This post is written by Katie Orr as a companion for Unit 27, Session 2 of The Gospel Project for Adults, Volume 9: From Death to Resurrection (Fall 2023).
Think about the last passage of Scripture you read that left you scratching your head. Did it involve an element of the supernatural? If so, what was your initial reaction? Did you keep moving along? Did you struggle with believing it could be possible?
When we encounter scientific anomalies in Scripture, we often look for an empirical explanation for how and why it happened. It is so outside our logical, “enlightened” thinking to understand how the sun and moon stood still when Joshua defeated the Amorites or how a burning bush in front of Moses survived unscathed. There are pages and pages of commentaries debating whether Jonah could have survived three days in the belly of a giant fish, or how it could be possible that Elijah’s offered ox was consumed from a water-drenched altar. It’s all just so outside our box. And there are many, many, many instances of these unusual events that contradict the laws of the universe.
Interestingly, when we approach the New Testament, we tend to put our scientific guard down a bit. We wholeheartedly embrace the miracles of Jesus and the resurrection of Christ. There is no hesitation when we read the moment of transfiguration, when Peter, James, and John see Jesus hanging out with Moses and Elijah, and the audible voice of God descends upon them. There is little analysis of how the Day of Pentecost—filled with flames of fire and the miracle of tongues—could be possible.
Perhaps some of this is because we’ve heard these stories most of our lives, so we’re comfortable with them. But the same God who spoke to Balaam through a donkey and made dry bones come to life through Ezekiel is the God who walked on water, multiplied loaves and fishes, and triumphed over the grave.
It is good and right for us to read Scripture carefully and to ask questions when we encounter something we don’t understand. Our faith isn’t a blind one. It could be that a logical, scientific answer exists to the details that make us scratch our head. However, it also could be that there is no earthly explanation. It is a transcendental event with no special intellect needed to understand.
The three hours of darkness while Jesus endured His last moments on earth in mortal human flesh were indeed an anomaly. They shouldn’t have happened. But the God who spoke the heavens into being—who put the sun, moon, and stars in their places and sustains them in their systems—can do whatever He wishes with the cosmos. Those “impossible” hours need no reason but that God pushed pause on His own creation. How a thirty-foot tall temple curtain could have been split down the middle from top to bottom right at the moment of Jesus’s death demands no deduction but that God is omnipresent and omnipotent.
Instead of allowing shock and confusion to be our go-to response to things that make no sense to our logical, modern-thinking minds—what if we read the Bible with anticipation, expecting to encounter the supernatural? How might that change our experience?
Might skepticism translate into conviction?
Maybe bewilderment could turn into astonishment?
Perhaps confusion will transform into adoration? As you enjoy God’s Word today, consider wearing your supernatural glasses and wholeheartedly embracing the mysteries of the God whom no mere mortal can measure—the God who miraculously and mercifully saved us from our sin.
Katie Orr is the author of Secrets of the Happy Soul, seven FOCUSed15 Bible studies, and is the creator of the Bible Study Hub community, where women can receive training, encouragement, and accountability to enjoy God’s Word. Katie holds an MA in discipleship from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Chris, along with their three children, live in central Florida.
