"WHERE BE ALL HIS MIRACLES?

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"And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."

Judges 6: 13

"The fact that men talk a lot about God does not mean that they really believe in the living God. They are talking about God; they are making statements about God; they are experts on the attributes of God; but they seem to shut out the living God, God Himself, the acting God. By their theories, He is not allowed to act. This is Deism; it is a kind of theological scholasticism. And this is the terrifying thing, that you can be talking about God and His attributes and so on, and yet have no contact with and no personal knowledge of this living God."

- David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"I remember very well in about 1947 reading a book by Dr. Carl Henry, soon afterwards the editor of Christianity Today. He wrote a book with the title of The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, and I read this with great interest. He tells us that the lost note in Fundamentalism was this lack of social interest. I remember feeling at the time what a serious misjudgment this was, what an utterly false diagnosis. He was dealing with American Fundamentalism; and he said the missing note in American Fundamentalism was this lack of a social interest. I remember writing to him at the time and discussing it with him afterwards and venturing to suggest to him that he had missed the point, and that the real trouble the missing note in American Fundamentalism as I have met it and known it was a lack of spirituality, a carnality, professional evangelism, professional apologetics. That was the thing that appalled me when I

first met American Fundamentalism the sheer carnality of the outlook. They were more like business men than Christian men."

- David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

I. The History of Miracles

From time to time, the Scriptures confront us with these great miracle periods. Sometimes, as we read our Bibles, we notice that some rather lengthy segments of time elapse during which events seem to take place on a comparatively ordinary level. Of course, God still works during these periods as well, orchestrating everything according to his divine counsel, but the dramatic displays of supernatural power don't exhibit themselves in quite the same sensational way. That element of the miraculous doesn't appear as it does at other times and things transpire much more within the perimeters of natural processes. Then, suddenly God begins to act again, and for awhile, miracles occur on an almost daily basis. So while in one passage, the angel of the Lord smites an invading army by night and utterly eradicates their forces in a way utterly independent of human involvement, in another passage, Jepthah goes through the very normal human processes of strategizing, of organizing and mobilizing his army and fighting a battle much in the way battles were generally fought at that time, without the same sensational manifestations of omnipotent power exhibited. In one portion of Scripture, we see a Samson supernaturally endued with superhuman strength and fighting skill in order to overcome the Philistines, while in another, Ehud resorts to the less dramatic element of surprise in order to overcome the oppressing power. For Joshua, walls came tumbling down, the sun stood still and massive hailstones obliterated the enemy forces, while David and Joab faced their adversaries in combat of a more human character. And while displays of the miraculous seem sprinkled in an almost random way throughout the Scriptures, we notice that in some passages, they come in clusters. Moses saw miracles daily. Joshua likewise witnessed the miraculous with remarkable frequency. So did Samson. Then after Samson, the miracles don't appear quite so frequently for awhile. They do appear occasionally, as in the dedication of the Temple under King Solomon, but they appear far less frequently. Then with the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, all of a sudden, they explode onto the scene again, over and over and over, only to fade out again until the Babylonian captivity. After that, we don't see them much until the ministry of Christ and the Apostles, when, once again, they become a daily phenomenon.

Again, we don't really know why God ordered things in this manner. Perhaps it had something to do with the faith of the people involved in the various scenarios described. Could it be that in some cases the faith for more dramatic displays of supernatural power wasn't strong enough? We don't know. We can only speculate on this point.

II. The Hunger for Miracles

But we do know of one man who believed in God's miracles. Gideon had heard the great stories passed down from generation to generation. He had listened attentively, rapt with fascination as some local patriarch or perhaps a wayfaring Levite had unfolded the narrative of some supernatural demonstration of divine omnipotence. And he had believed. With the simple faith of a child, he had believed. Not that others had necessarily disbelieved. But Gideon believed on an entirely different level. Gideon believed with an expectant faith. He expected the miraculous. To Gideon, these miracles were not merely the fragments of a glorious heritage, the splendid memories of a day long since gone. Gideon understood miracles as the exhibitions of an unchanging God's omnipotence. And if God were unchanging, the miraculous had application for the present day, just as much as for the past. Gideon expected to see God demonstrate his omnipotent power in his own times. Perhaps it's just this childlike expectancy that led up to the sense of disappointment in Gideon's life. We can hear the disappointment in his words, the clear sense of having been let down and even abandoned by God. He complains to the angel, "If the LORD be for us, where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of?" It seems that others didn't feel this quite as acutely. Of course they were concerned with the problem, and probably even talked about a supernatural act of divine deliverance. But Gideon felt this sense of letdown with remarkable keenness because he had really been living in expectation, longing for the miraculous, yearning for the day when that supernatural power would display itself once again. And when it didn't come as he had expected, this devastating sense of disappointment, of letdown flooded his soul. And this comes pouring out of his heart in his words to the angel. "If the LORD be for us, where be all his miracles?"

But again, it was this very expectancy that set Gideon apart from the rest. Undoubtedly others shared similar visions with Gideon, visions of deliverance, visions of victory over the oppressing forces, visions of restoration to Israel's glory days when mighty men like Joshua and Caleb had led the way and seen the promises of God fulfilled. Undoubtedly there were those secret meetings where freedom fighters were organizing, stockpiling and making their plans for revolt. Perhaps Gideon had even involved himself with such groups. But these efforts didn't satisfy Gideon. Gideon hungered for something beyond all of that, something that only Almighty God could accomplish. Gideon longed to see God himself intervene, act and perform something beyond the ordinary. Something miraculous.

III. The Hysteria Over Methodology

Now isn't this exactly the missing note in our modern churches? The contemporary pastor or church leader is up to his neck in methodological theories, constantly exploring the latest techniques that will supposedly "grow their church." Mega-churches are holding these mega-symposiums and seminars, Pastor's Schools, Leadership Conferences and so on. Theological catch phrases are flying around and men are chanting these keywords like a mantra. This whole vocabulary exists representing the supposed missing ingredients to really correcting the dilemma that the church is facing today. Men are talking about "servant leadership" and "small groups" and "mentoring" and "transparency" and so on. And these are the things that are supposed to save the church. Not that there is anything essentially wrong with these ideas in and of themselves. The small group theory has some real problems and actual danger attached to it, but aside from that, by and large these things are all good things and they all have their place. Just not first place. Not even second place or third place or even fourth place, really. The New Testament writers scarcely mention these things at all, except in passing to those weighty and majestic doctrines of the first magnitude. They were concerned with the first principles, with first love, the great doctrines of God's foreknowledge and eternal purpose, of election, of predestination, of justification, of sanctification, the golden chain of redemption, as it has been called. They were concerned with the virgin birth, the blood atonement, the bodily resurrection of the Son of God, with his Melchizedekian High Priestly ministry and with his Second Advent. They were concerned with faith, hope and charity, with personal holiness and separation from the world and with the believer's life of prayer. All of those other things do have their value, but they aren't going to save the church and they ought not be the focus of the church and whenever they do become the focus of the church, the church has departed from its first love. The simple fact of the matter is that nothing has changed since Gideon's day in terms of need. The shallow circumstance of modernity does not mean that our needs have now changed, that now the solution to the world's problems or the church's problems lies in adopting these advanced, sophisticated business models and imitating the methodology of Wall Street's marketing strategists. We need today exactly the same thing that Gideon needed in his day, and that is to see our God intervene again and do something that he alone can accomplish. By that I don't mean that we need what the Pentecostals are peddling, all of this sensationalism about speaking in tongues and faith healing and so on. That's all artificial, a form of hypocrisy. But we do need to see Almighty God act again, miraculously, just as he did for our forefathers, when the great revivals shook Europe and England and America. We need the exact same miraculous Holy Spirit power today that shook the regions of southern France and prostrated priest and prostitute, prelate and peasant alike under overwhelming conviction in the days of Peter of Bruis and Henry of Lausanne. We need the exact same exhibition of Holy Ghost omnipotence that shook Germany under the preaching of Luther and Bucer that sparked a Reformation that literally redirected the course of world history. We need the exact same vibrant supernatural

power today that shook Scotland under the preaching of John Knox, Patrick Hamilton and Samuel Rutherford, men of such power with God that queens and legates trembles before them. We need the exact same dramatic display of divine omnipotence that shook the towns and villages of England under the preaching of Bunyan and Baxter and saw entire communities transformed by the power of the Gospel. We need the exact same manifestation of Holy Spirit power that shook the American colonies under the thunderous preaching of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, Shubal Stearns and Daniel Marshall. God be praised, in Scotland it was said that everyone upon whom the martyrsmoke of Patrick Hamilton blew became a Christian! Why? Because of a leadership conference? Because of his mentoring model? Because of "small groups?" Because of his "transparency?" No! No! No! A thousand times "NO!" The devil take your small groups and growth strategies! He invented them to begin with! The multitudes were converted and swarmed to the Saviour for one reason and one reason alone - the dynamic divine drawing power of God's Holy Spirit through the Everlasting Gospel by which he performs within the heart of lost and blinded sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, that which he alone can accomplish, that is the breaking of the hardened heart under Holy Ghost conviction and the magnetic compulsion by which he draws even the vilest of men and women with cords of love to the blessed cross of Christ, the fountain filled with blood drawn from Emanuel's veins! Make no mistake about it, my friend, no man can come unto the Saviour, except the Father draw him! We have this directly from our Saviour's lips! No man or woman can breathe the sweet, fragrant perfume of Christ's myrrh-soaked garments nor approach to touch their hems, except the blessed, sweet Holy Spirit guide them unto him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life! It is none other than God's Holy Spirit that arranges the meeting between the sinner and the Saviour, that gathers the bride to meet her bridegroom! It is nothing short of a miracle when a lost and blinded sinner, dead in trespasses and sins is quickened and raised to walk in newness of life by the power of a risen Saviour who has shed forth his Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment! These are miracles that we speak of, the sacred realm of omnipotence! It is not by might nor by power, but by God's Spirit! Away with the usurping methodologies and briberies, the strange fire upon the altar of God that bypasses the agency of God's Holy Ghost in imitation of worldly business models and secular marketing strategies! They have neither part nor lot in this matter, no portion in Jerusalem! Yea, woe unto them that take counsel, but not of the LORD! I say that we need the miraculous, the miracles which our fathers told us of! But where are the Gideons who hunger for the miraculous? Where are those who will no longer satisfy themselves with something less than the divine demonstrations of omnipotence that our forefather witnessed in bygone generations, the dramatic displays of supernatural conviction and drawing? Where those who will live in expectation of the miraculous, in longing, yearning to see miracles again, those who will not rest content until God's Holy Spirit moves in power as he did in the former days of old? Where are those who will pursue God in prayer, earnest, fervent, passionate prayer, in broken-hearted prayer, begging God for the miraculous? Where are those who will bombard the gates of heaven and give God no rest day or night until he perform the miraculous anew and afresh? Who will be a Gideon in this generation? Who will cry out for the miracles? May God infuse within every one of this burning hunger.