Are you like me when it comes to making notes from a speaker’s message and then putting them away somewhere, without much further benefit?  Well, added to that failing, I also had a bad habit (past tense) of writing these notes on loose papers or on pages in the wrong book, rather than in a journal dedicated to the purpose. Now, all of you very disciplined note-takers who are NOT like me in this regard, give yourselves a pat on the back and please pray for me in my resolve to ‘turn over a new leaf’.

Last fall, in packing to move house, I made sure not to discard my loose papers of message notes, and promised myself to record them efficiently and review them over time. This morning I reviewed my notes from a message by Tzofiya Rogers titled from the 1 Corinthians 12:10 phrase, “The Working of Miracles.” Sure enough, like a cow chewing the cud, I was able to extract more nutrients from the ‘meal’ than I had before. Here are two examples.

First, the John 6:16-24 account of Yeshua’s famous ‘walking on the water’ miracle, which is often cited to demonstrate His sovereignty over nature – in this case, the law of gravity. This miracle is related and discussed in Sunday School, Shabbat School and other congregational and evangelistic gatherings, often from the Mathew account which includes Peter’s exercise of faith to initially join Yeshua on the water-walk, and then his succumbing to fear and deferring to gravity (Matt. 14:28-31).

Yet, perhaps due to my own fault, I have no recollection of hearing that there was a second miracle implied in the John 6:16-24 account. After Yeshua had reassured the disciples that He was not a ghost (Matt. 14:26-27) we read the following in John 6:21 (NASB):

“So they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” (Emphasis mine)

Was this just the excitable use of the word ‘immediately’ to which Mark was prone? No, this is John’s writing. Is it a mis-translation? I checked with Strong’s and the Greek word used (transliteration: ‘eutheōs’) means ‘straightway / immediately / forthwith’, or even ‘at once’.   Dr. David H. Stern, the recently departed translator of the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) rendered the word as “instantly.” Therefore, my humble conclusion is that the boat’s arrival “at the land to which they were going” was indeed immediate.

While the Matthew account only says the boat was “a long distance from the land”, John 6 at verse 19 is more specific about the distance. The NASB renders it as “twenty-five or thirty stadia” which converts to three or four miles (NKJV, CJB, NIV), and the TLV adds a footnote: “About three or four miles, halfway across the sea.” So, do you see where I’m going with this?

Once Yeshua was brought into the boat, the boat was immediately transported those three or four miles to land!  This mode of transportation is elsewhere termed ‘teleportation’, and can be defined as: “the act of instantly moving from one location to another without physically traveling the distance in between.” (Or could it be “traveling the distance in between” at the speed of light? Physics was never my thing, but you may be able to figure that out.)  Now, does that remind you Bible readers of any other scenario(s)?

Philip the Evangelist should immediately come to mind, because in Acts 8:39-40, we read: “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him … But Philip found himself (or ‘was found’) at Azotus” (Ashdod in the OT / Tanach). 

In the Tanach we read that Elijah also had a reputation for being “carried off” by the Spirit of the LORD. Obadiah, King Ahab’s Steward, protested to Elijah in 1 Kings 18:11-12, “You are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here!”’ And it will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to where I do not know; so when I come and inform Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me.”

In 2 Kings 2 we see that this reputation persisted in the minds of Elijah’s followers even after he was taken up alive into heaven (which they apparently witnessed – verses 7, 15).  Yet they insisted on searching for him (verse 16b) “… in case the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him on some mountain or into some valley.” 

Wow!  But now let’s get back to Yeshua and the boat that ‘instantly travelled’ three to four miles once He stepped into it. What do you think… are some lists of His miracles falling short of that ‘teleportation of the boat’ miracle?

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It seems that none of the above would directly relate to the 1 Corinthians 12 spiritual gift of “the working of miracles” as it applies to believers. Except for Peter’s brief water-walk, in each instance it was the Spirit of the LORD, or Yeshua Himself who was working the miracle, really without any human input unless we assume an absolute surrender to His will.  

The second tidbit that I gleaned while ‘chewing the cud’ this morning was from Acts 16:25-36, which also appeared in my notes on “The Working of Miracles.” In this story, the famous miracle is again an ‘act of God’ – not an exercise of the ‘gift of miracles’ in a believer’s walk. However, there is human input that is more active than simply surrender, and although we don’t see this ‘activity’ as accomplishing the famous miracle, my thoughts on the passage may interest you.

This is the story of Sha’ul (Paul) and Sila (Silas) when they were thrown into prison together. Verses 22-24 describe the run-up to the miraculous events:

“The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged. After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to guard them securely. Upon receiving such an order, he threw them into the inner cell and clamped their feet securely between heavy blocks of wood.”

Picture that if you can. Ever been attacked by a mob and given a severe beating by people who thought they had an absolute right to abuse you? (People have died from such beatings – received for example on January 6, 2021.)  Fortunately, these two apostles of Yeshua were ‘simply’ thrown into prison, but apparently into a maximum security cell; and just in case they might have had enough strength after the beating to even move around in the cell, their feet were clamped into stocks. Picture that… Are you with me?  Now read on, verse 25:

“Around midnight, (Paul) and (Silas) were praying and singing hymns to God, while the other prisoners listened attentively.” 

Now, can I tell you? That was a true ‘sacrifice of praise.’ Macho men or not, their bodies were hurting! And may I remind you what Psalm 22:3 calls The Almighty God?  “You who are enthroned upon* the praises of Israel” (NASB, with a footnote giving the alternative* translation: “You who inhabit the praises of Israel”).

NOW COMES THE FAMOUS MIRACLE!  In the midst of their sacrifice of praise, in faithfulness to His word, Almighty God ‘inhabited’ (moved into) that prison and it seems to me that the weight of His throne shattered its foundations! We read at verse 26:

“And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.”

Reading through the rest of the account (verses 27-40) I noted the following, which also seem quite miraculous to me. (1) The ‘great earthquake’ apparently only affected the prison – go figure! Nothing in the aftermath suggests that any other building in the vicinity was damaged. (2) It wasn’t only Sha’ul and Sila (presumably constrained by the Holy Spirit) who refrained from making a prison break, but the other inmates were also found in place when the terrified warden did his rounds.

I summed up this part of my cud chewing with the final note: “These believers did not work any miracles here, but their ACTIVE PRAISES BROUGHT ON a geological miracle, a behavioral miracle in the other prisoners, and led to the miracle of salvation for the Philippian jailer and his entire household!