Many people today struggle with the supernatural. If they believe in God at all they are not likely to believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and can move powerfully in and through His creation. The claim of biblical Christianity is that God did act in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus was virgin born, sinless, died a brutal bloody death in the place of sinners for their sin, rose and is now their exalted Lord, King, High Priest, Intercessor, Advocate, and Mediator. Jesus did all of this. How often do we take Him at His Word? Building on the foundation of his previous book The Story Telling God , author and pastor Jared C. Wilson has written The Wonder Working God: Seeing The Glory of Jesus in His Miracles in which he takes the reader on a journey to discover the miraculous power of Jesus, whereby He reveals His divinity, authority, and ultimate mission to restore man and His world to a right relationship with Himself.
As with The Story Telling God Jared works his way through a very limited sampling of the stories in the Gospels. The book opens with a look at what the Kingdom of God is and then moves to explain what the author thinks miracles are. The author states the miracles of Jesus do four things: “First, they demonstrate the “at hand”—ness of the Kingdom of God. Second, miracles are acts of heavenly normalization, which is to say they are isolates snapshots of the transformation of the broken world to the way it will someday be. Third, miracles are acts of heavenly normalization which are acts of revolutionary subversion against the corrupt course of the world and the realm of the Evil One. Finally, miracles point to Jesus Christ as the source and summation of miracles” (33).
Many of us need to be woken up out of our slumber. The miracles of Jesus do this in three ways. First, the miracles of Jesus show us that Jesus is not a mere man but fully God and fully man. He is powerful to save the lost. Salvation is the greatest miracle of all since God does what only He can do to replace our hearts of stone with a new heart that has new desires, affections, and a new identity in Him. Only Jesus can do this. Make no mistake, that is the greatest miracle of all—that God makes the dead live. Secondly, the miracles of Jesus establish His divinity. Throughout the Gospel of John, the Apostle John is saying, “Look at the power of our God.” He is the Good Shepherd, the Door, and so much more. As John elaborates on who Jesus is, He does so with a view to proclaim what Jesus demands. The divinity of Jesus demands our whole life allegiance and worship. Jesus is Lord over all the universe. He is worthy of our worship, praise and our entire lives. Finally, the miracles of Jesus demand a response because they demonstrate that He is God. While many religions deny that claim, the Bible proclaims it unashamedly and God’s people ought to proclaim it as well. Jesus reigns and His work in its totality is miraculous and mighty to save!
Whether you are on the fence regarding the supernatural or not, I encourage you to read The Wonder Working God. Whether you’re struggling with doubt or you’re looking to read a helpful book on the miracles, Jared’s lucid prose will guide you into the world of the Bible. When you come up for air from your time in the world of the Bible, you’ll never want to leave because you’ll never be the same. Jared’s gift as a writer is to take the text of the Bible and help us see it as if for the first time. He does this well in The Wonder Working God. I encourage you to pick up this book. I believe you’ll not only be helped by it but you’ll encounter afresh the power of God in the gospel.
Dave Jenkins is happily married to Sarah Jenkins. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021) and The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
