"At the same time, God also attested by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will" (Heb. 2:4, HCSB).
"Despite all this they kept on sinning and did not believe His wonderful works" (Psalm 78:32, HCSB).
"You are the God who works wonders, You revealed Your strength among the peoples" (Psalm 77:14, HCB).
Gideon was known for putting out the fleece and testing God's Word (as Jesus told Satan, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,"), but we no longer need to do this as an act of faith, having the fully revealed Word of God. God didn't have to prove anything to Gideon but obliged his immature and growing faith. Likewise, Jesus never had to prove anything to the world, just be His perfect self and that should've sufficed. There is an anecdote of Muhammad Ali being asked to fight a teen and he refused to go along with the "test" of his greatness; then the teen bragged that Ali was afraid of him and refused to defend himself--actually, Muhammad would not stoop to the level of fighting a naive teen, he was still the champ to anyone who knew better because this was not challenging nor worthy, but he was protecting the kid. The Word of God speaks volumes and is self-attesting, proof in itself (if it appealed to any higher authority, it couldn't claim to be the final arbiter of truth).
Jesus performed many miracles or signs as John referred to them as, but not to prove Himself! He met needs and had compassion. He never did anything on-demand, for personal profit or gain, showy, or any biggie miracle that would erase all doubt and force belief even against one's will. I'll give you a for instance: after feeding the 4,000 the Pharisees asked for a sign to prove He was from God. What was the feeding of the 4,000 but a miracle to behold to the believer? They should have reasoned He supplies all their needs.
Jesus would not oblige them and their hardened hearts that refused to believe despite the miracles He did perform. John 12:32 says they would not believe, not that they could not believe--viva la difference! Miracles are simply unusual events caused by God or they'd be called "regulars." The thing about miracles is that they only give an appetite for more miracles and skeptics are never convinced, but only harden their hearts with some excuse or doubt. Miracles don't produce faith, but faith produces miracles! These Pharisees needed a miracle done in their hearts not a sign from heaven. They were probably expecting Jesus to prove He could outdo Moses and bring down manna! When a person is stubborn or hardened in heart, no miracle will make him repent and come to Christ for salvation--there would also be some way to explain it away and expect only a bigger one. Their mistake was to think God must oblige them and be their genie or miracle worker; however, Jesus didn't want to be known as a miracle worker but as our Savior.
In reality, Moses didn't do that but God used him as His spokesperson and God brought faith by performing miracles through him for forty years in the wilderness where they were tested. If Jesus had obliged them and performed a miracle to prove Himself, where would it end and what about faith. The biggest miracle is the radical change in one's heart to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and become a new creature in Christ.
Every miracle or sign Jesus accomplished was a lesson to be taught about His divine nature: He raised the dead to prove He is the life; He fed the multitude to prove He's the bread of life; He calmed the storm to prove His power over nature; He healed the sick to prove He's our Healer; He cast out demon to prove authority over them and Satan. Every one of the divine attributes of God can be attributed to Jesus and they are illustrated by His sayings and acts. Basically, Jesus showed He had all authority as the only begotten Son of God. Jesus went about teaching, preaching, and doing good and also convincing the multitudes of His compassion. With Jesus in charge, we need not worry or fear that our needs won't be met.
Not to berate miracles in Scripture, because without Jesus doing them, He'd be but a footnote in history and Christianity would be disemboweled if one removed its miracles. Note that other religions may have miracles but they remain intact without them--the miracles are believed on account of the religion already being believed--miracles are given to kindle and feed the dormant or nascent faith of believers. Faith cannot survive on mothballs or in a dormant stage, it must grow and go forward in progress or rest in peace. No amount of evidence will convince the hardened heart--God must do a work of grace first. We must not be as clueless in not having eyes to see that God can supply all our mundane needs too ("daily bread"). Soli Deo Gloria!
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