Does God Still Perform Miracles?

Dec 14

Miracle: an extraordinary event taken as a sign of the supernatural power of God. Both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are filled with astounding stories of God’s miracles.

Throughout the centuries, from Haman to Hitler to Hamas, diabolical people have risen and attempted to wipe Jewish people from the face of the earth, but the Jews have survived. Why? Miracles. David Ben-Gurion the primary national founder of the modern State of Israel as well as Israel's first prime minister summarized it well when he said, “In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.”

Starting this week, Jews around the world are celebrating the miracles of Hanukkah which commemorate two miracles: the miracle of might and the miracle of light.

Miracle of Might

History records that in the year 190 BCE, the situation between the two great post-Alexandrian empires, the Seleucid and the Ptolemaic, deteriorated badly. The Seleucids mounted an invasion that took their army through the land of Israel, which was sandwiched in-between the two empires. (Can you see that Palestine and Palestinians did not exist in the Holy land at that point in history, but the Jews did?)

When the Seleucid Greek army occupied Israel, they overtaxed the Jews; forced them to house their soldiers in Jewish homes; took liberties with Jewish women; banned the observance of Shabbat (Sabbath) on the pain of death; banned circumcision and killed any Jewish father and child that participated in circumcision. Furthermore, they took the statue of Zeus and mounted it in the courtyard of the Temple and then demanded that altars to Greek idols be established with sacrifices being offered on a regular basis in every Jewish town. When they forced some Jews to sacrifice a pig (yes, a pig!) to Zeus on one of such altars, a Jewish family of priestly descent (the Maccabees) led a revolt against the Seleucids.

The leader of the Jewish revolt was known as Judah the Maccabee (or Judas Maccabaeus as he was called in Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labor’s Lost”). “Maccabaeus” is the Greek word for hammer, but the Jews took it, and made it Jewish by declaring that “Maccabee” stood for the first four letters in Exodus 15:11, meaning, “Who is like You, God?” — a line in a praise song sang by Moses and the Israelites after their miraculous deliverance from cruel hand of Pharoah. The Maccabees went on to miraculously outmaneuver and defeat the great Seleucid army. The Jews regained control of the Temple, shattered the statue of Zeus, and cleaned the Temple.

Miracle of Light

When the Jews regained control of the temple, they only found one small flask of uncontaminated oil with the seal of the High Priest. By Torah law, the flame of the Menorah (Candelabrum) in the Temple could only be lit with specially prepared pure olive oil. The amount of oil remaining in the one uncontaminated flask was only enough to burn for one day, and it would take eight days to produce a new batch of pure oil.

What could they do? They lit it — and it miraculously burned for eight days. That is why Hanukkah lasts eight nights. (Jewishhistory.org)

Today, Israelis find themselves once again surrounded by enemies that are calling for their total annihilation as they chant the genocidal slogan “From the river to the sea.” What are the Israelis to do? Instead of cowering and shrinking back in the face of global hatred and intimidation, many Jewish people are increasingly drawing strength from the miracles of their past. They are standing on the platform of God’s faithfulness and trusting Him to deliver them as in times past. While defending their right to exist, they are also singing songs of hope and victory- even in the midst of great heartache. Have you seen the 2023 Maccabeats Hanukkah song - We're Still Here (Am Yisrael Chai)?

So, is God still performing miracles today?

We have read about miracles of God mysteriously multiplying food for Gaza’s tiny Christian population. Here is a testimony of an IDF soldier who received prayer and then ended up in Gaza. He testified that Hamas repeatedly shot at his head, but a circle of light covered his head, and he walked away unscathed. He too is now singing a song of hope and victory.

When you consider all this, and couple it with the trustworthiness of biblical narratives, we can conclude that God is still very much in the business of performing miracles. And He doesn’t just do it for Israelis alone. We too can look to Him for miracles of might and light. In the midst of our own chaos, pain, and suffering, we can trust Him to intervene in our affairs- to supply all that we need according to His glorious riches.

Standing on His promises,

Jahan