As “The Chosen” reminds us, Jesus performed many miracles—and yet still some failed to believe.
With the third season of The Chosen now airing, many Christians are once again enthralled by the topic of miracles.
In one scene from episode 6, Jesus begins performing miracles in a public square—healing the blind, the mute, and the lame. He is quickly confronted by an angry Pharisee who seems to see his works as malicious tricks rather than divine interventions. This same religious leader almost prevented Jesus from raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead; and despite witnessing the undeniable, he persists in his hatred of Jesus and all Jesus stands for.
My wife, son, and I have been watching the show together, and it’s extraordinary to think about Jesus and his apostles performing signs and wonders for all the world to see. What must it have been like to witness Jesus perform a miracle firsthand? What must it have felt like for the apostles themselves to be granted the same supernatural authority?
What’s even more astonishing is that such wonders did not bring universal adoration. Romans and Pharisees alike watched Christ heal people by the dozens—and instead of believing him to be the Son of God, they chased him from town to town, criticized him, and ultimately crucified him.
Would it be any different today?
Much of American society believes in miracles, theoretically. According to the most recent Gallup surveys, 81 percent of American adults believe in God (though down from 87 percent a few years ago), and of those, 42 percent (including most Christians) believe God hears prayer and intervenes.
Author Lee Strobel (who wrote a seminal book on the topic) found in his surveys that roughly half of American adults believe the miracles of the Bible happened as described and ...
from Christianity Today Magazine https://ift.tt/W5IkwPR
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