Tag Archives: Wonders

On Miracles and Prophecy

April 16, 2024 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.”
Acts 20:25 (NIV)

Along my journey, I have witnessed some pretty cool things with regard to the miraculous and prophetic. This coming weekend I’m going to drop a Wayfarer Weekend Podcast and my interview with a wonderful Scottish lady and amazing artist, Heather Holdsworth. In the interview, Heather shares about her debilitating experience with Long Covid as well as her sudden and unexpected healing. Her doctor even showed her the note he put in her medical file: “Miraculous recovery.”

Likewise, I have had people give me words of prophecy that were really quite amazing. Several years ago, I was approached by a headhunter and interviewed for the job of CEO of a company in a completely different city hours away from where we live. I was one of two finalists for the job. Wendy and I kept this very private.

About this time, after a particularly difficult meeting with my business partner on a Friday, I shared with a close friend the following Sunday morning about my frustrations. I told him about how I wished for the job I’d interviewed for, and how I wanted that other job in another city where I could move to a new place and start fresh in a new company.

As we were walking out a few minutes later, a different friend happened upon us. I knew from previous experience that she had a prophetic gift. She said she wanted to pray for me, and I agreed As she was praying over me, she suddenly said, “The Father says to you, ‘I see the suitcases in your hands. I want you to let go and drop them.’” It was pretty wild. Sometimes, God does give clear direction.

But not always.

I have also experienced those who boldly and intensely proclaim that God has revealed this or that is going to happen. But, then it doesn’t.

In today’s chapter, Paul experiences the miraculous when a boy named Eutychus falls to his death and Paul brings the boy back to life. Then Paul calls for a meeting with the elders among the believers in Ephesus. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and he tells the Ephesians elders that he knows he will never see them again. He gives them what he believes is his final encouragement to them. They have a teary and emotional goodbye.

But Paul was wrong.

Years after the events of today’s chapter, after the final events recorded in Acts, Paul made a final visit to Ephesus. He references it in the opening of his first letter to Timothy (1 Tim 1:3).

In the quiet this morning, this had me meditating on the nature of prayer and the prophetic. I have many stories of people experiencing miraculous healing. I have many stories of the prophetic like the one I just shared. But, I also have stories of difficult situations in which the miraculous didn’t happen, and times when people utter emphatic and prophetic “sure things” don’t happen.

I have learned along my journey to hold on loosely with regard to miraculous promises and prophetic proclamations. One comment I read about Paul’s proclamation he would never see the Ephesians said, “the gift of prophecy does not mean omniscience.” Indeed, it does not. So, I humbly embrace and have faith that God can and does work in miraculous ways and speak through prophecy. At the same, I’m mindful of Bob Dylan’s lyric about God: “You think He’s just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires.” God is God. I am not. Faith is believing what God can do while maintaining Job’s humble and surrendered attitude: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Signs

February 20, 2024 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:11 (NIV)

As I read a chapter in the quiet each morning, I try very hard to approach the text without any expectations. Even when it’s a passage I have read countless times over the years, I do my best to make both my head and my heart a clean slate. The question my spirit silently begs God’s Spirit is “What have you got for me today?”

As I read, I take note of little things that capture my attention. I might catch a detail I hadn’t noticed before. Sometimes, I’ll notice repetition in the text and start circling the repeated word or phrase. This might lead me to meditate on the word or phrase, digging deeper into what the repeated use might mean.

So it was this morning as I noticed John’s repeated use of the word “sign” in reference to Jesus’ miracles:

2:11: What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

2:18: The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

2:23: Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.

As I dug deeper, I discovered the fact that John repeatedly used the word “signs” when referencing Jesus’ miracles. I think the choice of words is deliberate. Jesus’ miracles were intended as “signs” to point people to who Jesus is. There was a purpose in His performing of miracles. In addition, while the other three accounts of Jesus’ story report 18-20 miracles each, John chooses just seven miracles Jesus performed during his ministry to share with us, his readers. He then adds a bonus miracle in the epilogue after Jesus’ resurrection. This is not an accident.

Seven has significant meaning in the Great Story. It is the number that signifies “completeness” or “perfection.” As I mentioned in yesterday’s post/podcast, John writes his version of Jesus’ story, not in a journalistic reporting style, but in a thematic style. He carefully chooses seven miracles to share with us. It’s also interesting to note that five of the miraculous “signs” he shares are unique to John’s account. Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not include them. John carefully chooses each “sign” to contribute to the larger understanding of Jesus to whom he is introducing us.

Two quick observations from my meditation on John’s use of signs this morning:

The first concerns Jesus’ signature miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding feast. Jesus used large ceremonial jars used in the Jewish tradition to hold water used in ritual purification to make one “clean.” Jesus will later use the metaphor describing His teaching as “new wine” and God would later work through Peter (Acts 10) and Paul (Galatians 5) to change the old ceremonial ideals of what made a person clean or unclean, acceptable or not. Jesus also regularly used the metaphor of a wedding in parables and in the eternal union of Christ and the church in Revelation. Jesus’ miracle was not only a blessing to the wedding hosts, but it also served as a “sign” to His larger eternal mission.

I also found it fascinating that there were two responses to the “signs” of Jesus’ miracles. Those listening to Jesus in the Temple became believers after seeing the miracles He was performing. The religious authorities and Temple officials, however, not only refused to ignore the “signs” that had made believers of others, but they asked for a different, bigger, better, and more definitive “sign.” I referenced Jesus’ response in yesterday’s post when Jesus told them He would destroy the Temple and raise it in three days. It seems to me that Jesus understood from the very beginning that there were those individuals who would refuse to believe no matter how big of a “sign” He performed.

John confesses in today’s chapter that it was only after Jesus’ resurrection that he and the boys realized what Jesus meant when He referenced “destroying the temple and raising it in three days.” Along my spiritual journey, I’ve observed that God often provides signs along life’s road. I may not realize it in the moment, but I will later look back and realize that the sign was there all along. It comforts me to know that the Story is already written. I can’t help but think of Jesus’ words:

“You have a saying that goes, ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.’ You find it easy enough to forecast the weather—why can’t you read the signs of the times?”

God, open the eyes of my heart to see the signs and grant me the courage to follow.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Maturing into Child-like Wonder

November 14, 2018 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 (NIV)

It’s fascinating to study the progression of Pablo Picasso’s artwork. He attended art school at an early age and his prodigious talent immediately revealed itself. He could paint with the beautiful realistic style that his teachers instructed as they copied masters like Raphael. The further he progressed in his life journey, however, and the more he produced, Picasso found himself having breakthroughs that would change both art and culture forever. Instead of becoming more realistic, his art became less so. Rather than following the art world’s prescribed path of the artistic beauty of realism, Picasso embarked on a very different journey.

Wendy and I both have our “God stories.” We each have moments in our journey when God did something rather amazing, and I would in some cases call miraculous, to direct us on our respective and mutual paths, to encourage us in our journeys, or to give us a glimpse of what was to come.

Just last week Wendy was looking through some old journals and ran across a prophetic word that had been given to her during her long, depressing slog through singleness (she was 33 when we wed). She was struggling through a time when all of her other friends were getting engaged and married. It was a brief sentence, and she can’t even remember who gave it to her, but it encouraged her that marriage was, indeed, in her future. It also described me, and our situation, rather aptly. She showed it to me and we both just shook our heads with amazement.

I have other, similar stories. I was raised in Mainline tradition and with believers of conservative theological persuasions who dismiss the signs and wonders experienced by the early church as extinguished realities from a another time. I was taught to value knowledge of scripture and conservative theology above the experiential and often mystical work of the Spirit. As one teacher in my local gathering of Jesus’ followers described it, we were raised in a tradition in which the Holy Trinity was “Father, Son, and Holy Bible.” The further I get in my journey, the more I’ve come to confess this as “quenching the Spirit” that Paul tells the Thessalonians to avoid.

And, then there are all these God stories that I’ve experienced along my journey. I had a vision the day after I made my decision to follow Jesus, and that vision changed my life forever. So, I’ve always known it could happen. It did happen. Yet I was taught to dismiss, or at the very least to diminish, such experiences by my early instructors and get back to focusing on proper doctrine. I have a different view of things from my current waypoint on my Spiritual journey. The further I have progressed the less beholden I am to the iron-clad “that was for then, not now” theology I was taught in my youth. The willing I am to explore the mysteries of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The more open I have become to the power of the Spirit in the here and now.

Jesus said, “unless you change and become like little children, you’ll never enter the Kingdom of heaven.” I think this is at the heart of the place I find myself in this journey. Which brings me back to Pablo Picasso.

How many people have looked at his later works and said, “My child could paint that!” Exactly. Picasso himself said that when he was young he could paint like a master, but it took him a lifetime to learn to paint like a child.

That’s exactly what I feel about the things of the Spirit. When I was young I memorized scripture and learned theology, both of which are important. Yet, now as I’m getting older I find myself following Jesus down this path marked with the bread crumbs of our God stories in all their mess and mystery. I find myself increasingly pushing into childlike wonder and openness to the power and presence of the Spirit in every moment.

When I was young man people said that I had the wisdom and spiritual maturity of an adult. It’s taken a lifetime for me to learn how to seek the faith and Spirit wonder of a child.

Chapter-a-Day

Living in This Time and Place

May 15, 2015 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. Acts 6:1 (NRSV)

I spoke with my parents last night on the phone. Just this past week they put a deposit down on a retirement apartment that is part of a larger community and care facility. Over the past couple of weeks I have toured three different facilities with them. We have discussed their options and their preferences as well as the major shift life is taking for them.

It has struck me in the midst of this process how our relationship has changed over the years. It seems like yesterday I was seeking their help, their wisdom and their insights as I made major life decisions. This time around I find that they have sought my help, wisdom, and insight in their major life decision. I realize that we are at a very different stage of this life journey.

Along my spiritual journey as a Jesus follower, I have heard some who speak in idyllic terms regarding the church as described in the book of Acts. They speak of the events, the miracles and the outpouring of the Spirit as a pinnacle from which we have fallen; an ideal for which we should strive. The further I get in my journey the more foolish I find this line of thinking.

We live in a different chapter of the story, in a different time, and a different place. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but human civilization is ever changing. How our heavenly Father relates to we His children will naturally change across time just as my relationship with my parents will change across time. Looking back across the story from Genesis to Acts we find that the way God intersected, communicated and related to humanity changed from creation, to the Exodus, to the period of the Judges, to the time of the monarchy and the prophets, to the period before Jesus was born, to the time of Jesus, and to the time we are studying in Acts. To say that the church today should be like the church in the book of Acts is like saying that the time of King David should have been more like the time of Noah.

I found it interesting this morning that Dr. Luke is sure to mention that things were not all signs and wonders. The Jesus followers who were Hebrews from Greece were hacked off because their widows weren’t getting their share of the communal welfare program. The more things change, the more they stay the same. People are people. “Where two or three are gathered,” Jesus said, “you’ll find me in their midst.” That is a good thing. We need a referee because where two or three gather you’ll also find conflict.

I’m grateful for the times we are living in. I’m grateful for my relationship with God. I’m grateful for my relationship with my parents. We are blessed to experience some really great things in our day and age, and at the same time we face unique challenges that those living through the book of Acts couldn’t possibly fathom. Such is life. I am not called to live in another time and place, but to walk the journey set before me in this time and place.