Eight Purposes for Signs and Wonders

(part 4)


DEUT.4:35- Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him


According to Paul’s writings, there are arguments swarming all around trying to dispute the truthfulness of God’s Word. We are to take every (argumentative) thought captive…everything that attempt to exalt itself against the knowledge of Christ.

In some circles, knowledge has been viewed as a bad concept; after all, “knowledge puffs up”. I felt it especially needful to share with our local church this past weekend about the balance God has brought us to. Certainly, too much Word can lead to legalism; and too much Spirit can lead to fanaticism. Paul said, “The Word kills, but the Spirit gives life”. This speaks of the balance of both, because both are very much needed.

There is an aspect of the knowledge of God that we must capture. This aspect is what I call a “showing” that proceeds a “knowing”. While great faith demands no physical proof of a spiritual reality, many of those whose faith has been severally injured need a manifestation (such as a sign and a wonder) that becomes the proverbial knot in the rope that helps us hang on until the answer comes.

Our text mentions both the “showing” and “knowing”. God told Moses that the purpose of showing or displaying the signs and wonders of the plagues of Egypt, was that Israel might comes to know “…the LORD, He is God; and there is none beside Him.”

After hundreds of years in slavery, Israel had become convinced by the arguments of the enemy that God was no longer interested in their well being; that some how God had abandoned them. We see this as we try to minister to the abused. The lie or the argument of the enemy has swallowed – hook, line, and sinker – to the point that it almost impossible to see beyond their abuse. Israel was at this point…but God!

It took forty years for Israel to finally be convinced of God’s ability and to KNOW (through signs and wonders) that God was truly big enough the do what he said. The years of seeing themselves as grasshoppers had finally come to can end. Signs and wonders was the convincing argument on God’s side of Israel’s mental struggle.

I believe that a new wave of signs and wonders are on their way…even now! God’s has rolled up His sleeves and gone to work on our behalf. Can you really believe it? “Believing until we see His glory” was the cry from Jesus’ heart before He raised Lazarus from the dead. Can you believe until you see – then in seeing – you will know once and for all – “…there is none beside HIM.”