MIRACLES OF THE

LIVING GOD
List of contents:
I. Introduction
II. Categories of miracles:
A. Commanded unnatural events
B. Commanded events utilizing the laws
of nature
III. Essential characteristics of miracles
IV. Purpose mc):
1. The divine call of Moses
2. The prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel:
The living God destroys a lifeless pagan
god
3. Destruction of Sennacheribs Assyrian
army
4. Deliverance of three faithful Jewish
men from the fiery furnace
B. The New Testament (Injil, etc):
1. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ
2. The many miracles of Jesus Christ
3. Miracles of the apostles of Christ
C. Miracles of the post-apostolic
Christian era:
1. Moving Mount al-Muqattam
2. Apparitions of Virgin Mary, The
Theotokos
3. The holy fire of Easter
VI. Conclusion
Inspirationals from the Holy Bible:
God is wise in heart and mighty in
strength (Job 9: 4a); Behold, I am the
LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there
anything too hard for Me? (Jeremiah
32: 27); This man came to Jesus by
night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know
that You are a teacher come from God;
for no one can do these signs that You
do unless God is with him (John 3: 2);
Now God worked unusual miracles by
the hands of Paul (Acts 19: 11); And
they went out and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with
them and confirming the word through
the accompanying signs. Amen (Mark
16: 20).
I. INTRODUCTION
The true living God is omnipotent,
omniscient, perfectly free, perfectly good,
eternal by nature, and creator of all
things: The heavens declare the glory
of God; And the firmament shows His
handiwork (Psalm 19: 1); In the
beginning God created the heavens and
the earth (Genesis 1: 1). All things
depend on God. He depends on nothing
outside himself. He is necessarily the
terminus and ultimate principle of
complete explanation of all phenomena.
Gods existence and power do not depend
on the laws of the operation of the
physical world. God had designed, created
and established the natural laws, and
keeps the behavior of the universe and
everything therein conforming to them.
The true almighty God is not a mere
word in a book on a dusty shelf. He is
alive and all-powerful. He intervenes in
the created natural order with miracles
from time to time for a variety of
reasons. Genuine godly miracles are the
supernatural works of the true living
almighty God. Those miracles
accompanied both the Jewish and
Christian revelations, especially at critical
moments in their history. They continue to
occur under certain conditions in the
history of the Christian Church. The
following presentation provides a
panoramic view of the miracles of the
living God since the dawn of humankinds
history on Earth until this day.
II. CATEGORIES OF MIRACLES
Godly miracles are wonders performed
by the divine power of the almighty God
for His glory, and for the benefit of man.
Their effects are grasped by the senses of
sight, hearing, etc. Gods divine power in
the miracle acts either directly, or
mediately through creatures or inanimate
things. God may act through creatures,
such as angels (e.g. the deliverance of the
apostle Peter from prison in Acts 12:
3-10). God may also act through men:
Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7: 9-10, 14-21),
the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17), the
prophet Elisha (2 Kings 5), the Apostles
(Acts 2:43), St. Peter (Acts 9: 36-42), St.
Paul (Acts 19: 11-12; 20: 7-12), the early
Christians (Galatians 3:5), etc.
God may also channel His divine
power through inanimate objects that are
related to Him in a special way:
1. Holy relics, e.g., the mantle of Elijah (2
Kings 2: 6-9, 14), the body of Elisha (2
Kings 13: 20-21), the hem of Christ's
garment (Matthew 9: 20-22), the
handkerchiefs of St. Paul (Acts 19:12);
2. Holy images, e.g., the bronze serpent
(Numbers 21: 5-9);
3. Holy things, e.g., the Ark of the
Covenant, the sacred vessels of the
Temple (Daniel 5);
4. Holy places, e.g., the Temple of
Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 7: 1-2), the
waters of the Jordan (2 Kings 5), the Pool
of Bethsaida (John 5: 1-16).
A. Commanded Unnatural
Events
God, who makes the natural laws
operate, intervenes and transcends them
on occasion for a variety of reasons,
without affecting their marvelous stability
and harmony. The miraculous events
manifest the supernatural divine powers
and glory of the almighty living God as he
intervenes directly in the natural order
that he had created. These miracles are
scientifically inexplicable. Natural forces
alone could not produce them.
These miracles abound in the Holy
Bible. It is edifying to cite a few examples
herein. Isaac was born miraculously after
the Lord God had promised Abraham, his
father, saying: Sarah your wife shall
bear you a son, and you shall call his
name Isaac (Genesis 17: 19a; 21: 1-8).
His mother Sarah was an old woman of
ninety years of age, well beyond the age
of child bearing. And his father Abraham
was an old man of one hundred years of
age: Now Abraham and Sarah were old,
well advanced in age; and Sarah had
passed the age of
childbearing (Genesis 18: 11). God fed
his prophet Elijah, the widow who hosted
him and her son for the three years and
six months of drought from a handful of
flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar (1
Kings 17: 12). Till the end of the drought,
The bin of flour was not used up, nor
did the jar of oil run dry, according to
the word of the LORD which He spoke
by Elijah (1 Kings 17: 16).
Christ performed miracles of creation
creating new substance. He fed the
hungry crowds by multiplying the few
loaves of bread and fishes to feed
thousands of hungry people with plenty of
left-over food which they collected in
baskets (Luke 9: 11-17; Matthew 15:
32-39). He created two eyes for a man
born blind (John 9). This man was born
without eyeballs. Jesus created in him a
pair of new eyeballs from clay with which
he anointed the blind mans eye sockets.
This miracle reminds us of Gods creation
of Adam from clay (Genesis 2:7). Christ
raised Lazarus from the dead four days
after his death after his corpse had begun
to decompose in his grave (John 11: 1-44).
Some of the diseases that Christ cured
in His many healing miracles are curable
utilizing the medical knowledge of today,
which was not available in His day.
However, the manner of His performing
the healing was miraculous, because it was
instantaneous (e.g. the healing of the
leper, and the paralytic (Luke 5: 12-26),
etc).
B. Commanded Events
Utilizing the Laws of Nature
Sometimes God asks a prophet to
request a certain event. God will then do
this event utilizing natural forces timed to
precisely coincide with the prophets
request or prayer. For instance, God
struck the land of Egypt with ten plagues
in order to get the Pharaoh of Egypt to
release the enslaved Israelites. In the
eighth plague, God struck the land of
Egypt with locusts (Exodus 10: 3-20).
When Moses stretched out his staff as the
Lord God had commanded him, The
LORD brought an east wind on the land
all that day and all that night. When it
was morning, the east wind brought
the locusts (Exodus 10: 13b-14). God
used natural forces to bring the locusts
that Moses asked for. He also used natural
forces to remove the locusts from the
land of Egypt. When Moses prayed to the
Lord to remove the locusts, The LORD
turned a very strong west wind, which
took the locusts away and blew them
into the Red Sea. There remained not
one locust in all the territory of
Egypt (Exodus 10: 19). Similarly, the
Lord God used natural forces upon the
request of Moses to cause the parting of
the waters of the Red sea that the
Israelites might flee from the pursuing
army of the Pharaoh: Then Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea;
and the LORD caused the sea to go
back by a strong east wind all that
night, and made the sea into dry land,
and the waters were divided (Exodus
14: 21).
III. ESSENTIAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF
MIRACLES
All miracles of our concern have
important authenticating characteristics.
They occur by the power of God invoked
by the command, or by the prayer, of the
person to whom they are attributed. That
is, they are not random events of chance
that may occur by themselves. So, the
miracles of Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha,
etc. occurred at their prayers and
requests. Christ commanded his miracles.
Miracles are Gods providence for
man. Therefore, they are of high moral
character as pertains to their
circumstances, and their purpose. In
general, faith is not required for
performing miracles. For instance, faith is
absent as evidenced by the fear of the
disciples at Christ stilling the tempest
(Mark 4:40), at Christ walking on the
waters (Mark 6:51), at the large catch of
fish (Luke 5:8-10), and in the miracles of
expelling demons. In some miracles, Christ
requires faith, but faith is not the cause
of the miracle. It is only the condition
and the environment of His exercising His
power and authority.
In His miracles, Christ does suddenly
and locally what God has done, or will do
in the future universally in general. We
cite a few examples of these miracles
herein.
Christ created new eyes from clay for
a man born blind without eyeballs, as God
had created man from clay (John 9;
Genesis 2: 7). Christ multiplied little bread
and fish to feed hungry thousands of
people (Mathew 14: 15-21; 15: 32-39).
Every year God multiplies little wheat
sown in the ground into much wheat at
harvest. And every year, God multiplies
the fish in every river, lake and sea.
Christ raised Lazarus from the dead
four days after his death after his corpse
had begun to decompose in his grave
(John 11: 1-44). This miracle anticipates
and prefigures the general resurrection
when Christ will raise all the dead. Christ
was transfigured on mount Tabor before
His disciples Peter, James and John. His
face shone like the sun, and his clothes
became as white as the light (Mathew l7:
1-8). Christ walked on the turbulent
waters of the sea of Galilee (Mathew 14:
22-33). These two miracles provide an
anticipatory glimpse of the new human
nature of the faithful after resurrection.
It is important to distinguish between
miracles of the almighty living God and
accomplishments of natural human
talents. The achievements of human
talents and special abilities are not
miracles. Some persons may be gifted
physicallythey have strong large bodies.
Others may have strong photographic
memories. Some are gifted in the area of
languages. They have the natural ability to
learn many languages, including unwritten
dialects, quickly and retain them. Some
are gifted in speech. They talk very
well and make captivating speeches.
Others may be gifted writers and
poets. They author excellent prose and
poetry. It is important to stress the
fact that language fluency, authoring
and speech abilities are human talents.
They are not miracles of the living God.
Therefore, it is inappropriate to call any
book a miracle because of its eloquent
language. Great works of gifted authors
and poets could not be called miracles.
For instance, we cannot call the Eliad and
the Odyssey, the great works of the
illiterate blind Greek poet Homer of the
eighth century B.C., miracles. Neither can
we call the plays of William Shakespeare,
the great English writer of the sixteenth
century A.D., miracles. By the same
token, we could not consider the
Quran a miracle, even if it were a
great literary work, which it is not. The
question of why the Quran is not a
miracle is analyzed in greater detail in this
page:
http://3lotus.com/en/Islam/Quran-Not-a-
Miracle.htm
It is also important to distinguish
between miracles, and cases of
neurological illness and demonic
possession. If a person experiences
seizures and his mouth foams, he is either
afflicted with epilepsy, another
neurological illness, or he is demon
possessed. In fact, Jesus exorcized demons
that had tormented the possessed person
in this very same way: Suddenly a man
from the multitude cried out, saying,
Teacher, I implore You, look on my
son, for he is my only child. And
behold, a spirit seizes him, and he
suddenly cries out; it convulses him so
that he foams at the mouth; and it
departs from him with great difficulty,
bruising him. So I implored Your
disciples to cast it out, but they could
not. Then Jesus answered and said, O
faithless and perverse generation, how
long shall I be with you and bear with
you? Bring your son here. And as he
was still coming, the demon threw him
down and convulsed him. Then Jesus
rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the
child, and gave him back to his
father (Luke 9: 38-42). There are
striking similarities between the symptoms
that boy suffered from and what used to
happen to Muhammad when he claimed
divine inspiration. Instead, was it a Satanic
inspiration all along?
Seizures leading to trances the way
Muhammad experienced are not miracles
of the living God. God is all-holy, loving
and faithful. Neither He nor His angels
betray, torment or do violence to His
prophets that serve Him. In fact, the Holy
Bible teaches us that whenever the angel
Gabriel appeared to deliver a message to
someone, he always gave that person
assurances of peace and safety: But the
angel said to him, Do not be afraid,
Zacharias And the angel answered
and said to him: I am Gabriel, who
stands in the presence of God, and was
sent to speak to you and bring you
these glad tidings (Luke 1: 13a, 19);
Now in the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent by God to a city of
Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin
betrothed to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David. The
virgins name was Mary. Then the
angel said to her: Do not be afraid,
Mary, for you have found favor with
God (Luke 1: 26-27, 30).
IV. PURPOSE OF MIRACLES
The living God intervenes occasionally
in the human sphere with miracles for a
number of very important reasons
discussed herein. The primary purpose
and final cause of any godly miracle is two
fold: the manifestation of Gods glory, and
the good of man. Hence, godly miracles
do not produce disorder or discord, nor
do they have elements that are evil,
useless, or meaningless. That distinguishes
them from mere wonders and tricks
performed by magicians and evil spirits,
which lack the meaning, purpose and high
moral character of the miraculous acts of
God for men. Only the power of the living
God could perform substantial miracles,
such as raising the dead to life (Luke 7;
John 11; etc.), creating new eyes for a
man born without eyeballs (John 9), etc.
The power of evil spirits is limited. They
could not do these miracles (Exodus 8:
18-19; etc.).
Godly miracles confirm and urge the
acceptance of doctrines of faith, attest the
sanctity of Gods servants, confer benefits,
and provide divine justice. Godly miracles
are the strongest and most certain
evidences of the authenticity and
genuineness of divine revelation.
A. Miracles Validate Divine
Revelations
Miracles are associated with genuine
divine revelation, and instill confidence in
it. Quite often, miracles prove and verify
the divine origin of the revelation. Godly
miracles are the objective unquestionable
hard evidence that guarantees, seals,
validates, and authenticates the subjective
inspiration bestowed upon mans spirit.
Miracles validate alleged divine
revelation only if the new teaching is
consistent, and in harmony with the entire
complex of the former existing well-
established revelation. It expounds on it,
supplements it, fulfills it, completes it and
provides progressive development to it as
the religious capacity of the humankind
matures and becomes more receptive. The
new authentic prophet could not provide
new teachings and doctrine that oppose
and contradict the known and accepted
consistent previous revelation which has
been preached for centuries before him.
If there arises among you a prophet
or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives
you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or
the wonder comes to pass, of which he
spoke to you, saying, Let us go after
other godswhich you have not
knownand let us serve them, you
shall not listen to the words of that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for
the Lord your God is testing you to
know whether you love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all
your soul (Deuteronomy 13: 1-4;
Jeremiah 14: 14; 23: 16-32). Jesus has
warned us not to be deceived by miracles
of false prophets, False christs and
false prophets will rise and show great
signs and wonders to deceive, if
possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:
24).
God called Moses from the burning
bush in mount Sinai in order to send him
to liberate the Israelites from the bondage
of the Pharaoh of Egypt: Come now,
therefore, and I will send you to
Pharaoh that you may bring My people,
the children of Israel, out of
Egypt (Exodus 3: 10). Moses attention
was attracted to Gods call by the miracle
he saw as he looked, and behold, the
bush was burning with fire, but the
bush was not consumed (Exodus 3:
2b). One of the most important questions
Moses asked was: But suppose they will
not believe me or listen to my voice;
suppose they say, The LORD has not
appeared to you (Exodus 4: 1). Moses
was asking how he could prove to the
Israelites that God had indeed sent him.
God responded positively to his legitimate
concern by empowering him to do
miracles in order to prove the authenticity
of his revelation.
The Israelites confessed and
worshipped the true living God in
response to the miracle that the prophet
Elijah had done on mount Carmel (1 Kings
18: 20-40). The prophet Elisha healed
Naaman, the commander of the Syrian
army, from his leprosy. As a result,
Naaman believed in the true living God (2
Kings 5: 1-15).
Miracles are not accidental or external
to Christ. They are part of the very
substance of the Gospel of Christ. They
are inseparable from His holy life and
supernatural teachings. He exercised
Divine power in diverse ways at every
turn. He healed the sick; He expelled
demons that tormented people; He
granted sight to the blind; He fed the
hungry multitudes; He raised the dead; He
stilled the storm; He walked on the raging
waters of the sea; etc. In fact, Jesus Christ
appealed often to His many powerful
miracles, some of which are unique in
history, as the most decisive proof of His
divine Sonship to God the Father, and of
the authenticity of His divine mission: If
I do not do the works of My Father
(God the Father), do not believe Me;
but if I do, though you do not believe
Me, believe the works, that you may
know and believe that the Father is in
Me, and I in Him (John 10: 37-38; 5:
36; 20: 31). In addition, He condemned
the obstinate Jews who did not believe in
Him after seeing His powerful miracles as
having no excuse for their disbelief (John
15: 22, 24). He gave His apostles, His
disciples, and the Church the power of
working miracles in His name (Mathew 10:
8; Luke 10: 9, 19; Mark 3: 15; 16: 17).
B. Miracles are Part of Divine
Revelations
Miracles are not mere proofs of the
authenticity of divine revelations, but they
themselves form part of the revelations.
God manifests Himself in a supernatural
manner through miracles that reveal and
teach different aspects of His character
and will, Who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them; Who
keeps truth forever, Who executes
justice for the oppressed, Who gives
food to the hungry. The LORD gives
freedom to the prisoners. The LORD
opens the eyes of the blind; The LORD
raises those who are bowed down; The
LORD loves the righteous. The LORD
watches over the strangers; He
relieves the fatherless and widow; But
the way of the wicked He turns upside
down (Psalm 146: 6-9).
In the Old Testament (the Torah, etc),
God revealed himself through powers and
miracles as the liberator of the enslaved
Israelites from the bondage of the
Pharaoh of Egypt: I am the LORD your
God, who brought you out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage (Exodus 20: 2); So the LORD
brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand and with an outstretched arm,
with great terror and with signs and
wonders (Deuteronomy 26: 8). Through
powerful miracles, God revealed that he
judges the inequities of man in great
events such as the flood of Noah (Genesis
6: 5-8: 14), the destruction of the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:
1-29), and the destruction of the northern
kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 17:
6-23) and the southern kingdom of Judah
in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25) because of their
apostasies, transgressions and inequities.
God has revealed and manifested his
divine character fully as pertains to
humanity in the person of Jesus Christ,
the incarnate Word of God, through
words, character and mighty miracles.
God in Christ has manifested His character
of exceeding love, mercy and caring for
humanity through the miracles of healing
the sick, feeding the hungry, raising the
dead, freeing the demon-possessed, and
liberating those that follow him from the
bondage of sin and corruption. These
miracles have showed His compassion for
sinful and suffering humanity. The many
miracles of healing have pointed to
Christs spiritual work of healing the ills of
the human soul, and thereby, renewing it.
The miracles of raising the dead to life
have emphasized that Christ came to give
abundant life to humanity and rescue it
from the grip of spiritual death. In reply
to the inquiry of John the Baptist, Jesus
answered and said to them, Go and tell
John the things which you hear and
see: The blind see and the lame walk;
the lepers are cleansed and the deaf
hear; the dead are raised up and the
poor have the gospel preached to
them. And blessed is he who is not
offended because of Me (Matthew 11:
4-6).
C. Miracles are Gods Living
Interaction with Humanity
One of the main modes of Gods
interaction with humanity is His
intervening in the natural order in
response to the human situation. He
responds to mans transgressions by
warning, and chastening followed by
judgment. He responded to the inequities
of the people at the time of Noah by
destroying them by a catastrophic flood
while sparing Noah and his family for a
new beginning on the earth (Genesis 6:
5-8: 14). God responded to the moral
decadence of the people of Sodom and
Gomorrah by destroying them with fire
(Genesis 19: 1-29). God responded to the
arrogance of the Pharaoh of Egypt by
striking him ten times (Exodus 7: 10-12:
36), and finally by destroying his army in
the waters of the Red sea (Exodus 14).
God responded to the faithlessness of the
Israelites by condemning the generation
that complained against Him to death in
the wilderness of Sinai and by preventing
it from entering the Promised Land
(Numbers 14). God responded to the
apostasies and immoralities of the biblical
cities of the land of Canaan by destroying
them by the army of Joshua whom he
supported by powers and miracles in his
military campaigns (Joshua 6-12). God
responded to the apostasies and
transgressions of the northern kingdom of
Israel by destroying it by the Assyrian
army in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 17: 6-23), and
the southern kingdom of Judah by the
Babylonian army in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 25).
God responded to the true repentance of
the people of the city of Nineveh as a
result of the warning of the prophet Jonah
by forgiving their transgressions and
saving the city from destruction in
judgment (Jonah 3).
God also responds positively to the
prayers and acts of worship of the faithful
who live in fellowship with Christ. He is a
personal God. It is Gods pleasure in
Christ to have a personal relationship and
communion with the human person whom
He has made as a conscious free being like
Himself: My delight was with the sons
of men (Proverbs 8: 31b); Then God
said, Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air, and over the
cattle, over all the earth and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth (Genesis 1: 26). In response to
Moses intercession, God provided manna
and quails to feed the Israelites for forty
years in the wilderness of Sinai (Exodus
16: 3-36; Numbers 11: 6-9, 31-35;
Deuteronomy 8: 3, 16). God also provided
them with water to drink in the desert
(Exodus 15: 23-25; 17: 1-7; Numbers 20:
7-13). In response to the request of
Joshua, God prolonged the day of the
decisive battle for the land of Canaan that
he might be victorious (Joshua 10: 12-14).
God fed his prophet Elijah and the widow
that hosted him in her house and her son
for the three years and six months of
drought and famine (1 Kings 17: 8-16;
Luke 4: 25) in the reign of king Ahab of
the northern kingdom of Israel (874-853
B.C.). God subsequently ended the
drought based on Elijah request (1 Kings
18: 41-45). The Lord God struck the army
of Sennacherib, king of the Assyrian
empire, in 701 B.C. in response to the
prayer of Hezekiah, king of the southern
kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 19: 14-37);
And it came to pass on a certain night
that the angel of the LORD went out,
and killed in the camp of the Assyrians
one hundred and eighty-five thousand;
and when people arose early in the
morning, there were the corpses--all
dead (2 Kings 19: 35). Subsequently,
Hezekiah was healed after he had cried
out to the Lord God for healing (2 Kings
20: 1-11).
Christ healed the sick, fed the hungry,
raised the dead, exorcised demons, and
calmed the forces of nature in response to
the human situation.
The interaction of the Lord God with
the human situation through miracles of
healing, exorcism and other types of
miracles has continued throughout the
Church age till this day, and will continue
to the end of the age, as God does not
change.
V. EXAMPLES OF MIRACLES
OF THE LIVING GOD
We briefly present herein a few
miracles from different periods of history.
A. The Old Testament (the
Torah, etc)
1. The divine call of Moses
The Lord God called Moses to
prophecy in the 15th century B.C. by the
miracle of the burning bush. The bush was
aflame. But the fire did not consume it.
Now Moses was tending the flock
of Jethro his father-in-law, the
priest of Midian. And he led the
flock to the back of the desert,
and came to Horeb, the mountain
of God. And the Angel of the LORD
appeared to him in a flame of fire
from the midst of a bush. So he
looked, and behold, the bush was
burning with fire, but the bush
was not consumed. Then Moses
said, I will now turn aside and
see this great sight, why the bush
does not burn. So when the LORD
saw that he turned aside to look,
God called to him from the midst
of the bush and said, Moses,
Moses! And he said, Here I am.
Then He said, Do not draw near
this place. Take your sandals off
your feet, for the place where you
stand is holy ground. Moreover
He said, I am the God of your
fatherthe God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for
he was afraid to look upon God.
And the LORD said: I have surely
seen the oppression of My people
who are in Egypt, and have heard
their cry because of their
taskmasters, for I know their
sorrows. So I have come down to
deliver them out of the hand of
the Egyptians, and to bring them
up from that land to a good and
large land, to a land flowing with
milk and honey, to the place of
the Canaanites and the Hittites
and the Amorites and the
Perizzites and the Hivites and the
Jebusites. Now therefore, behold,
the cry of the children of Israel
has come to Me, and I have also
seen the oppression with which
the Egyptians oppress them. Come
now, therefore, and I will send
you to Pharaoh that you may
bring My people, the children of
Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses
said to God, Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh, and that I
should bring the children of Israel
out of Egypt? So He said, I will
certainly be with you. And this
shall be a sign to you that I have
sent you: When you have brought
the people out of Egypt, you shall
serve God on this
mountain (Exodus 3: 1-12).
The burning bush symbolized Virgin
Mary when she was pregnant with Jesus.
The fire symbolized the divine power and
glory of Jesus Christ who indwelt her
womb for nine months. As the divine fire
had not consumed the flaming bush, the
divine power of Jesus Christ did not harm
his mother Virgin Mary.
Moses did not fear for his life in this
encounter. It was not a scary painful
experience inciting terror in Moses heart.
The true living God is all-holy, loving and
faithful. Neither He nor His holy angels
harm or torment His true prophets and
apostles that serve Him. In fact, the Holy
Bible teaches us that whenever the angel
Gabriel appeared to deliver a message to
someone, he always gave that person
assurances of peace and safety: But the
angel said to him, Do not be afraid,
Zacharias And the angel answered
and said to him: I am Gabriel, who
stands in the presence of God, and was
sent to speak to you and bring you
these glad tidings (Luke 1: 13a, 19);
Now in the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent by God to a city of
Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin
betrothed to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David. The
virgins name was Mary. Then the
angel said to her: Do not be afraid,
Mary, for you have found favor with
God (Luke 1: 26-27, 30).
2. The prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel:
The living God destroys a lifeless pagan
god
In the reign of king Ahab of the
northern kingdom of Israel (874-853
B.C.), the Israelites apostatized after
pagan gods called the Baal and Asherah
(Baals consort), and left the living God of
their ancestors. No one can serve two
masters; for either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will be
loyal to the one and despise the
other (Matthew 6: 24a). The Lord God
worked out a great miracle through his
prophet Elijah to restore the Israelites
back to him.
Then it happened, when Ahab
saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him,
Is that you, O troubler of Israel?
And he answered, I have not
troubled Israel, but you and your
father's house have, in that you
have forsaken the commandments
of the LORD and have followed the
Baals. Now therefore, send and
gather all Israel to me on Mount
Carmel, the four hundred and fifty
prophets of Baal, and the four
hundred prophets of Asherah, who
eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab
sent for all the children of Israel,
and gathered the prophets
together on Mount Carmel. And
Elijah came to all the people, and
said, How long will you falter
between two opinions? If the LORD
is God, follow Him; but if Baal,
follow him. But the people
answered him not a word. Then
Elijah said to the people, I alone
am left a prophet of the LORD; but
Baal's prophets are four hundred
and fifty men. Therefore let them
give us two bulls; and let them
choose one bull for themselves,
cut it in pieces, and lay it on the
wood, but put no fire under it; and
I will prepare the other bull, and
lay it on the wood, but put no fire
under it. Then you call on the
name of your gods, and I will call
on the name of the LORD; and the
God who answers by fire, He is
God. So all the people answered
and said, It is well spoken.
Now Elijah said to the prophets
of Baal, Choose one bull for
yourselves and prepare it first, for
you are many; and call on the
name of your god, but put no fire
under it. So they took the bull
which was given them, and they
prepared it, and called on the
name of Baal from morning even
till noon, saying, O Baal, hear us!
But there was no voice; no one
answered. Then they leaped about
the altar which they had made.
And so it was, at noon, that Elijah
mocked them and said, Cry aloud,
for he is a god; either he is
meditating, or he is busy, or he is
on a journey, or perhaps he is
sleeping and must be awakened.
So they cried aloud, and cut
themselves, as was their custom,
with knives and lances, until the
blood gushed out on them. And
when midday was past, they
prophesied until the time of the
offering of the evening sacrifice.
But there was no voice; no one
answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the
people, Come near to me. So all
the people came near to him. And
he repaired the altar of the LORD
that was broken down. And Elijah
took twelve stones, according to
the number of the tribes of the
sons of Jacob, to whom the word
of the LORD had come, saying,
Israel shall be your name. Then
with the stones he built an altar
in the name of the LORD; and he
made a trench around the altar
large enough to hold two seahs of
seed. And he put the wood in
order, cut the bull in pieces, and
laid it on the wood, and said, Fill
four water pots with water, and
pour it on the burnt sacrifice and
on the wood. Then he said, Do it
a second time, and they did it a
second time; and he said, Do it a
third time, and they did it a third
time. So the water ran all around
the altar; and he also filled the
trench with water. And it came to
pass, at the time of the offering
of the evening sacrifice, that
Elijah the prophet came near and
said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Israel, let it be known this
day that You are God in Israel and
I am Your servant, and that I
have done all these things at Your
word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me,
that this people may know that
You are the LORD God, and that
You have turned their hearts back
to You again. Then the fire of the
LORD fell and consumed the burnt
sacrifice, and the wood and the
stones and the dust, and it licked
up the water that was in the
trench. Now when all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces;
and they said, The LORD, He is
God! The LORD, He is God! And
Elijah said to them, Seize the
prophets of Baal! Do not let one of
them escape! So they seized
them; and Elijah brought them
down to the Brook Kishon and
executed them there. (1 Kings
18: 17-40).
Mount Carmel is an 1,800 feet high
mountain ridge jutting into the
Mediterranean Sea below the bay of Haifa.
Places of worship to Baal were located on
Mount Carmel. The prophet Elijah defeated
the Baal in its own territory. Baal was the
principal god of the Canaanite pagan
religion, which used ritual prostitution in
its cultic worship practices believing that
it may achieve the fertility of the land.
The Baal both owned and fertilized the
land. The Israelites committed the sin of
trying to combine the worship of their
true living God with that of the Baal, the
Canaanite false god. Consequently, the
Lord God withheld both dew and rain
from the Land three years and six months
(1 Kings 17: 1; 18: 18; Luke 4: 25; James
5: 17).
Elijah ordered 12 jars of water be
poured out to soak the wood of the stone
altar that he built, wet the ground around
it, and fill the trench around it in order to
leave no doubt about the truth and power
of the miracle about to happen. The 450
prophets of the Baal had kept up their
rituals for the good part of the day, and
ended up with dead silence from the false
god who could not answer. Elijahs prayer
lasted only less than a minute, but
produced a powerful visible response
from the true and only living God. This
convinced the Israelites of the one true
God. After their repentance and return to
the Lord God, He sent lots of rain on their
thirsty drought stricken land (1 Kings 18:
41-46). At the end, Elijah commanded that
the prophets of the Baal be seized and
executed for their wicked crimes against
man and God.
3. Destruction of Sennacheribs
Assyrian army
Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.), king of
the mighty Assyrian empire, invaded with
a huge army the southern kingdom of
Judah in the reign of king Hezekiah
(715-686 B.C.). The Assyrian army laid
siege to the capital city of Jerusalem.
Hezekiah did not have sufficient troops to
defend his capital. Sennacherib
blasphemed the living God and sent
messengers to Hezekiah saying: Thus you
shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah,
saying: Do not let your God in whom
you trust deceive you, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the
hand of the king of Assyria. Look! You
have heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands by utterly
destroying them; and shall you be
delivered? Have the gods of the nations
delivered those whom my fathers have
destroyed, Gozan and Haran and
Rezeph, and the people of Eden who
were in Telassar? Where is the king of
Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena,
and Ivah? (2 Kings 19: 10-13).
Hezekiah pleaded with the Lord in a
fervent prayer. The Lord God interceded
and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops in one
night in 701 B.C.
And Hezekiah received the
letter from the hand of the
messengers, and read it; and
Hezekiah went up to the house of
the LORD, and spread it before the
LORD. Then Hezekiah prayed
before the LORD, and said: O
LORD God of Israel, the One who
dwells between the cherubim, You
are God, You alone, of all the
kingdoms of the earth. You have
made heaven and earth. Incline
Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open
Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and
hear the words of Sennacherib,
which he has sent to reproach the
living God. Truly, LORD, the kings
of Assyria have laid waste the
nations and their lands, and have
cast their gods into the fire; for
they were not gods, but the work
of men's hands--wood and stone.
Therefore they destroyed them.
Now therefore, O LORD our God, I
pray, save us from his hand, that
all the kingdoms of the earth may
know that You are the LORD God,
You alone. Then Isaiah the son of
Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying,
Thus says the LORD God of Israel:
Because you have prayed to Me
against Sennacherib king of
Assyria, I have heard. Therefore
thus says the LORD concerning
the king of Assyria: He shall not
come into this city, Nor shoot an
arrow there, Nor come before it
with shield, Nor build a siege
mound against it. By the way that
he came, By the same shall he
return; And he shall not come into
this city, Says the LORD. For I will
defend this city, to save it for My
own sake and for My servant
David's sake.
And it came to pass on a
certain night that the angel of the
LORD went out, and killed in the
camp of the Assyrians one
hundred and eighty-five thousand;
and when people arose early in the
morning, there were the corpses--
all dead. So Sennacherib king of
Assyria departed and went away,
returned home, and remained at
Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as
he was worshiping in the temple
of Nisroch his god, that his sons
Adrammelech and Sharezer struck
him down with the sword; and
they escaped into the land of
Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son
reigned in his place (2 Kings 19:
14-20, 32-37).
Despite the fact that the Assyrians
worshipped false gods made of stone, God
used the Assyrian empire in judgment on
the nations of the Fertile Crescent for
their transgressions and excesses.
Sennacherib, one of its great kings, was
but Gods instrument of correction for
neighboring nations. God preordained the
conquests of the Assyrian armies as He
tells us by His prophet Isaiah: Did you
not hear long ago how I made it, from
ancient times that I formed it? Now I
have brought it to pass, that you
(Sennacherib) should be for crushing
fortified cities into heaps of
ruins (Isaiah 37: 26-29).
Although Hezekiah did not know how
God would accomplish His promises, he
fully trusted in God and in His word
delivered by His prophet Isaiah. That
helped strengthen Hezekiahs faith as he
continued to pray and wait for God to
accomplish His plan.
The prophecy of the Assyrian armys
withdrawal from the vicinity of Jerusalem
was fulfilled shortly thereafter. However,
the prophecy of Sennacheribs demise
(Isaiah 37: 7) was fulfilled some twenty
years later in 681 B.C. when two of
Sennacheribs sons assassinated him in the
temple of his pagan god. This completed
the fulfillment of the divine prophecy of
Isaiah concerning the Assyrian empire. The
will of God is always fulfilled in His
appointed time (2 Peter 3: 4-9).
Subsequently, God judged the Assyrian
empire for its ruthlessness, cruelty and
apostasies. It fell in 612 B.C. when its
capital city, Nineveh, was destroyed as
prophesied by the prophet Nahum.
4. Deliverance of three faithful Jewish
men from the fiery furnace
Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.), the
greatest king of the Babylonian empire,
set up a golden image and commanded
that all peoples in the empire worship it:
At the time you hear the sound of the
horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in
symphony with all kinds of music, you
shall fall down and worship the gold
image that King Nebuchadnezzar has
set up; and whoever does not fall down
and worship shall be cast immediately
into the midst of a burning fiery
furnace (Daniel 3: 5-6). Three Hebrew
men, who were captive in Babylon,
refused to do that. As a result, he ordered
them thrown in the fiery furnace. The
living Lord God whom they worshiped
rescued them from the fire unharmed.
Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage
and fury, gave the command to
bring Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-Nego. So they brought these
men before the king.
Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to
them, Is it true, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you
do not serve my gods or worship
the gold image which I have set
up? Now if you are ready at the
time you hear the sound of the
horn, flute, harp, lyre, and
psaltery, in symphony with all
kinds of music, and you fall down
and worship the image which I
have made, good! But if you do
not worship, you shall be cast
immediately into the midst of a
burning fiery furnace. And who is
the god who will deliver you from
my hands? Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-Nego answered and said
to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to answer you in
this matter. If that is the case,
our God whom we serve is able to
deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, and He will deliver us
from your hand, O king. But if
not, let it be known to you, O
king, that we do not serve your
gods, nor will we worship the gold
image which you have set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was full
of fury, and the expression on his
face changed toward Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He
spoke and commanded that they
heat the furnace seven times
more than it was usually heated.
And he commanded certain mighty
men of valor who were in his army
to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-Nego, and cast them into the
burning fiery furnace. Then these
men were bound in their coats,
their trousers, their turbans, and
their other garments, and were
cast into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace. Therefore, because
the king's command was urgent,
and the furnace exceedingly hot,
the flame of the fire killed those
men who took up Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And
these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell
down bound into the midst of the
burning fiery furnace. Then King
Nebuchadnezzar was astonished;
and he rose in haste and spoke,
saying to his counselors, Did we
not cast three men bound into the
midst of the fire? They answered
and said to the king, True, O
king. Look! he answered, I see
four men loose, walking in the
midst of the fire; and they are not
hurt, and the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God. Then
Nebuchadnezzar went near the
mouth of the burning fiery
furnace and spoke, saying,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
Nego, servants of the Most High
God, come out, and come here.
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-Nego came from the midst of
the fire. And the satraps,
administrators, governors, and the
king's counselors gathered
together, and they saw these men
on whose bodies the fire had no
power; the hair of their head was
not singed nor were their
garments affected, and the smell
of fire was not on them.
Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying,
Blessed be the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who
sent His Angel and delivered His
servants who trusted in Him, and
they have frustrated the king's
word, and yielded their bodies,
that they should not serve nor
worship any god except their own
God! Therefore I make a decree
that any people, nation, or
language which speaks anything
amiss against the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
Nego shall be cut in pieces, and
their houses shall be made an ash
heap; because there is no other
God who can deliver like this.
Then the king promoted Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the
province of Babylon (Daniel 3:
13-30).
These three men loved the Lord more
than life itself in accordance with the
divine commandment: You shall love
the LORD your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your
strength (Deuteronomy 6: 5). The Lord
was the center of their lives. He was more
important to them than fame, position, or
security. They were ready to lay down
their lives for Him, and to be burned alive
in the fiery furnace rather than betray
Him (Acts 20: 24).
They acknowledged Nebuchadnezzar as
king and obeyed him in civil matters: Let
every soul be subject to the governing
authority, Render therefore to all
their due: taxes to whom taxes are
due, customs to whom customs, fear to
whom fear, honor to whom
honor (Romans 13: 1a, 7). However,
their ultimate allegiance was to the King
of kings and the Lord of lordsthe true
living God, the almighty. If a conflict
arises between the commandments of God
and the decrees and regulations of civil
authorities, We ought to obey God
rather than men; Render therefore
to Caesar the things that are Caesars,
and to God the things that are
Gods (Acts 5: 29b; Matthew 22: 21b).
The three men got out of the furnace
when the king asked to. They were
unharmed. The fire had no effect on their
bodies and clothes. Only their bonds were
gone. The almighty living God they loved
and served was able to deliver them from
the fiery furnace.
Before that awesome display of the
power of the almighty living God,
Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged and praised
Him. He then decreed death and
destruction for any one who blasphemed
the true living God of the Israelites. This
mighty miracle shows us the sovereignty
of the true living God over the powerful
kingdom of Babylon, which had taken the
Israelites captive.
B. The New Testament (Injil,
etc)
1. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ
The birth of Jesus Christ was
miraculous. He was born from a virgin,
who never had contact with any man. He
had no natural human father. This is a
unique miracle in the history of
humankind. The angel of the living God
announced his miraculous conception to
his virgin mother Mary:
Now in the sixth month the
angel Gabriel was sent by God to a
city of Galilee named Nazareth, to
a virgin betrothed to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the house of
David. The virgin's name was
Mary. And having come in, the
angel said to her, Rejoice, highly
favored one, the Lord is with you;
blessed are you among women!
But when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, and
considered what manner of
greeting this was. Then the angel
said to her, Do not be afraid,
Mary, for you have found favor
with God. And behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bring
forth a Son, and shall call His
name JESUS. He will be great, and
will be called the Son of the
Highest; and the Lord God will give
Him the throne of His father
David. And He will reign over the
house of Jacob forever, and of His
kingdom there will be no end.
Then Mary said to the angel, How
can this be, since I do not know a
man? And the angel answered and
said to her, The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of
the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One who
is to be born will be called the Son
of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your
relative has also conceived a son
in her old age; and this is now the
sixth month for her who was
called barren. For with God
nothing will be impossible. Then
Mary said, Behold the
maidservant of the Lord! Let it be
to me according to your word.
And the angel departed from
her (Luke 1: 26-38).
The birth of Jesus and His infancy
fulfilled Old Testament (the Torah, etc)
prophecies provided centuries before
Christ (Isaiah 7: 14; 9: 6-7; Micah 5: 2;
Hosea 11: 1b; Jeremiah 31: 15). God
initiated the whole process of the birth of
Jesus. The power of the almighty living
God Himself, manifest in His Holy Spirit,
miraculously brought about the virginal
conception which was the direct action of
the Holy Spirit. Now the birth of Jesus
Christ was as follows: After His mother
Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before
they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Spirit (Matthew
1: 18, 20-21; Luke 1: 35).
The spiritual divine sonship of Jesus
Christ to God the Father is real and
unique. He is Emmanuel God with
us (Matthew 1: 23). The incarnation of
the eternal Son of God was a divine act of
self-limitation in the human form
(Philippians 2: 5-8). The name of
Jesus (Hebrew: Joshua) means in Hebrew
God is salvation: you shall call His
name Jesus, for He will save His people
from their sins (Matthew 1: 21b; Luke
1: 31). The name of Christ means the
Anointed (by the Holy Spirit of God the
Father).
The virgin birth of Christ established
two facts with equal effectiveness. On the
one hand, it asserted a real human nature
in Christ taken from His mother, the
Virgin Mary, who gave Him His human
birth. On the other hand, it asserted a
real divine nature because of His
exceptional birth which was unique in the
history of humankind, setting Jesus apart
as one whose entrance into the world was
due to a new mode of contact of God with
the human race: Great is the mystery
of godliness: God was manifested in
the flesh (1 Timothy 3: 16a). The two
natures are united without confusion or
alteration to either nature in the person
of Christ.
St. Mary freely and fully submitted to
the will of God (Luke 1: 38) disregarding
any shame a premarital pregnancy could
bring her, as she was engaged, but not
married, to Joseph. She was the home of
the fetus of Jesus for nine months.
Likewise, Christ is the present and eternal
home for all who believe in Him and live
in fellowship with Him. Jesus is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world (John 1: 29b). Jesus, the lamb
of God, was born in a cave used as a barn
for animals (Luke 2: 7). Angels announced
His birth first to shepherds keeping watch
over their flock at night (Luke 2: 8). All
that points to Jesus offering of himself on
the cross to atone for the sins of those
who believe in Him.
The angels of the living God protected
Jesus in His conception and in his infancy
from Joseph (Matthew 1: 19-21), from
king Herod who wanted to kill Him
(Matthew 2: 12-13), and from king
Archelaus (Matthew 2: 22).
2. The many miracles of Jesus Christ
Throughout his brief three-year
ministry on earth, Christ performed
countless miracles, some of which were
unique in humankinds historymiracles
that no one had done any thing like
before. Christ did a lot more miracles
than any prophet in human history. He
never used his divine power to hurt or to
destroy anyone, or for his material
benefit. His actions never issued in
meaningless wonders or useless marvels.
The most powerful miracle he did was
raising a man called Lazarus from the
dead after four days in the grave where
his corpse had begun to decompose (John
11: 1-44). Other powerful miracles are
miracles of creation of new substance.
Jesus fed thousands of hungry people with
plenty of left-over food by multiplying a
few loaves of bread and fishes (Luke 9:
11-17; Matthew 15: 32-39). Jesus created
two new eyeballs for a man born blind
without eyeballs (John 9). In addition,
Christ performed countless miracles of
healing all kinds of illnesses, and
exorcisms of demons tormenting people,
thereby liberating those people from the
control of the demonic powers of
darkness.
Christ performed his miracles publicly
so that people might see them and
believe. Based on the Gospel (Injil)
information, Christ did at least 900-1000
miracles. About 15,000 people saw those
miracles. In addition, approximately
another 86,000 friends and family
members knew the sick people before and
after their healing, and could confirm that
they were sick and were subsequently
healed. This means that approximately one
out of every twenty persons living in
Palestine at that time either had seen a
miracle, or knew someone who had been
healed. Only a small representative
proportion of the miracles of Christ is
described in the Gospels. And truly
Jesus did many other signs in the
presence of His disciples, which are not
written in this book; but these are
written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing you may have life in His
name (John 20: 30, 31; 21: 25).
3. Miracles of the apostles of Christ
The apostles of Christ worked many
miracles in His name in the first century
A.D. that people might believe the gospel
of Christ (Acts 2: 43; 8: 7). Christ gave
them the power to work miracles (Mark 3:
15; 16: 17). The apostle Peter healed the
sick (Acts 5: 15), and raised a faithful
woman called Dorcas from the dead (Acts
9: 36-43). The apostles Peter and John
healed a lame man (Acts 3: 2-11). Peter
and other apostles were miraculously
released from prison (Acts 5: 19-23; 12:
6-11; 16: 25-30). The apostle Paul struck
Elymas the sorcerer with blindness (Acts
13: 6-12); healed the cripple (Acts 14:
8-10); cast out evil spirits and cured the
sick (Acts 16: 18; 19: 11-12; 28: 8-9); and
raised the dead man Eutychus to life (Acts
20: 9-12). The apostle Paul reminded the
believers of his miracles in some of his
epistles (Romans 15: 18-19; 2 Corinthians
12: 12).
C. Miracles of the Post-
Apostolic Christian Era
Throughout the course of Church
history, well-authenticated miracles have
continued to take place in the Church. The
Christian Church from the time of the
Apostles of Christ has claimed an
uninterrupted succession of miraculous
powers. Many miracles of healing,
exorcism, speaking in tongues and
prophecy continue to occur till this day in
the name of Christ. In addition, other
types of miracles take place in response to
the human situation. We cite three major
miracles hereintwo of them occurred in
Egypt and one in Jerusalem.
1. Moving Mount al-Muqattam. 1
The purpose of God in his plan of
salvation is not to leave himself without a
witness in the Middle East. His sovereign
choice is that his witness be located in
Egypt where the largest surviving, and
therefore the most important, Dhimmi
Christian community in the Middle East
lives on: "In that day there will be an
altar to the Lord in the midst of the
land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord
at its border (Isaiah 19: 19); "The Lord
of hosts shall bless, saying, blessed is
Egypt My people" (Isaiah 19: 25a).
Every one thousand years, Christ makes
his powerful statement in Egypt
corroborating this prophecy. He seems to
declare out loud that his witness in Egypt
shall remain for the following one
thousand years, or till his second coming
in glory, whichever occurs first.
The first millennium was characterized
by a series of persecutions of the Coptic
Church of Egypt by the Romans, the
Chalcedonian Byzantines and the Muslims.
This miracle occurred at the end of the
first millennium in the tenth century in
the reigns of the Fatimid Muslim caliph al-
Muizz (952-975) and the Coptic Patriarch
Ephraem the Syrian (the 62nd Patriarch --
975-978). The Muslim caliph had a finance
minister called Jacob-ibn-Killis, who had
changed his religion from Judaism to
Islam in order to get a high position in the
government. Jacob hated Christians and
Christianity. He strove to prove that
Christianity is a false religion. He
requested that a debate be arranged with
Coptic representatives in the court of the
caliph. The Caliph granted him the debate.
He failed the debate, and the top Coptic
theologian, Bishop Sawires Ibn el-
Muqaffa, prevailed. This infuriated him
greatly, and he walked out of the debate
determined to do whatever he could to
obliterate Christianity from Egypt. In
order to accomplish that, he spoke to the
Muslim caliph about Jesus teaching to his
disciples in Matthew 17: 20: For
assuredly I say to you, if you have
faith as a mustard seed, you will say to
this mountain, Move from here to
there, and it will move; and nothing
will be impossible for you. He advised
the caliph to have the Christians of Egypt
prove the truthfulness of their religion by
moving a huge mountain called al-
Muqattam at the outskirts of the city of
Cairo. The caliph summoned the Coptic
Patriarch Ephraem and gave him three
choices: either to move the mountain; or
all the Copts of Egypt convert to Islam; or
all the Copts be dispossessed and exiled.
Upon his request, the Patriarch was
granted three days in order to prepare for
what was to be done. The Patriarch then
ordered the Christians of Egypt to fast
every day to sunset, and to continually
offer prayers that the Lord may protect
his Church from final annihilation. The
Church kept vigil and prayer for three
days and three nights. In the morning of
the third day, the Patriarch was totally
exhausted. He dosed off briefly in the
ancient church of St. Mary, known as the
hanging church, where he was maintaining
vigil (this church still stands till this day in
Old Cairo). He saw a vision of St. Mary,
the Theotokos. She gave him detailed
directions to find a man on whose hands
the Lord would move the mountain. He
followed her directions and found that
man who was a poor tanner called Simeon
clothed in filthy rags. Simeon was one-
eyed. He plucked out his other eye when a
woman tried to seduce him, as he
understood Jesus teaching of Matthew 5:
29 literally. He used to carry water jugs to
provide water to the elderly, the
handicapped, and the destitutethe
brothers of the Lord (Matthew 25: 35,40).
Simeon informed the Patriarch of what
was to be done.
The Patriarch informed the caliph that
the Lord would move the mountain. The
caliph took all the prominent men of his
court and his private guards and went to
the vicinity of the mountain. The Patriarch
took Simeon the tanner in his filthy rags,
his bishops and a large congregation of
the Copts and went to the foot of the
mountain. After celebrating the divine
liturgy, he and all the people bowed down
crying out to the Lord and saying "Lord
have mercy." At that moment, the earth
shook, and a loud noise was heard as the
rocks at the base of the huge mountain
began to fracture. As the Patriarch and
the congregation raised their heads up,
the mountain was lifted up to the sky, as
if by invisible hands, till the sun shone
through underneath it. As they bowed
down glorifying the might of the Lord, the
mountain came down. They did that three
times, and the Mountain rose and
descended three times following their
movement. This frightened the caliph, his
court, and his troops. He ran to the
Patriarch trembling with fear and begged
him to stop, as he now knew for certain
that Christ was true. As a result of this
miracle, Christianity was spared in Egypt,
and the conditions of the Copts were
greatly improved during the reign of that
caliph. New churches were built and
ruined churches were repaired. Al-Muizz
favored the Copts so much that he
ordered the tearing down of a mosque
that was built facing the church of Anba
Shinuda in Old Cairo. Despite Muslim
denials, there is a strong historical
circumstantial evidence that al-Muizz
converted to Christianity, was baptized,
abdicated the throne to his son, al-Aziz,
and spent the latter part of his life in a
desert monastery.2 In fact, his son, al-Aziz
married a Melkite Christian woman,
favored the Copts in high administrative
positions, permitted the building of new
churches and restoration of old ones, and
lifted the heavy tax burden off the Copts.
2. Apparitions of Virgin Mary, The
Theotokos.3
One thousand years later, at the end of
the second millennium, Christ made His
second public statement in Egypt without
delay.
Apparitions of Virgin Mary, the
Theotokos, began to occur on April 2,
1968 inside and atop the domes of her
church in al-Zaitun, a suburb of the city
of Cairo. These apparitions continued to
occur intermittently for over a year
during the reign of the saintly Patriarch
Cyril VI, the one hundred and sixteenth
Patriarch of the Coptic Church. In some
nights, her appearances lasted several
hours continuously before thousands of
people. Some of her appearances were
accompanied by the appearance of
luminous heavenly beings resembling
doves flying above her luminous figure.
And sometimes, lights flooded the central
dome of the church, and luminous clouds
hovered above the domes of the church.
People took photographic pictures of
her. It is estimated that over a million
people from all walks of life, including:
Copts, Muslims, European and American
tourists, the president of Egypt Nasser, his
wife and daughters saw her. Many healing
miracles occurred to sick people in the
crowd signifying exceeding grace. These
public apparitions are unprecedented in
history. Never before has Virgin Mary
appeared publicly to so many people for
such a relatively long period of time.
Once again, Christianity was spared in
Egypt. Christ has issued his timely
statement loud and clear that his witness
in Egypt shall remain another millennium,
or till his second advent in glory,
whichever occurs first.
For more information on this miracle,
including photographic pictures, please
visit this website:
http://www.zeitun-eg.org/zeitoun1.htm
3. The holy fire of Easter
Quite often, light and fire are
associated with Gods activity and with
manifestation of the presence of His
glory. The Lord called Moses form the
burning bush that was not consumed by
fire (Exodus 3: 2-4). When the lord
descended on Mount Sinai to give the law
to Moses, Now Mount Sinai was
completely in smoke, because the Lord
descended upon it in fire. Its smoke
ascended like the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mountain quaked
greatly (Exodus 19: 18); The sight of
the glory of the Lord was like a
consuming fire on the top of the
mountain in the eyes of the children of
Israel (Exodus 24: 17); Now it was so,
when Moses came down from Mount
Sinai (and the two tablets of the
Testimony were in Moses hand when
he came down from the mountain),
that Moses did not know that the skin
of his face shone while he talked with
Him. So when Aaron and all the
children of Israel saw Moses, behold,
the skin of his face shone, and they
were afraid to come near him (Exodus
34: 29-30). The Lord led the Israelites in
the wilderness of Sinai in pillars of cloud
and fire: And the Lord went before
them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead
the way, and by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light, so as to go by day
and night (Exodus 13: 21). At the
dedication of Solomons temple, the Lord
manifested the presence of His glory by a
bright cloud that filled the temple (1 Kings
8: 10-11; Ezekiel 10: 4). The prophet
Elijah offered to the Lord an animal
sacrifice (a bull) on Mount Carmel in
order to convince the Israelites that the
Lord is the true God, not the pagan gods
they had apostatized after, Then the fire
of the LORD fell and consumed the
burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the
stones and the dust, and it licked up
the water that was in the trench (1
Kings 18: 38). When Jesus was
transfigured before some of His disciples
on Mount Tabor, the appearance of His
face was altered, and His robe became
white and glistening (Luke 9: 29).
When the women went to the tomb of
Jesus after His resurrection, they saw two
men (angels) in shining garments (Luke
24: 4).
In the early afternoon of the Orthodox
Holy Saturday (Easter Saturday), that
precedes the Orthodox Easter Sunday, a
delegation from the local non-Christian
authorities (used to be Muslims, now
Israelis) enter the tomb of Christ in the
small chapel located inside the church of
the Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher), and
check it out in order to ascertain that it
does not contain any hidden source of fire
whatsoever. They then seal its door with
wax. This is reminiscent of what the
Roman authorities had done after Christs
burial. It sealed His tomb and posted
Roman guards at it lest His disciples
come by night and steal Him away, and
say to the people, He has risen from
the dead. So the last deception will be
worse than the first (Matthew 27:
64b). Then all the sources of light are
extinguished in the church. After circling
the chapel that contains the tomb of
Christ three times in the wake of a large
procession, the Orthodox Patriarch of
Jerusalem enters the tomb with two unlit
candles. He kneels in front of the stone
where Christ was laid after His death on
the cross. He prays fervently for a few
minutes. Then the holy light springs out of
the stone. The celestial holy light appears
as a blue indefinable light that may take
many hues and colors. At the first
moments of its appearance, it does not
burn. It lights the Patriarch candles. The
light then is passed on to the candles of
the waiting faithful from the Patriarch
candles. In addition, the holy light lights
unlit closed oil lamps hanging in different
places in the chapels and church beyond
the reach of the faithful pilgrims. It also
lights the candles of some pious pilgrims.
It may move around the chapels and
church. A person who receives the light
directly on his candle as it bursts
spontaneously into flames, leaves
Jerusalem changed.
The miracle of the holy fire has taken
place regularly in the same manner and in
the same place every year without failing
for over sixteen centuries since the forth
century AD. This regularity of the miracle
demonstrates Christs faithfulness towards
us. He provides the holy flame annually
despite our human frailties and failures.
The Paschal holy fire continues to
shine on Orthodox Easter Saturday till this
day announcing the most powerful miracle
in human history, the miracle of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord from
the dead on the third day triumphing over
death, not only His death but also the
death of all who are in communion with
Him. It makes His resurrection very real
and close to us. The Paschal fire is a gift
of Christs love unique to the Orthodox
Church. The Paschal candle represents
Christs person, and its flame symbolizes
his resurrection as the light of the world:
Then Jesus spoke to them again,
saying, I am the light of the world. He
who follows Me shall not walk in
darkness, but have the light of
life (John 8: 12). The passing of the
light to the faithful congregation
symbolizes Christ giving his life to his
faithful believers.
During the reign of the Coptic
Patriarch Peter al-Gawly (1810-1852),
some opportunistic people claimed before
Ibrahim Pasha, the son of the Muslim
Turkish ruler Muhammad Ali Pasha, that
Christians fabricated the Paschal fire, and
that it was not true. Ibrahim Pasha called
Patriarch Peter and asked him to prove to
him the veracity of the Paschal fire. The
Patriarch traveled to Jerusalem. Both the
Coptic Patriarch of Egypt and the
Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem prayed in
the tomb of Christ at the church of the
Holy Sepulcher on the Orthodox Easter
Saturday. The bright holy fire burst from
the empty tomb of Christ, moved about
the church, and split a massive concrete
column at the left of the church entrance
on his way out to meet the faithful that
were congregating and waiting outside the
church. This column still stands till this
day testifying to, and declaring, the
truthfulness and the power of the life
giving resurrection of Christ the Lord.
After seeing this miracle, Ibrahim Pasha
became hysterical and trembled with fear.
He ran to the Coptic Patriarch asking for
peace.
The following webpage provides
additional information on the subject
matter:
VI. CONCLUSION
Throughout the history of humankind
and until this day, the true living almighty
God of the universe declares himself to
humanity, his intelligent creation, through
miracles and mighty powers in order to
confirm the truthfulness and genuineness
of his revelations to humankind, in order
to reveal his divine character, and in
order to respond to the actions of people
and prayers of the faithful.
God authenticated the call of the
prophet Moses with powerful miracles.
Jesus Christ radiated the immediacy of
Gods presence by his words and actions
which included many powerful miracles
bearing witness to his divine authority and
his saving power. By contrast,
Muhammad was unable to perform any
miracle? Muhammads claims to
prophecy were never authenticated by
miracles. In fact, he declared in the
Quran that he could not do any miracles:
For they say: How is it no signs were
sent down to him from his Lord? Say:
The signs are with God. I am only a
warner, plain and simple (al-Ankabut 29:
50); And we shall not believe in your
having ascended till you bring down a
book for us which we could read. Say:
Glory to my Lord. I am only man and a
messenger (al-Isra 17: 93b).
Miracles of the Lord God are
indispensable to our apprehension of a
real living God, to our belief in him,
and to our trust in his saving work in
our own souls and lives. A god who
does not manifest himself in powers
and miracles is an abstract idea that
lives only in the mind of the person
who believes in it. It is a powerless
god. It is a god that does not exist in
reality.
Notes:
1 Iris Habib El-Misry, The Story of the
Coptic Church, Book 3 (Arabic), pp.
23-26; Manasseh John, History of the
Coptic Church (Arabic), pp. 376; Bishop
Yuannes, History of the Coptic Church
after Chalcedon (Arabic), pp. 100-102.
2 Bishop Yuannes, History of the Coptic
Church after Chalcedon, (Arabic), p. 102.
3 Iris Habib El-Misry, The Story of the
Coptic Church, Book 3 (Arabic), p. 93.
Top | Home | Contact us | Donate
New Beginning | Where do You Go from
Here? | The Christian Faith