OLD TESTAMENT MIRACLES
531. Biblical miracles are found in both Old and New Testaments. Many show God's power over nature while other miracles are a sign of His mercy and love for those who fear Him. These events are supernatural and can only be the work of God.
532. Miracles demonstrate God's hand intervening in earthly affairs in extraordinary ways. New Testament miracles tend to be "personal" miracles, as opposed to miracles affecting the entire nation, such as the plagues on Egypt or the crossing of the Red Sea. Apart from His own miraculous birth, resurrection, and the transfiguration, Jesus performed more than thirty-five miracles in the Gospels.
533. The flood is an example of a miracle of nature. Certainly it was a judgment against the world, but it was no less than a sign of God's power and dominion. He caused it to rain so hard and so fast and so long (forty days) that every living thing on the whole earth was swallowed up in a gigantic flood.
534. Noah's surviving in the ark during the flood is an example of God's provision and mercy for the one man and his family who did not die in the flood. That this man was able to build the ark and then fill it with animals and find food for all of them is an amazing feat-too amazing to be possible without divine intervention.
535. Sarah delivered a healthy baby boy when she was well past her childbearing years. Her husband, Abraham, was already a centenarian, and she had given up hope of having a child. Yet God had promised them a son to fulfill the covenant.
536. The burning bush. The first clear miracle recorded in the Bible is Moses' encounter with God, described in Exodus 3. That passage describes Moses, who was living as a shepherd in Midian, , seeing a bush that was on fire but did not burn up. As Moses approached, God called him by name, told him that he was standing on Holy Ground, and announced that he would be sent to free the Israelite slaves in Egypt. While earlier passages describe things like the miraculous growth of Jacob's herd of sheep or the Hand of God on Joseph's life, this is the first recorded instance of a clearly supernatural act.
537. Aaron's staff becomes a snake. When Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh in Exodus 7, they threw a wooden staff to the floor, and it miraculously turned into a snake. After Pharaoh's magicians appeared to duplicate that feat, Aaron's staff/snake swallowed all the magicians' snakes-a sign of God's supernatural power being greater than that of man's magical power.
538. The ten plagues. In an attempt to free his people from slavery, Moses revealed to Pharaoh that ten plagues would hit Egypt: water turning to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, cattle disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of all firstborn males. While there are natural explanations for all ten, the occurrence of them all together, along with the fact that Moses predicted them, certainly categorize them as a special act of God.
539. The pillar of fire and the parting of the Red Sea. Exodus 14 describes the flight of the Israelites from Egypt. Pharaoh's armies, chasing them, were kept from approaching the Israelite camp by a protective pillar of fire. The Red Sea then opened up, allowing the Israelites to cross the sea "on dry land." When the Egyptians tried to follow, the sea closed over them, killing them all. The pillar then guided the Israelites through the wilderness-a cloud by day, and fire by night.
540. Manna from heaven. While the Israelites lived in the wilderness, God miraculously provided them with bread from Heaven that would appear on the ground each morning like a dew. Exodus 16:31 describes it as tasting "like wafers made with honey," and the Jews referred to it as manna, which literally means, "what is it?"
