Supernatural Signs Are Not Sufficient

The night before Jesus was crucified, a contingent of soldiers was sent to take him by force and arrest him. "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them, 'Whom are you seeking?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus said to them, 'I am he.'” John 18:4 There is no "he" in the original Greek, it was just put there to make sense to us. It literally should read, "I AM." We know from many places in the Scriptures that when Jesus uses the words "I AM," he is identifying himself as God (Exodus 3:14). There is so much power in that name that upon hearing it, those who came to arrest him fell to the ground!!! vs 6: "Now when he said to them, 'I am,” they drew back and fell to the ground." Many read the Scriptures quickly just to get through them. Those who read them slowly, word for word, will glean things that a superficial reading won't reveal. Put yourself in this story. Jesus identifies himself as "I AM"... ...and they all fall to the ground! Can you imagine it? If you were in that contingent of soldiers and upon hearing the words of Jesus you find yourself face down on the ground, would you have the nerve then to stand up and take Jesus by force? This illustrates a principle that another story shows clearly. In the 16th chapter of Luke beginning with verse 19 we read the true story of a conversation between a man in hell and a beggar named Lazarus who died and is now in Paradise. The man in hell asks father Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers so that they won't end up in this place of torment. Abraham answers that they have the Bible, and that will show them the way. The man in hell says to him, "No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent." In other words, he's asking that his brothers be confronted with a supernatural miracle so that they will believe. But Abraham answers that if they reject the Bible then they are unreachable, seeing a miracle won't convince them just as in the story above - when men were thrown to the ground on the words of Jesus - even that didn't change them. Signs do not convince one who doesn't want to believe. vs 31: "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” Friends, it is not supernatural miracles that bring a person to faith, faith comes through hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). If a person has set his heart to ignore the Bible, to ignore the Word of God, nothing will impress him enough to bring him to repentance. The man in hell didn't understand that a miracle would not impress his brothers enough to bring them to repentance. And the soldiers who fell before Jesus's feet when he identified himself were not sufficiently impressed to repent before him. It's not supernatural displays that convert the heart. If it were, they never would have crucified Jesus. When you pray for someone's salvation, do not ask that God give them supernatural signs. Ask that God open their hearts to his Word. "But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed our report?' So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:16-17