Premise 1: The miracles of Jesus demonstrate His command over time, space and matter
For a person to be a moral teacher, he must have the following traits: Honesty, enthusiasm or avidity, ambition, hard work, curiosity, and a sense of responsibility. By all accounts Jesus distinguished himself with all these qualities. But there are things that a moral teacher cannot do that only God can!
su·per·nat·u·ral
/ˌso͞opərˈnaCH(ə)rəl/
adjective
1: of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe
2. departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature
Merriam Webster Dictionary
When we say the word divinity we think of a power that has control over time, space, and circumstance. A divine being would be able to demonstrate control over biology, chemistry, and nature. A deity would also be able to override the scientific laws that that govern gravity, motion, buoyancy, and time.
Here are 29 of the miracles of Jesus that demonstrated those kinds of supernatural qualities:
| # | Miracle | Matthew | Mark | Luke | John | Supernatural qualities |
| 1 | Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding in Cana | 2:1-11 | Instantaneous control over molecular structure, chemical processes, and time | |||
| 2 | Jesus heals an official’s son from near death illness from a distance | 4:43-54 | Instantaneous control over cellular health, infection and disease, time and space…did not meet the person healed face to face | |||
| 3 | Jesus heals Peter’s mother-law-sick with fever | 8:14-15 | 1:29-31 | 4:38-39 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology and immediate disposal of infection | |
| 4 | Jesus heals many sick and oppressed | 1:32-34 | 4:40-41 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology and disease | ||
| 5 | Miraculous catch of fish on Lake Gennesarat | 5:1-11 | Control of animal kingdom, time and circumstance | |||
| 6 | Jesus cleanses a man with leprosy | 8:1-4 | 1:40-45 | 5:12-14 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology and disease | |
| 7 | Jesus heals centurion’s paralyzed servant | 8:5-13 | 7:1-10 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, disease, neuro health, cellular reconstruction | ||
| 8 | Jesus heals a paralyzed man | 9:1-8 | 2:1-12 | 5:17-26 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, disease, neuro health, cellular reconstruction | |
| 9 | Jesus heals a man ‘s withered hand | 12:9-14 | 3:1-6 | 6:6-11 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, disease, neuro health, cellular reconstruction | |
| 10 | Jesus calms sea | 8:23-27 | 4:35-41 | 8:22-25 | Control over nature… wind and sea | |
| 11 | Jesus heals a woman with blood hemorraging | 9:20-22 | 5:25-34 | 8:42-48 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology and circulatory system | |
| 12 | Jesus heals two blind men | 9:27-31 | Instantaneous cellular reconstruction of ocular system | |||
| 13 | Jesus heals a man who was unable to speak | 9:32-34 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, neuro synapses, reconstruction of vocal chords | |||
| 14 | Jesus heals invalid at Bethesda | 5:1-15 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, disease, neuro health, cellular reconstruction | |||
| 15 | Jesus heals many sick in Gennesarat | 14:34-36 | 6:53-56 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology and disease | ||
| 16 | Jesus feeds 5,000 plus women and children | 14:13-21 | 6:30-44 | 9:10-17 | 6:1-15 | Instantly makes cellular structure of bread and fish multiply exponentially |
| 17 | Jesus walks on water | 14:22-33 | 6:45-52 | 6:16-21 | Control over laws of gravity and buoyancy | |
| 18 | Jesus heals a deaf and dumb man | 7:31-37 | Cellular and neuro reconstruction | |||
| 19 | Miraculous temple tax in a fish’s mouth | 17:24-27 | Control over animal kingdom, time and circumstance | |||
| 20 | Jesus heals a man born blind | 9:1-12 | Instantaneous cellular reconstruction of ocular system | |||
| 21 | Jesus heals a blind and mute man | 12:22-23 | 11:14-23 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, neuro synapses, reconstruction of vocal chords, ocular regeneration | ||
| 23 | Jesus heals cripple woman | 13:10-17 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, disease, neuro health, cellular reconstruction | |||
| 24 | Jesus heals man with Dropsy | 14:1-6 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology, disease, neuro health, cellular reconstruction | |||
| 25 | Jesus heals 10 lepers on way to Jerusalem | 17:11-19 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology and disease | |||
| 26 | Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus in Jericho | 20:29 | 10:46 | 18:35-43 | Instantaneous cellular reconstruction of ocular system | |
| 27 | Jesus causes fig tree to wither | 21:18-22 | 11:12-14 | Command over biology and nature | ||
| 28 | Jesus heals a servants ear that was severed | 22:50-51 | Instantaneous control over cellular biology. Nerve reconstruction | |||
| 29 | Miraculous catch of fish at sea of tiberias | 21:4-11 | Control of animal kingdom, time and circumstance |
The first miracle
Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions.
When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”
This historical event at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his divinity by miracle
John 2:1-11
At first glance it seems like Jesus’ first miracle is underwhelming. He’s turning one beverage into another. So what, we might say. But this isn’t squirting some flavoring into your bottled water.
At a molecular level, the water, basically hydrogen and oxygen, was changed into wine that contains sugars, yeast, and water, which contain carbon and nitrogen along with oxygen and hydrogen. Thus, by changing water into wine Jesus demonstrated his authority over even the atomic structure of atoms by commanding oxygen and hydrogen atoms to disassemble and reform into other atoms of different configurations.
The amount of energy it would take to perform this atomic deconstruction and reconstruction is staggering. This intermolecular energy being released is the source of the explosive energy from an atomic bomb. However, since Jesus caused the wine atoms to come back together, he would have to put this astronomical amount of energy into the atoms in order to have them reconstruct. To do so without any visible energy transformation of the liquid (John does not say anything about people noticing the transformation) indicates a mastery of natural law far beyond our current comprehension. And he accomplished it with no physical exertion.
Cliff Lewis PhD; The Science of Jesus’s Miracle in John 2
All of Jesus miracles demonstrated a command over time, space and matter. These are the same three foundational elements God demonstrated sovereign control over in the Genesis creation account.
Discussion Question 1: Does the fact that all of Jesus’s miracles demonstrate a power over nature indicate He was supernatural?
Premise 2: The miracles of Jesus provided eyewitness testimony that he was deity
While Jesus’s formal ministry only lasted a little over 3 years he had become incredibly well known in Palestine. Huge crowds began to follow him in part because of his profound teachings, but especially because of the miracles he performed. The Bible mentions specifically 31 specific miracles but according to the Gospel of John there were probably many, many more.
This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate. Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written
John 21:24-25
The population of Palestine in Jesus’ day was approximately 500,000 to 600,000 (about that of Vermont, Boston, or Jerusalem today). At least 34 verses in the New Testament speak of large crowds, or multitudes following Jesus.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him
Matthew 4:23-25
For the reasons that modern medicine did not exist, and that his miracles were instantaneous and stupendous in effect huge crowds many times numbering in the thousands followed him.
Even the famous non-Christian historian Josephus wrote about Jesus’s as a renowned worker of miracles.
About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he … wrought surprising feats…. He was the Christ. When Pilate …condemned him to be crucified, those who had . . . come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared restored to life…. And the tribe of Christians has not disappeared
Josephus; first century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader
Jesus healed sickness, blindness, hearing loss, and created food out of thin air to feed thousands of people at a time. While all of his miracles showed that Jesus was compassionate and concerned about people on a personal level, those motives were never his primary one.
The primary purposes for miracles was to show people he was more than just a teacher…He was God’s Son
What about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
John 10: 36-38
Throughout the text of John’s gospel, we repeatedly discover that the intention of everything that he records is to demonstrate the deity of Christ and that pointing to His works are the proof.
“If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid. But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true. In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message. But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me
Jesus stated clearly that the miracles they were seeing with regularity had no natural explanation because they were being done by God’s Son. Himself!
Discussion Question 2: Doesn’t the fact that something cannot be explained humanly and that defies natural laws indicate it is a supernatural phenomenon above and beyond human capacity? Above and beyond the paygrade of a mere human teacher?
Premise 3: The miracles of Jesus demonstrate His power over death
All of the miracles Jesus did were mind blowing in the extreme but none compared to him being able to bring people back to life.
The 29 miracles listed earlier (Illus. A) demonstrated Christ command over the elements of nature the Bible list three times Jesus raised people from dead. Here is one example:
Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Great fear swept the crowd, and they praised God, saying, “A mighty prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people today.”
Luke 7:11-17
The raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of John is probably the most well known account of Jesus raising someone from the dead.
“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” and the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
John Chapter 11
This is not the typical near death, or clinically dead and then CPR resuscitates them experience many people read and hear about. Lazarus had been decomposing for four days…Just imagine some of the supernatural elements of what had to happen to bring him back to life:
- Regeneration or creation of cells, tissue, and organs
- Regeneration of circulatory system including creation of new heart, blood cells, hemoglobin, and plasma
- Regeneration of brain cells, synapses, and nervous system and restarting them
- Restoring a soul into an inanimate body that has been decomposing for almost a week
This was not a heart transplant, or CPR. This was creative power giving life and personality to a corpse
When Jesus arrived and his sister told Jesus that if he had been there when her brother got sick he would have been able to keep him from dying. Jesus replied with one of the most emphatic statements he ever uttered in his three and a half year ministry:
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die“
John Chapter 11
Here Jesus claimed to be the origin of life itself…and to have power to give it whenever he chose to.
Discussion Question 3: Neither Muhammed, Buddha, or Confucius ever claimed to have supernatural powers, nor is there any written example of them demonstrating such power. Should Jesus be placed in the same category as a mere teacher with these men?
