What would you consider to be miraculous? Sometimes when something happens that is highly unlikely we call it a miracle. I have a tougher standard. A miracle is something that breaks the laws of physics. According to this standard, someone who has a materialist worldview would then conclude that there is no such thing as a miracle. I disagree.
All of us would like to see a true miracle, not a great illusion, a real miracle. Some even refuse to believe until they see one. They want a sign from God. The Apostle Paul (a Jew) wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Miraculous signs would go a long way in convincing us intellectually of the reality of God, but they can never take us to the true goal of faith. Saving faith is not a cognitive thing. Human beings, acting according to the corrupted nature that is coded into their DNA, never will believe, trust or connect to God’s plan to save us. It actually takes a miracle. The miracle of God getting past all of our objections, all our cultural biases, and even our genetic predisposition, to connect us to Jesus and save us. I don’t need a sign, per se, I need a miracle.
Good thing that miracles do happen–especially this one.
When bringing the Gospel to an unbeliever, it is necessary to inform them about what the Bible says about our sinful condition and how God has created a way to save us despite our sinful condition. It is even fine to debate about the merits of the historical proof of Jesus and the events of His life. These are merely tools for God, however. You can’t logic someone into the Kingdom of God. You can’t threaten them into it either. We do these things expecting a miracle, a miracle of God-created faith.
Giving Christ 