Prophets & prophecy
Miracles by God’s leave: Elijah, Elisha and Jesus
Jesus healed the sick, fed crowds and raised the dead. Christians see these miracles as signs of his divinity. But the Hebrew Bible tells of prophets who did the same. This topic compares them.
1The question
Do Jesus’s miracles show that he is God, or that God worked through him?
2What Christians believe
Christians answer that Jesus’s miracles point to who he is. He did them by his own authority, often with a word, and he said “though ye believe not me, believe the works” (John 10:38). He also did things no prophet did, such as forgiving sins and calming the sea.
Christians accept that earlier prophets did miracles, but see Jesus’s miracles as greater in number and kind, and as signs that God’s kingdom had come in him.
3What the texts say
Elijah and Elisha
And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Jesus prays before raising Lazarus
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
“The Son can do nothing of himself”
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
Peter explains Jesus’s miracles
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
4What scholars say
Graham H. Twelftree (Jesus the Miracle Worker, 1999) concludes that Jesus was known in his own time as a healer and exorcist, and that this is one of the best-attested things about him.
Geza Vermes (Jesus the Jew, 1973) places Jesus alongside other Jewish holy men known for answered prayer and healing, and notes that miracles were not, in Jewish thought, a sign that someone was divine.
Scholars agree that the stories of Elijah and Elisha in 1 and 2 Kings include raising the dead, multiplying food and healing leprosy.
5The Islamic perspective
The Qur’an lists Jesus’s miracles and adds each time that they happened by God’s leave. It also says no messenger could bring a sign except by God’s leave:
And will make him a messenger unto the Children of Israel, (saying): Lo! I come unto you with a sign from your Lord. Lo! I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it and it is a bird, by Allah's leave. I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I raise the dead, by Allah's leave. And I announce unto you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses. Lo! herein verily is a portent for you, if ye are to be believers.
Verily We sent messengers before thee, among them those of whom We have told thee, and some of whom We have not told thee; and it was not given to any messenger that he should bring a portent save by Allah's leave, but when Allah's commandment cometh (the cause) is judged aright, and the followers of vanity will then be lost.
For Muslims, Jesus’s miracles are signs that God sent him, like the signs given to Moses, Elijah and Elisha. Before raising Lazarus, Jesus thanks the Father for hearing him (John 11:41–42): the miracle is an answer to prayer.
6Objections and responses
“Jesus did miracles in his own name, not by praying like the prophets.”
Response: Jesus himself says “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do” (John 5:19), and he prays before raising Lazarus. Peter says plainly that God did the miracles “by him” (Acts 2:22).
“No prophet ever did as many miracles as Jesus.”
Response: Muslims agree that Jesus was given great signs. But the number of miracles shows how greatly God honoured him, not that he was God. The Qur’an gives the same answer for every sign: “by Allah’s leave”.
7Conclusion
Both sides agree that Jesus did great miracles and that earlier prophets also healed and raised the dead. Christians see his miracles as signs of his divine authority. Muslims see signs given by God to a messenger, as Jesus’s own prayer at Lazarus’s tomb suggests.
Read 2 Kings 4 and John 11 side by side and compare the two stories of raising the dead.
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Related topics
Sources
- Bible, King James Version:1 Kings 17:222 Kings 4:34–352 Kings 4:442 Kings 5:14John 11:41John 11:42John 5:19Acts 2:22
- Qur’an, translated by M. Pickthall:Qur’an 3:49Qur’an 40:78
- Graham H. Twelftree, Jesus the Miracle Worker (1999)
- Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (1973)