Don’t Believe in All Miracles

A miracle is a supernatural manifestation that works outside the natural laws of Earth. One such miracle occurred in the land of Judah. As in this chapter of Revelation, there was a controversy over worship. God’s prophet, Elijah, and the priests of the false god Baal were going to prove which deity was real. Elijah declared, “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” (1 Kings 18:24).

Ultimately, it was the God of Elijah who performed the miracle (v. 38) and was, thus, worshiped (v. 39).

Today’s verse states that in the last days, the second beast works the same miracle that God once did with Elijah. How is this possible? Remember, the second beast was given authority by the devil. Revelation further explains: “They are spirits of demons, performing signs” (Revelation 16:14). So the devil’s angels, his demons, are the ones accomplishing these miracles. Like the tongues of fire that ignited a genuine spiritual revival among God’s people (Acts 2:2–41), this strange fire creates a counterfeit revival culminating in a union of church and state.

Foremost among these deceptive workings is that of spiritualism. Spiritualism is the belief that the living can communicate with spirits of the dead. The Bible, however, states that there are no such things as spirits of the dead (Job 14:12; Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6). The dead are not living on some other ethereal plane of existence; they have no life. People, therefore, cannot communicate with spirits of the dead—but only “spirits of demons.”

Miracles are not necessarily evidence of God; they don’t equal goodness. They are simply brought about by supernatural beings, whether good or bad. Could it be that the devil will use these supernatural occurrences in a similar manner as the account in 1 Kings to convince people that he is a “god” to be worshiped? According to Deuteronomy 13:1–3, the real test is whether the doer of the miracle points you to obey or discard the Word of God.

Loving Lord, please protect us from falling prey to the devil’s miracles and keep our eyes focused on the Bible.

For Further Study; Job 1–2; Isaiah 8:19, 20; 2 Thessalonians 2:9

Key Bible Texts

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, (Revelation 13:13 KJV)