Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an ancient Jewish text, speaks of seven such wonders. Not the kind you find on a travel brochure, but events that shook the foundations of belief. We're talking about things so extraordinary, nothing like them had ever happened before.
And what tops this list of all-time stunners? None other than Abraham's miraculous escape from the fiery furnace.
Think about it. Fire. Consuming, all-powerful. An inescapable force. And yet, Abraham walked out unscathed. The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer is emphatic: From the moment the heavens and earth were created, nobody had ever been saved from fire. Nobody. Until Abraham.
Imagine the impact! The text tells us that all the kings of the earth heard about it and were astonished. They'd never seen anything like it. And how could they? It was utterly unique.
Now, how do we know that Abraham was actually delivered from this fiery ordeal? Well, scripture provides the confirmation. As it says in Genesis 15:7, "And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the furnace of the Chaldees." And again, in Nehemiah 9:7, "Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of the furnace of the Chaldees."
These verses aren't just historical footnotes. They're declarations of divine intervention. They're affirmations that even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, even when surrounded by flames, salvation is possible.
So, what does Abraham's fiery trial and miraculous escape mean for us today? Perhaps it's a reminder that true wonder isn't about seeing something new, but seeing the familiar in a new light. That even in a world that often feels devoid of miracles, the potential for the extraordinary still exists. Maybe all we need to do is open our eyes—and our hearts—to see it.