Mark 8:1-21

This passage is parallel with Matthew chapter 16 that was covered on January 25. There is basically only one difference in Mark’s account. Matthew says that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus asking for a sign and it was the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees He warned against. Mark says that the Pharisees came asking for a sign and Jesus warned against the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod.

Herod? Where did that come from? I think the clue is in Luke’s account of Jesus’ trial. Luke tells us that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod and that Herod was excited because He had heard about Jesus and was hoping to see a miracle. Therefore, Herod was himself a “sign follower.”

God works miracles. He works miracles, great ones in fact, right now in this day and age. Furthermore, when the Holy Spirit comes into a person’s life one of the gifts He brings is the gift of miracles. This doesn’t mean that believers are turned into magicians, but it does mean that miracles can and do happen in believers’ lives. So what’s the problem?

The problem is that satan can also do miracles, and so can his minions. The fact that God does greater miracles is really not the point. The point is that if all we are looking for is miracles we really aren’t equipped to distinguish one kind of miracle from another. Therefore, we can be easily deceived.

I believe in miracles, but that is so far below the the fact that I believe in God and in His Word and in His Son Jesus Christ. Miracles come. Miracles go. But the Word of God stands forever.