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I cannot think of very many examples where God in the Old Testament or Jesus in the New Testament performed miracles by creating something from nothing (there may be a few I cannot think of). Mana in the desert is perhaps one example. There is a pattern of God purposing something in creation to cause the intended effect. Some items that come to mind are using the plagues to free the Israelites or using a large fish to transport Jonah rather than just "teleporting" him there. It seems clear that when God does something miraculous, it is His intention to use something in His creation in a miraculous way, but not to violate the very nature of His own creation. If I put myself in the shoes of a wedding guest at Cana, what would I feel if I saw Jesus simply cause wine to appear out of nothing? Perhaps scared, disbelieving, or even unable to comprehend what I had just seen. Perhaps my mind could not even process what I had witnessed. Conversely, if I see someone create wine out of water, that is still miraculous yet I can accept it and process it. I will not be frightened by it. I don't know that is the reason God works this way, or that we can even understand it, but it just seems right that God would alter creation miraculously rather than create "ex nihilo" - it's something witnesses can actually understand.
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arsindelve-
9/2/2007 9:40:16 AM
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It's tempting to wonder why God works miracles in such unusual ways. We can look at some other interesting examples. Why, for example in John 9:6, does Jesus heal the blind man by making mud from his saliva? In Joshua 6, why does God require such an unusual sequence to bring down the walls of Jericho? Why swallow Jonah in a big fish? My Apologetics professor was asked this same question and his response was that God likes to use different and unusual methods in His miracles so that we will not look for meaning in the method, that we will only look to His power.
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marklang-
9/2/2007 9:57:21 AM
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It might also be worth noting that Moses' first miracle was to turn water into blood, while Jesus' was to turn water into wine. Some commentators have seen this as a parallel between the Law of Moses
(condemnation) and the Gospel of Jesus (redemption). Something to think about, anyway.
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arsindelve-
9/2/2007 3:57:49 PM
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How about Jesus turning water to wine as being His power to transform our lives? He has the power to turn a crackhead into a pastor, or a prostitute into a Bible teacher. Maybe it's symbolic of His power to change us from the way we are to the way He is.
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mrspiggy-
2/21/2008 12:31:57 PM
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