When King Hezekiah of Judah (ca. 715-686 B.C.) was dying, he begged God to intervene and restore him to health. God answered his prayer and healed him, promising to extend his life by 15 years. When the king asked for a sign to confirm God’s promise, God offered him two options: He could request the sundial’s shadow be advanced or reversed by 10 degrees.

The king answered: “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees…let the shadow go backward ten degrees” (2 Kings 20:10). God then reversed the sundial’s shadow 10 degrees (Verse11). It was an amazing miracle .

The sun, a blazing star, is some 93 million miles away. Any closer and the earth would be too hot to support life. Any farther and it would be too cold. This perfect placement of the sun provides the only known habitable environment in the universe. The amazing life-giving qualities of the sun parallels the work of God in our lives through Jesus Christ. It should therefore be no surprise that Christ is depicted in Scripture as “the Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:2) who shines on us, bringing about awesome change in our lives when we submit our ways to Him.

God’s greatest miracle is His transformation of the human mind and heart to the mind of Jesus Christ with our voluntary, faithful commitment (Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 2:20). The Bible also shows the phenomenal end-result of humankind’s transformation—becoming the glorified children of God (Hebrews 2:10-11; 2 Corinthians 6:18).

For this greatest miracle to come to fruition, human beings must come to think like God (Romans 12:2). The apostle Paul claimed that he and others had the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Our Bible is filled with examples of men and women who came to think as God did—Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel and God’s other prophets (See Hebrews 11).

When God said, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26), He did not mean just His anatomical image, but also His spiritual image. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). We must be transformed into God’s spiritual image: “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man” (verse 49).

God gives human beings the option to choose between good and evil, and He urges us to choose the good (Deuteronomy 30:19). Yet humankind cannot naturally obey God’s laws that provide true liberty (Romans 8:7) because of our self-seeking and self-serving human nature (Jeremiah 17:9). So God helps His called disciples to choose His way of thinking (Proverbs 1:1-7) through the supernatural power of God’s Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-14). But this requires our cooperation with Him through prayer and humbly seeking His way.

First of all God calls or draws us. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44,65). God’s calling is holy and unique (2 Timothy 1:9). We cannot come to know God without His help. God called Moses through the miracle of a burning bush (Exodus 3:2-10), and the Apostles were called through the teachings and example of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:1-3).

Those who respond to God’s calling begin to repent of breaking God’s laws (1 John 3:4). Simultaneously they exercise faith toward God by accepting Jesus Christ as their Saviour and resolve to obey Him by obeying His command to be baptized. God responds by giving them the gift of His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 19:5-6). This is when those whom God calls become God’s chosen (Matthew 20:16). God’s saints are sealed with His Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). The disciple of Christ must then represent Him on this earth and endure to the end (Matthew 24:13;10:22).

God’s amazing plan is to remake human beings into His spiritual image (1 John 3:1-3), and become His children (Hebrews 2:10). Then we can serve billions more human beings in Christ’s coming Kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:2). God will save all who are willing to fully surrender their lives to Him (1 Timothy 2:4). He helps change the human mind to be like His mind (1 Corinthians 2:13-16) so that you may be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).

God’s greatest miracle is transforming human minds and hearts to become like His. Ultimately, “...those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).