GOD USES SIGNS OF CHANGE IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD TO REPRESENT SPIRITUAL CHANGE
The Bible reports many examples of signs, wonders and miracles. The problem is, however, that people who interpret the Bible think of these signs as literal, physical events. They do not stop to consider that the God who always speaks in parables always uses physical, natural things and events, including miracles in which the natural order of the world is altered, as lessons meant to convey spiritual truth. Thus, stories about miraculous natural events must be considered in the context of the “first the natural, then the spiritual” principle.

STUDY TIP: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3, and Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies, Shadows and Patterns for details of what the Bible says about how it should be interpreted.

It is a gross error, therefore, to think that the miraculous events represented in the Bible are only stories about God’s power to alter the physical world. There is a spiritual story behind every natural event that testifies about God’s ability to alter the spiritual world — not the physical world.