I'm currently reading Tim Keller's book "The Reason for God." Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. It is one of the largest congregations in the city and he is known for his excellent approach to Biblical truth. Manhattanites love him for the way he comes at the Bible from an intellectual perspective. The book is excellent. I often compare it to the modern version of C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" in that it is a reasoning for the Christian God, broken down by the doubts many intellectual seekers have. The title of the book has garnered many questions from friends and even strangers on the subway. Everyone seems to have a question or strong opinion about it without my even asking. Haha! One woman on the subway yesterday said to me, "If I were you I would just skip to the last page." Ha!
Anyway- Keller makes some really excellent remarks on many issues people have with the God of Christianity, but today I was really struck with his discussion of miracles. He goes through the arguments of science conflicting with faith, etc. and then at the end of the chapter he says this:
"Jesus's miracles in particular were never magic tricks, designed only to impress and coerce. You never see him say something like: 'See that tree over there? Watch me make it burst into flames!' Instead, he used miraculous power to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and raise the dead. Why? We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power but also wonderful foretastes of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus's miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming."
A redemptive, powerful God.
Live rejoicing.
Anyway- Keller makes some really excellent remarks on many issues people have with the God of Christianity, but today I was really struck with his discussion of miracles. He goes through the arguments of science conflicting with faith, etc. and then at the end of the chapter he says this:
"Jesus's miracles in particular were never magic tricks, designed only to impress and coerce. You never see him say something like: 'See that tree over there? Watch me make it burst into flames!' Instead, he used miraculous power to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and raise the dead. Why? We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power but also wonderful foretastes of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus's miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming."
A redemptive, powerful God.
Live rejoicing.
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