MIRACLES

Miracles. They are shocking, and unexpected and expected, and hoped for and needed and useful, and wonderful and wonder full, and believed and belief causing, and disbelieved and discounted. There is a delightful book by C. S. Lewis called Miracles. If you have not read it, you should. . .as soon as possible. . .start it today, if you can. It is that good, as far as I am concerned. In this book Lewis takes the subject of miracles and analyzes it as a master of logic would -- not exactly theologically, but definitely logically. The first time I read the book (and yes, that means I have re-read it many times) I was in college and miracles were a topic to me -- that is, I had no current-life experiences of the miraculous. I knew they were in the Bible -- and I believed what I read happened as the Bible said it happened. As I read Miracles, I found myself thinking "of course : miracles", as I might think "of course : sunshine" -- even on a rainy day. The last three chapters are "Miracles of the Old Creation", "Miracles of the New Creation" and "The Grand Miracle". 'Miracles of the Old Creation' ?  'Miracles of the New Creation' ? In these chapters Lewis proposes that Jesus did 2 kinds of miracles -- 1) miracles that reflect the laws of nature as we know them now, but augmented. For example, he said the miracle at Cana where Jesus changed water into wine is a normal activity of nature called fermentation, but in this miracle Jesus, as it were, 'scrunched' the steps together. The same with healing, the same with multiplying loaves and fish . . . in these Jesus just skipped the middle steps, as a precocious math student might in doing an Algebra problem: formula ~ answer. But, Lewis proposes, there is another kind of miracle : miracles of the New Creation. This type of miracle is typified by the miracle of walking on water. It presupposes a different set of laws of nature -- a new nature where water will hold our weight. Lewis does a masterful job laying out his theory...I am not doing Lewis or his theory justice by any means. REALLY REALLY! You should go read Miracles.

I have a reason to bring this up. I am now going to turn my attention in this blog to Elisha. I love Elisha. I love the writings of other prophets more. Perhaps I would love Elisha's writing...but we are given none! What we are given is a story that is so fun, so unexpected, so shocking ~ that it leaves one -- me
-- entranced. In Elisha's stories I see miracles of the NEW CREATION. They are the specialty of this prophet of the double anointing. I began this series with a blog called "The Destroyed Cloak". I think I will call the next section of this series "The Doubled Cloak". Get ready! Elisha's story is a wild ride  ~  beginning to end. So why don't you go get your Bible and read 1 Kings 19 and from 2 Kings 2:1 through 2 Kings 13:20. Don't rush, it is a fun read ~ savor it. I will be back soon with the first installment of "Elisha ~ The Doubled Cloak".

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