BIBLE RECORDS | 124 MIRACLES (47)

1. What are "Miracles"?

a) Miracles are those acts that only God can perform; usually superseding natural laws. Baker’s Dictionary of the Bible defines a miracle as “an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God.” It goes on to add that a miracle occurs to show that the power behind it is not limited to the laws of matter or mind as it interrupts fixed natural laws. So the term supernatural applies quite accurately.

b) Miracles are also known as Signs and Wonders.

c) Here we have one of the 124 miracles recorded in the Bible.

2. Miracle 47: PAGAN ALTAR DESTROYED—Jeroboam’s new altar supernaturally destroyed at Bethel (1 Kings 13:4-6). 

a) Pagan Altar Destroyed at Bethel.

1 Kings 13:4-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.

b) Altar.

i) Hebrew: “mizbe'ah,” “mizbeach” (prononced: miz-bay'-akh), meaning “an altar” from a word meaning “to slay;” Greek: “thusiasterion,” (pronounced: thoo-see-as-tay'-ree-on) meaning a place of sacrifice, i.e., an altar.

ii) Biblical altars were generally structures of earth (Exodus 20:24) or of stones that had not been hewn (20:25). Sacrifices were offered on them. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places (Genesis 22:9; Ezek. 6:3; 2 Kings 23:12; 16:4; 23:8; Acts 14:13).

iii) The word altar is used in Hebrews 13:10 for the sacrifice offered upon it—the sacrifice Christ offered.

iv) Paul found among the many altars erected in Athens one bearing the inscription, “To the unknown God” (Acts 17:23), or rather “to an [i.e., some] unknown God.” The reason for this inscription cannot now be accurately determined. However, it offered the apostle the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to the “men of Athens.”

v) THE FIRST BLOOD SACRIFICES are mentioned in connection with Adam and Eve (God's shedding of animal blood to make coverings for them) and their son Abel’s offerings (Genesis 3-4).

vi) THE FIRST ALTAR specifically mentioned in the Bible is the one erected by Noah (Genesis 8:20), although we assume that Adam and the pre-Flood patriarchs also used altars for their sacrifices. Altars were erected by Abraham (Genesis 12:7; 13:4; 22:9), by Isaac (Genesis 26:25), by Jacob (33:20; 35:1, 3), and by Moses (Exodus 17:15, “Jehovah-nissi”).

vii) TWO TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE ALTARS—In the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple, two altars were erected.

viii) THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING (Exodus 30:28), called also the “brazen altar” (Exodus 39:39) and “the table of the Lord” (Malachi 1:7)

@1. DESCRIPTION—This altar, as erected in the tabernacle, is described in Exodus 27:1-8. It was a hollow square, 5 cubits in length and in breadth, and 3 cubits in height. It was made of shittim wood, and was overlaid with plates of brass. Its corners were ornamented with “horns” (Exodus 29:12; Leviticus 4:18).

@2. UTENSILS—In Exodus 27:3 the various utensils used at the altar are listed. They were made of brass. (Compare 1 Samuel 2:13-14; Leviticus 16:12; Numbers 16:6-7.) 

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