven legs grown out, and much more. I’m believing God for even greater miracles. And you can see these things in your life too -- it’s easy! But you'll never see them if you don't believe that miracles still happen. The first step to a miraculous life is to believe that it’s possible. Have faith. That's how you can begin to see miracles happen today.