It all depends on where your theology of miracles
begins. Let’s agree that though we are prone to build our
theology on our experience, we must begin with the Word
of God. We cannot abide a theology of miracles built on
our experience, no matter how full or how bereft our
experience may be as it relates to the miraculous. Truth
be told, many of us have an ambivalent theology when it
comes to miracles. It’s more like, “There may be miracles,
and there may not be.”
Let’s agree we will build our theology on the firm
foundation of the Word of God. Here is where it will
get interesting. For most of us, our biblical theology of
miracles (and most everything else) begins with Genesis 3,
the entry of sin into the world and the human community’s
catastrophic fall from the state of grace. How might that
change if we began instead with the beginning: Genesis 1.
I tend to be known as a master of the obvious insight.
If our theology does not begin with what is properly, “the
beginning,” it will never properly end with “the end.” If we
begin with sin, we end with salvation. In this framework,
eternal life begins with death and ends with heaven. While
the plotline of the Bible is all about sin, salvation, death
and eternal life, this plot is set within a larger story. On the
big story, the Bible is unequivocally clear: the beginning is
Creation and the end is New Creation.
WAYPOINT:
Take a fresh look at Genesis 1 and 2 and
Revelation 21 and 22. Consider how the
framework of Creation to New Creation enlarges
our vision for mission as it relates to salvation,
holiness and, yes, miracles; not to mention our
assignment and calling to steward the Creation
itself (hat tip to Howard Snyder.)
pg. 16 — lightandlifemagazine.com
What does all of this have to do with miracles? Only
everything. Genesis 1 is nothing less than the grand
exposition of the miraculous power of the Word of God.
Into the dark, formless chaotic void, God speaks, “Let
there be light,” and there was light. This creative wonder-working
speech continued for six days, culminating with
the miracle of all miracles, human beings handcrafted
from the dust of the earth and the breath of the Divine
in the image of God. This is the kingdom of God, on
earth as it is in heaven, in all its miraculously glorious
origins. Even more, the vision was for the whole creation
to prosper and flourish, miraculously regenerating and
reproducing itself eternally. This is the original vision and
version of scriptural holiness spreading across the land;
the earth “filled with the knowledge of the glory of the
Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Suffice it to say, in the kingdom of God, miracles are not
the exception. They are the rule. At the center of the Bible
lives a collection of prayers, so many of which are direct
responses to Genesis 1 and 2, meant to constantly re-source
and strengthen our faith in the original, miraculous
order of the kingdom of God. Consider Psalms 8, 19 and
24 for starters.
WAYPOINT:
What do these three Psalms have in common?
What do they teach us about the miraculous
nature and capacities of the Creation (even
beyond the Fall)?
Because sin is the great interrupter of the kingdom of
God, we mistakenly understand miracles as exceptional
interventions. Miracles are the rule. There is neither time
nor space here to rehearse the miraculous unfolding of
the story of God through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or
the miraculous story of Moses, the Exodus, the Law, the
fire by day, the cloud by night, the manna, the water from
the rock, the 40 years of the miraculous tabernacling of
the Spirit sustaining the Israelites in the wilderness, or
the miraculous movement into and settlement of the
promised land, and on and on we could go. Everywhere
they went, the Genesis 3 world posted a sign that read:
THERE WILL BE NO MIRACLES HERE.
“Miracles are not primarily
designed to be proof for the
existence of God. They are the
practical signs of the in-breaking
kingdom of heaven.”
/howard-snyder
/lightandlifemagazine.com