Going Deeper – Week 6 - Miracles, Healing & Exorcism – Does This Stuff Really Happen?
- Stephen Sutton
- May 11
- 4 min read
This week in our God’s Book series we moved into one of the most confusing subjects in the Bible
Do miracles and exorcisms really happen?
For many people, this is where Christianity starts to feel a bit wierd.
Miracles? Healing? Demons? Surely that belongs in the ancient world?
And yet when you open the New Testament, you quickly realise that miracles are not sitting quietly at the edges of the story. They are everywhere. Jesus heals the sick. He calms storms. He drives out evil spirits. Blind eyes open. People walk again. The dead are raised. And the Bible presents these things not as fantasy or metaphor, but as real events that happened in history. So what do we do with that in a modern scientific world?
Start with Jesus
One of the most important things to understand is this. Miracles in the Bible are never random party tricks. Jesus did not perform miracles to impress crowds or build a celebrity platform. Again and again in the Gospels we read
“He was moved with compassion.”
Miracles flow from the heart of God.
They are signs of His compassion, restoration, healing, liberation and the arrival of God’s Kingdom. The miracles of Jesus are little glimpses of what creation looks like when God’s rule fully arrives. Sickness pushed back. Chaos calmed. Evil confronted. Human beings restored. They are signs of what is one day going to be the full reality of what we live in.
Read Ahead This Week
1. Mark 1:21–34
Jesus drives out an impure spirit and heals many people.
Notice how authority and compassion are held together in Jesus.
2. Mark 2:1–12
The healing of the paralysed man.
Pay attention to how physical healing and forgiveness both being a part of Gods plans.
3. John 11:1–44
Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Especially notice: “Jesus wept” Even knowing resurrection was coming, Jesus still enters human grief and suffering with compassion.
4. Luke 11:14–23
Jesus and the accusation that He casts out demons by evil power.
This passage matters because even Jesus’ enemies did not deny that extraordinary things were happening. They argued about the source of His power, not whether miracles occurred.
Helpful BibleProject Resources
“Gospel of Mark Overview”
Mark’s Gospel moves quickly and repeatedly highlights Jesus’ authority over sickness, nature, sin, and evil spiritual powers.
“Heaven and Earth”
One of the BibleProject’s most helpful themes for this topic. The Bible describes miracles as moments where heaven and earth overlap, where God’s future Kingdom breaks into the present.
The “Now and Not Yet” of God’s Kingdom
This is really important. Christians sometimes fall into two opposite mistakes.
Some act as if miracles should happen constantly and automatically, and if someone is not healed then they must lack faith. Others act as though miracles were only for Bible times and never happen anymore.
But the New Testament paints a more complex picture.
Jesus announced: “The Kingdom of God has come near.”
The Kingdom has begun…but it has not yet fully arrived.
Theologians often call this:
“the now and not yet.”
Which means; God really does heal today, miracles really do happen, evil really is pushed back, heaven really does break into earth
…but we still live in a world where suffering, sickness, grief, and death remain present for now.
We live between resurrection and restoration.
What About Exorcism?
The Bible assumes that evil is not only personal and human, but also spiritual.
Jesus repeatedly confronted evil spiritual powers during His ministry.
Now, it is important to avoid becoming weird, obsessed, or sensational about this stuff. The New Testament never encourages Christians to become fascinated with demons.
The focus is always Jesus.
But neither does the Bible pretend evil spiritual forces do not exist.
One of the repeated warnings in Scripture is that human beings can open themselves toward darkness through: persistent sin, occult practices, spiritual deception, destructive worship, and rebellion against God.
Which is why the New Testament constantly calls believers toward holiness, wisdom, prayer, and life in the Spirit.
And through all of this, Christians are not called to fear.
Because “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.”— 1 John 4:4
Everyday Miracles
One of the most encouraging things we touched on this week is that many miracles happen in very ordinary places. Not just on big stages. Not just in huge revival meetings.
But in kitchens. Coffee shops. Hospitals. Living rooms. After church conversations.
Ordinary Christians praying simple prayers.
The New Testament vision is not that only “super spiritual” people pray for healing.
It is that ordinary followers of Jesus become people who lovingly pray:
“Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Reflection for This Week
Where do you naturally drift:
toward scepticism?
or toward sensationalism?
Do you find it difficult to believe God still acts today?
Or do you sometimes seek the dramatic more than you seek Jesus Himself?
A Simple Practice This Week
Spend a few quiet moments each day praying this simple prayer slowly:
“Lord Jesus, let your Kingdom come in me, around me, and through me.”
Then ask:
Is there anyone I could pray for a miracle for this week?
Is there an area of my own life where I need God’s healing, freedom, peace, or restoration?
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