APPENDIX A
Table of Contents
"And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
And because of the increase of lawlessness,
the love of many will grow cold.
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
And this Gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world,
as a testimony to all nations;
and then the end will come."
--Matthew 24:11-14
APPENDIX A
SPECIFIC MIRACLES REPORTED IN THE FOUR GOSPEL ACCOUNTS
The information for each miracle will be presented as follows:
- Type of miracle
- Town or place where it occurred
- The Biblical text telling of the miracle
- Number cured
- Number of witnesses who saw the miracle.
- Estimate of those who knew the person as ill and then perceived him as cured.
| Water to wine. | |
| Text: |
Now six stone jars were standing there each holding between 75 and 115
liters. Jesus said to them,
—John 2:6-7,9,10b. |
| Location: | Cana |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | disciples and servants ?= 20 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Maybe all the guests |
| Jesus knew the past of a Samaritan woman at a public well. | |
| Text: |
Jesus said to her,
—John 4:16-19. |
| Location: | Samaria |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | 1 |
| Jesus heals the son of an official without seeing him. | |
| Text: |
And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick... (he) went to
(Jesus) and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
...Jesus replied,
—John 4:46b,47b,50-52b,53. |
| Location: | Cana |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Household of official ?= 10 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | If short illness ?=30 family and friends |
| The healing at the pool of a man who had been ill for 38 years. | |
| Text: |
One man was there who had been ill thirty-eight years.
...Jesus asked him,
—John 5:5,6b-7a,8-9. |
| Location: | Jerusalem |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | The disciples |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Long illness-many would know ?= 200 |
| Miraculous catch of fish. | |
| Text: |
...Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding
around him and listening to the word of God... He got into one of the boats...and
taught the people from the boat.
When he finished speaking he said to Simon,
—Luke 5:1,3-4,6. |
| Location: | City of Capernaum |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | 4 fishermen |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Crowd ?= 100 |
| Jesus drives out an evil spirit. | |
| Text: |
Just then a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried
out,
—Mark 1:23-26 |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Synagogue full ?= 200 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Others in town ?= 200 |
|
Peter's mother-in-law in bed with a fever. Many healed in Capernaum. |
|
| Text: |
So he (Jesus) went to her, took her hand, and helped her up. The fever left
her and she began to wait on them.
—Mark 1:31 |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Some disciples and family ?= 10 |
| Text: |
That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and
demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had
various diseases. he also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons
speak because they knew who he was.
—Mark 1:32-34 |
| Location: | Capernaum - Roman troops there. City of ? 4000 |
| Number cured: | 1 in 10 of those who came were ill ?= 50 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | ? 500 who came with the ill people |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | ? = 4000 would know at least one ill person |
| Jesus heals a leper. | |
| Text: |
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees,
—Mark 1:40-42. |
| Location: | Galilee |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | disciples |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | his family & friends ?= 200 |
| Jesus heals a paralytic as proof that he, the Son of Man, has power to forgive sins. | |
| Text: |
Some men came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.
...When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
—Mark 2:3,5-7,10-12a. |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | House and yard full ?= 150 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | ?= 200 |
| Jesus heals a man's shriveled hand on the Sabbath. | |
| Text: |
And he (Jesus) said to the man who had the shriveled hand,
—Mark 3:3-5. |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Synagogue full ?= 100 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | long illness ?= 200 |
| People were coming from as far as Tyre and Sidon to be healed. | |
| Text: |
When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea,
Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon...
For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch
him. Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out,
—Mark 3:8,10-11. |
| Number cured: | 1 of 10 ill ?= 200 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | ?= 2000 came |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 100 people knew each healed person ?= 20,000 |
| Healing of the centurion's servant without seeing him. | |
| Text: |
Now a centurion had a slave who was dear to him, who was sick and at the
point of death. When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews...
And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent
friends to him, saying to him,
When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said,
—Luke 7:2-3a,6-10. |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Centurion's household ?= 10 |
| Jesus raises a widow's son from the dead. | |
| Text: |
As he approached the town gate a dead person was being carried out—the only
son of his mother, and she was a widow...
Then he went up and touched the coffin... He said,
—Luke 7:12,14-15. |
| Location: | Nain |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Poor widow, small funeral ?= 50 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Other people ?= 50 |
| Jesus calms the storm. | |
| Text: |
And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat...but he
was in the stern, asleep on the cushion...He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said
to the sea,
—Mark 4:37-38a,39,41. |
| Location: | Sea of Galilee |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | His disciples |
| Healing of a demon-possessed man. | |
| Text: |
...There met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit... He had often
been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on
his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him... When he saw Jesus from a
distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of
his voice,
(The town people) saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of
demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
—Mark 5:2b,4,6-8,13,15. |
| Location: | Gerasa (Jordan) |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | The disciples |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Whole area ?= 500 |
| Jairus' daughter raised from the dead. | |
| Text: |
Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name...and pleaded
earnestly with him,
...(He) went in where the child was. He took her hand and said to her,
Immediately the girl stood up and walked around. She was 12...
—Mark 5:22-23a,24b,39-40,41-42b. |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Disciples and parents |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | important person ?= 400 |
| A woman with a twelve year history of bleeding healed. | |
| Text: |
A woman was there who had had a flow of blood for twelve years...she touched
his cloak... Immediately her bleeding stopped... At once Jesus realized that
power had gone out of him.
He said to her,
—Mark 5:25,27b,29a,30a,34 |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | ? crowd of 50 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | poor woman ?= 100 |
| Two blind men are healed. | |
| Text: |
And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him crying out,
—Matthew 9:27-29a,30a. |
| Location: | ?outside Capernaum. |
| Number cured: | 2 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | House full ?= 20 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | ?100 x 2 = 200 |
| Jesus immediately afterward casts out a demon. | |
| Text: |
While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk
was brought to Jesus, and when the demon was driven out, the man who had been
dumb spoke.
The crowd was amazed and said,
—Matthew 9:32-33. |
| Location: | Same village |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Crowd of ?= 100 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | whole village ?= 500 |
| Feeding 5000 people with five loaves and two fish. | |
| Text: |
Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee... When Jesus looked
up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip,
Philip answered him, “Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite.” Another of his disciples... spoke up,
Jesus said,
..they gathered (the left over pieces) and filled twelve baskets... After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say,
—John 6:1,5,7-10,13-14 Then Jesus preached to them and said,
—John 6:35,38 |
| Location: | Near Bethsaida in Jordan |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | 5000 were both witnesses and partakers of the miraculous food. |
| Jesus walks on the water. | |
| Text: |
When evening came, his disciples... got into a boat and set off across the
lake for Capernaum... When they had rowed five or six kilometers, they saw Jesus
approaching the boat, walking on the water, and they were terrified.
But he said to them,
—John 6:16,19-21a. |
| Location: | Sea of Galilee. |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | His disciples |
| All who touched him were healed. | |
| Text: |
When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret... People recognized
Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to
wherever they heard he was, and everywhere he went—into villages, towns or
countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces.
They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. —Mark 7:53-56. |
| Location: | Region of Gennesaret |
| Number cured: | 1 of 10 ?= 400 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | ?= 4000 from 20 villages |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 400 x 100 friends ?= 40,000 |
| Jesus cures the daughter of a Greek woman. | |
| Text: |
Jesus... went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want
anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret... A woman whose
little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came... (she) was a Greek, a
Syrophoenician by birth. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter...
Then he told her,
—Mark 7:24-26,29-30. |
| Location: | In a house in Tyre. |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | House full ?= 20 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | ?200 |
| Healing of a deaf and dumb man. | |
| Text: |
Then (Jesus) returned... through the region of the Decapolis, and they
brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech... and taking
him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he
spat and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to
him,
And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
—Mark 7:31-32a,33-35 |
| Location: | Decapolis—large region of Jordan |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | ?=200 |
| Great Crowds east of sea of Galilee. | |
| Text: |
And Jesus... passed along the Sea of Galilee, and... up on the mountain, and
sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the
maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and
he healed them... and they glorified God.
—Matthew 15:29-30,31b. |
| Location: | Decapolis |
| Number cured: | 1 of 10 ?= 200 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Great crowd ?= 2000 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | each one x 100 ?= 20,000 |
| Feeding of the 4000. | |
| Text: |
Again a great crowd had gathered... and he commanded the crowd to sit down
on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks he broke
them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people... and they had a
few small fish... and they ate and were satisfied, and they took up the broken
pieces left over, seven baskets full. And they were about 4000 people.
—Mark 8:1a,6-7a,8-9 |
| Location: | Decapolis |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Great crowd of 4000 witnessed and ate. |
| A blind man healed. | |
| Text: |
Some people brought to him a blind man...(he) led him out of the
village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him,
—Mark 8:22,23b-25. |
| Location: | Village of Bethsaida. |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | some people ?= 10 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 100 |
| Casting out of an epileptic-like demon. | |
| Text: |
(the other disciples) were surrounded by a great crowd...
So they brought (the boy). When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw
the boy into a convulsion...He rebuked the evil spirit.
—Mark 9:20,25b-26a,27. |
| Location: | Region of Caesarea-Philippi toward Damascus |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Great crowd ?= 500-1000 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 200 |
| Catching a special fish | |
| Text: |
...the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked,
—Matthew 17:24b-25a,27. |
| Location: | Capernaum |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | 1 |
| Healing of a man born blind. | |
| Text: |
As he went along he saw a man blind from birth. (he said),
—John 9:1,5-7,39a. |
| Location: | Jerusalem |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | Friends + those from whom he begged ?= 300 |
| 72 disciples traveling in pairs also did miracles. | |
| Text: |
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him...
The seventy-two returned with joy and said,
—Luke 10:1,17. |
| Location: | Whole country |
| Number cured: | 36 pairs x 2 miracles = 72 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracles: | ? 72 x 100 = 7200 |
| Healing of a dumb man. | |
| Text: |
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute.
When the demon left, the man who had been dumb spoke,
and the crowd was amazed.
—Luke 11:14. |
| Location: | Region of Judea |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Crowd ?= 100 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 200 |
| Crippled woman is healed. | |
| Text: |
On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was
there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and
could not straighten up at all...
Then he put his hands on her and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
—Luke 13:11,13. |
| Location: | Region of Judea |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Synagogue full ?= 100 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 200 |
| Healing of a man with dropsy. | |
| Text: |
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent
Pharisee...there in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy... taking hold of the man
he healed him and sent him away.
—Luke 14:1-4 |
| Location: | Perea in middle Jordan |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Prominent household ?= 20 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 200 |
| Raising of Lazarus who had been dead four days. | |
| Text: |
When Martha [Lazurus' sister] heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him.
—John 11:20-25,38a,39,41b-44. |
| Location: | Bethany near Jerusalem |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | the people standing ?= 50 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 200 |
| Jesus heals 10 lepers. | |
| Text: |
As (Jesus) was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They
stood at a distance and called out...
—Luke 17:12-14 |
| Location: | Samaria |
| Number cured: | 10 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | The disciples |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 10 men x ?100 = 1000 |
| Two blind men are healed. | |
| Text: |
As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.
Two blind men were sitting by the road side and...they shouted,
—Matthew 20:29-30,34. |
| Location: | Jericho |
| Number cured: | 2 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Large Crowd ?= 500 |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | 2 men x ?100 = 200 |
| The fig tree withers as a symbol. | |
| Text: |
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the
distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he
reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
Then he said to the tree,
...In the morning as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus,
—Mark 11:12-14,20. |
| Location: | Jerusalem |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | The disciples |
| Jesus prophesies that Peter will deny him three times. | |
| Text: |
Peter declared,
—Mark 14:29-30,70b-72. |
| Location: | Jerusalem |
| Number who witnessed the effect of the miracle: | The disciples |
| Jesus heals Malchus, one of those who came to arrest him. | |
| Text: |
While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas,
one of the twelve, was leading them...
But Jesus said to him,
—Luke 22:47-48,50-51. |
| Location: | Jerusalem |
| Number cured: | 1 |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | Disciples and crowd ?= 50 |
| Jesus reveals himself after his resurrection from the dead by a miraculous catch of fish. | |
| Text: |
After this Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples... in this way.
Simon Peter said to them (the other six disciples),
—John 21:1,3-7a,15,19b. |
| Location: | Lake of Galilee |
| Number of witnesses who saw the miracle: | 7 disciples |
In the above accounts there are 37 miracles describing in some detail the healing of 39 different people. There are four passages, plus the healings at the feeding of the five thousand, stating that Jesus healed all who came. By rough estimate, it is proposed that at least 1,000 people were healed in these mass healings.
In addition there were surely as many as 14,500 to 15,000 people who observed these healings, including the 5,000 on one occasion and the 4,000 on another, who actually ate of the multiplied bread as well as witnessing the miracle. Even if we assume that half of the witnesses saw two miracles, that would still leave 11,000 witnesses to the almost 1,000 miracles.
Thirdly there were probably at least another 86,000 people who knew these ill men and women when they were demon possessed or crippled and would be able to see that a healing had taken place, even though they had not been present. If two million people lived in Palestine at that time this would mean that one out of every 20 people had seen a miracle or knew someone who had been healed.
Thus the true believers at the time of Christ had an abundance of confirming signs that Jesus had indeed been sent by the great creator God, Yahweh Elohim.
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