The Bible often speaks of signs and miracles as things that convinced people of the Lord’s leading. Swedenborg divides the two, identifying “signs” as things that compel belief intellectually and miracles as things that compel belief emotionally. For instance, it was a “sign” for the shepherds that they would find the newborn Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. This was not something that defied explanation; there is nothing impossible about a baby being laid in a manger. But it certainly implied foreknowledge on the part of the angels. On the other hand, miracles such as the Nile turning into blood, the Red Sea parting or water being made wine were apparently impossible, striking awe and fear in the hearts of observers and thus compelling the emotions.
Both signs and miracles, however, are external events that could only force people into compliance out of fear and awe, which is an external form of worship that has little to do with eternal life. The Lord used them in Biblical times because the people of that time were external in nature, and had to be forced into forms of worship to preserve spiritual ideas and to allow for the Bible to be written. By coming to us in human form as Jesus and teaching what he did, he opened the possibility that we could understand the spiritual meaning within the Bible, which would allow us to believe and live internally, not just externally. Swedenborg says that because of this, miracles are no longer performed.
Passages from Swedenborg
Invitation to the New Church (Buss) n. 46
46. What, on the other hand, do miracles amount to?Miracles do not take place at this day, because they lead men astray, and make them natural. They close up the interiors of their mind, in which faith ought to be rooted; wherefore, mere falsities proceed thence (see Matt. xxiv 24). What did themiracles which were wrought in Egypt effect with the sons of Israel? What did those miracles effect which were wrought before them in the wilderness? What those miracles at their entrance into the land of Canaan? What the miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha? What the miracles performed by the Lord Himself? Was anyone ever made spiritual by their means? What have the miracles among the Roman Catholics done for them? and those of Anthony at Padua? and of the three wise men at Cologne? And what has been the use of the countlessmiracles in the monasteries, which are filled with pictures, plates and gifts? Has ever anyone been made spiritual thereby? Have they not become natural thereby, so that there is scarcely any truth of the Word among them, but only externals of worship which pertain to men and to traditions?
Divine Providence (Dole) n. 132
132. We can see this characteristic of miracles very clearly in the miracles that were witnessed by the Jews and Israelites. Even though they saw so many miracles in the land of Egypt and then at the Reed Sea, and even more in the wilderness, and especially at Mount Sinai when the Law was given–all the same, after that month when Moses stayed on the mountain, they made themselves a golden calf and acknowledged it instead of Jehovah, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 32:4, 5, 6). We can see this also from themiracles that were done later in the land of Canaan, when the Israelites still fell away from their required worship so often. The same holds for the miracles that the Lord did in their presence when he was in the world: even so, they crucified him.
[2] The reason these miracles were done is that the Jews and Israelites were totally focused on earthly concerns. They were brought into the land of Canaan simply to portray the church and its deeper values by means of their outward worship; and evil people can portray this just as well as good ones because these outward activities are rituals, all pointing to spiritual and heavenly realities for them. So even though Aaron had made the golden calf and commanded the people to worship it (Exodus 32:2, 3, 4, 5, 35), he could still portray the Lord and his work of salvation. Further, since they could not be led to portray these things through inner worship, they were led bymiracles, actually constrained and compelled.
[3] The reason they could not be led through internal worship is that they consistently failed to acknowledge the Lord, even though the whole Word that was present with them is about him and no one else. People who do not acknowledge the Lord are not open to any inner worship. After the Lord had made himself known, though, and had been accepted and recognized in the church as the eternal God, miracles stopped happening.
Divine Providence (Dole) n. 133
133. However, the effect of miracles on good people is different from their effect on evil people. Good people have no desire for miracles, but they believe the miracles in the Word. If they do hear anything about a miracle, they think of it only as a minor argument that strengthens their faith, because they base their thinking on the Word and therefore on the Lord and not on the miracle.
It is different for evil people. They can actually be constrained and compelled to faith and even to worship and devotion by miracles. This lasts only a short while, though, because their evils are pent up inside, and the compulsions and gratifications of those evils are constantly working away inside their outward worship and devotion. In the effort to let them break free of this confinement, these people think about the miracle and wind up calling it a sham, a trick, or a natural event, which enables them to return to their evil ways. People who go back to their evil ways after being worshipful profane what is good and true in worship, and the fate after death of people who profane what is holy is the worst of all. These are the people referred to in the Lord’s discourse in Matthew 12:43, 44, 45, the people whose last state is worse than the first.
Besides, if miracles did happen for people who do not believe in the miracles in the Word, they would be happening constantly where everyone like this could see them. This shows why miracles do not happen nowadays.
Miracles and Signs (Johnson) n. 4
4. The reason why plainly-apparent Divine miracles do not now take place has been revealed to me. It is because the inward things of faith, which we receive from the Lord, cannot be sown or implanted under compulsion, but only in freedom, thus not amid the terror and amazement induced by miracles. The things that inflow under compulsion, as when one is influenced by miracles, are of such a nature that they affect a man’s interiors and there they excite persuasions not in accordance with his own state as to time or order. Consequently, in the case of those who have no faith from any other source, the goods and truths of faith which flow in at the same time are adjoined to falsities and are defiled by evils. Because they have no other root, in a short time they are either perverted or denied, whence arises a danger of profanation of that which is holy, a danger from which man is withheld by the Lord as far as possible; this must also be obvious to any one. And even if such miracles as were wrought in Egypt, and by Elijah and Elisha in Canaan, were to take place in these days, while at first regarded as something holy and demanding recognition, yet very soon, when men began to reason about them, would they not be disproved in various ways, and at length be ascribed to nature? This would be the case, more especially with the so-called erudite and intellectual than with the simple minded, but in time these also would be persuaded by the former, and their latter state would thereby become far worse than that in which they had formerly been. For first to acknowledge, but subsequently to pervert and deny, is profanation. (See AC nos. 573, 1008, 1010, 1059, 2081 and 2426.)
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 706
The terms sign and miracle are frequently used in the Word, sign meaning that which points out, witnesses, and persuades in regard to the subject of inquiry; but miracle means that which arouses, strikes dumb and fills with amazement. Thus a sign moves the understanding and faith, and a miracle the will and its affection; for the will with its affection is what is aroused, stricken dumb and filled with amazement, while it is understanding and its faith that are persuaded by signs and testifications.
[2] That there is a difference between a sign and a miracle is evident from this fact, that although the Jews saw so manymiracles performed by the Lord still they asked signs of Him; and also from this fact, that the prodigies wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness are sometimes called signs, sometimesmiracles, and sometimes also both. And it is further evident from this, that in every part of the Word there is a marriage of truth and good, thus also of the understanding and will, for truth pertains to the understanding and good to the will, consequently signs there have reference to things pertaining to truth, thus to those of faith and the understanding, and miraclesto things pertaining to good, thus to those of affection and the will. What is the specific meaning of signs and miracles, when both are mentioned in the Word, is now plain, as in the following passages.
In Moses:
“I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, that I may multiply my signs and my miracles in the land of Egypt” (Exod. vii. 3).
In the same:
“Jehovah gave signs and miracles great and evil upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house” (Deut. vi. 22).
In the same:
Hath Jehovah “assayed to come and take to himself a nation out of the midst of a nation, by miracles, by signs, and by wonders” (Deut. iv. 34).
In David:
“They remembered not the day in which Jehovah set signs in Egypt, and prodigies in the field of Zoan” (Psalm lxxxviii. 42, 43).
In the same:
“They set among them the words of his signs and miracles in the land of Ham” (Psalm cv. 27).
In the same:
“He sent signs and miracles into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and all his servants” (Psalm cxxxv. 9).
In Jeremiah:
“Who hast set signs and miracles in the land of Egypt, and even to this day, both in Israel, and in men, and hast led thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt, by signs and bymiracles” (xxxii. 20, 21).
From these passages it is clear that the prodigies wrought in Egypt, and afterwards among the sons of Israel, are called signs and miracles, signs because they testified and persuaded, andmiracles because they aroused and filled [the people] with amazement; yet they agree, in this, that the things which arouse and fill [people] with amazement also testify and persuade, just as those things that arouse the will also persuade the understanding, or as those things that move the affection also by persuasion move the thought.
Similarly in the Evangelists:
In the consummation of the age “there shall arise false Christs and false prophets; they shall give great signs and miracles, and shall lead astray, if it be possible, even the elect” (Matt. xxiv. 24; Mark xiii. 22).
Here also great signs and miracles have a similar signification, namely, that they testify and persuade, and that they strike dumb and fill with amazement, from which strong persuasion will arise. Who those are that are meant by false Christs and false prophets, and by the elect, may be seen above (n. 624:5, 684:7).
[3] In Moses:
“If there shall arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, who shall give thee a sign or a miracle, and the sign or miracle come to pass which he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go unto other gods, thou shalt not obey” (Deut. xiii. 1-3).
Here a prophet, and a dreamer of dreams, also a sign andmiracle are mentioned, because a sign refers to a prophet, and amiracle to a dreamer of dreams; for a prophet means one who teaches truths, and, in the abstract sense, the doctrine of truth, and a dreamer [of dreams] means one who stirs up (another) to do a thing, and, in the abstract sense, the act of stirring up, from which a thing is done; this also pertains to a miracle as the former does to a sign. For prophets were instructed by a living voice from the Lord, and dreamers by representatives arousing to action, which flowed into the affection of the dreamer, and from that into the sight of the thought; for when a man dreams, his natural understanding is laid asleep, and his spiritual sight which derives its all from the affection is opened. But in this passage, the sight which derives its all from an evil affection is meant, for it is spoken of the prophets who teach falsities and who dream vain things, for by other gods are meant the falsities and vain things that such heard and saw.
[4] That signs signify testifications, which point out and persuade to the belief that a thing is so, is evident from the following passages.
In Moses:
“If they will not believe thee, nor hear the voice of the first sign, yet they will believe the voice of the latter sign; and if they will not believe these two signs, nor hear thy voice, thou shalt take of the waters of the river, and they shall become blood” (Exod. iv. 8, 9).
This is said of the miracles wrought by Moses, when the Lord appeared to him in the bush, which are called signs, because they were to testify and persuade them to believe that Moses was sent to lead them out of Egypt. It is therefore three times said “that they may believe,” and also “that they may hear his voice.”
[5] In the same:
“Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people not believe in me, for all the signs which I have done in the midst of them; none of the men who have seen my glory, and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, shall see the land” (Numb. xiv. 11, 22, 23).
Similarly here likewise miracles are called signs, because mention is made of believing; for, as has been said, miraclesare called signs because they persuade and induce faith; and as signs did not induce faith, with those who, by reason of fear, were not willing to enter into the land of Canaan, therefore it is said concerning them that they should not see the land. Similar things are signified by signs in Exod. xiv. 17; and x. 1, 2.
[6] In the Evangelists:
The Scribes and Pharisees said, “Master, we desire to see from thee a sign; and he answering, said, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, but no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; as Jonah was in the belly of the whale (cetus) three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matt. xii. 38-40; Luke xi. 16, 29, 30).
That a sign here means testification that they would be persuaded and believe that the Lord was the Messiah and the Son of God who was to come, is plain; for the miracles which the Lord wrought in great numbers, and which they saw, were no signs to them, because miracles, as said above, are signs only to the good. Jonah was in the belly of the whale (cetus) three days and three nights, and this was taken for a sign, because it signified the burial and resurrection of the Lord, thus the complete glorification of His Human, three days and three nights signifying completeness.
[7] In Matthew:
The Pharisees and the Sadducees, tempting, asked Jesus “to show them a sign from the heavens. He answering, said, When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the heaven is red; and in the morning, it will be tempestuous to-day, for the heaven is red and gloomy. Ye hypocrites, ye know how to discern the face of the heaven, but ye cannot the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous nation requireth a sign, but no sign shall be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah” (xvi. 1-4).
The sign which they asked from heaven here also means testification, that they would be persuaded and believe that the Lord was the Son of God, although miracles were performed, which they did not call signs. The Lord at that time spoke of evening and morning, because “evening and morning” signifies the Lord’s coming; here it means, when the church with the Jews was devastated, for then they had “fair weather,” because they knew not the Lord, and lived securely in falsities from evil; this is the evening. But when they knew Him, and, because of falsities from evils in which they were, denied and assaulted Him, then this state is signified by the morning when it is tempestuous. This is why the Lord said, “Ye hypocrites, ye know how to discern the face of the heaven, but the signs of the times ye cannot,” that is, the Lord’s coming; because they were an evil and adulterous nation, that is, one that adulterated the Word, therefore He said that a sign should not be given them.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7290
7290. ‘When he says, Perform a wonder’ means and they therefore wish to receive proof. This is clear from the meaning of ‘wonders and signs’ as proofs or corroborations of truths, dealt with in 3900, 6870. With regard to the wonders and signs described in what follows from here onwards, it should be realized that they were performed among the kind of people whose worship was external and who had no wish to know about internal worship. For those whose worship was like that had to be coerced by means of external things. This explains why miracles were performed among the Israelite and Jewish people, for their worship was entirely external and not at all internal. What is more, since they had no liking for internal worship, external worship was the kind they were required to engage in, to the end that they might represent things of a holy nature within their external observances. This would establish a channel of communication with heaven as if through something of a Church. For correspondences, representatives, and meaningful signs link the natural world to the spiritual world. This then was why so many miracles were performed among that nation.
[2] But no miracles are performed among those whose worship is internal, that is, who have charity and faith residing with them, since miracles are harmful to them; for miracles compel one to believe, and what one is compelled to believe does not remain but is thrown to the winds. The internal constituents of their worship, which are faith and charity, must be implanted in freedom; for then they make them their own and what they make their own in this way remains, whereas what is implanted under compulsion remains outside the internal man, in the external man. This is because nothing passes into the internal man except by way of ideas seen in the understanding, that is, seen rationally, since the soil which receives what is implanted in the internal man is enlightened reason. This is why nomiracles are performed at the present day. One may also conclude from this that they are harmful, for they compel a person to believe something and give the external man fixed ideas about the truth of it. If after that the internal man refuses to believe what the miracles have proved, the internal man and the external become opposed to and clash with each other, and when at length the ideas implanted under the influence ofmiracles are driven to the winds, falsity becomes joined to truth, that is, profanation occurs. This shows how harmfulmiracles are at the present day in a Church in which the internal qualities constituting worship have been made known. This is also what is meant by the Lord’s words to Thomas,
Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are those who do not see yet believe. John 20:29.
This shows too that they are ‘blessed’, those whose belief is not induced by miracles.
[3] But miracles are not harmful to those whose worship is external, devoid of anything internal, for with them no opposition between the internal man and the external is possible, nor thus any clashing, nor consequently any profanation. The fact that miracles do not make any contribution towards faith becomes quite clear from themiracles performed among the Israelite people in Egypt and in the wilderness; those miracles had no effect whatever on them. Although those people had not long before seen so manymiracles in Egypt, after which they had seen the Sea Suph divided, and the Egyptians drowned in it, with the pillar of cloud going before them by day and the pillar of fire by night, and with the manna raining from heaven each day; and although they had seen Mount Sinai smoking and heard Jehovah speaking from it, and other miracles besides, nevertheless, while yet in the midst of such wonders, they fell completely away from faith, and from worship of Jehovah to calf-worship, Exod. 32:1-end. From this one may see what effect miracles have.
[4] They would have even less effect at the present day when nobody acknowledges that there is anything which has its origin in the spiritual world, and when anything miraculous that occurs and is not attributed to natural causes is refused recognition. For a refusal to recognize that the Divine flows in and governs on earth reigns everywhere. If at the present day therefore one who belongs to the Church were to witness utterly Divine miracles, he would first deduce that they had a natural origin and sully them with this, then dismiss them as fantasies, and finally mock whoever attributed them to the Divine and not to natural causes. The fact that miracles have no effect at all is also clear from the Lord’s words in Luke,
If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. Luke 16:31.