Dialogue with Trypho

"Rest assured, Trypho," I continued, "that my knowledge and faith in the Scriptures are strengthened by the false miracles said to have been performed by the one called the devil among the Greeks, similar to those done by the Magi in Egypt and by the false prophets during Elijah's time. For when they claim that Bacchus, son of Jupiter, was born from Jupiter's union with Semele, discovered the vine, was torn apart, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven, and they include wine in his rituals, do I not see that the devil has imitated the prophecy announced by patriarch Jacob and recorded by Moses? And when they say Hercules was strong, traveled the world, was born of Jove and Alcmene, and ascended to heaven upon his death, do I not see that the Scriptures about Christ, ‘strong as a giant to run his race,’ have been similarly imitated? And when the devil presents Æsculapius as a raiser of the dead and healer of all diseases, can I not say that he has also imitated the prophecies about Christ in this matter? However, since I have not quoted such Scriptures to you that speak of Christ doing these things, I must remind you of one such passage: from which you can understand that even to those without knowledge of God, like the Gentiles, who ‘having eyes, saw not, and having a heart, understood not,’ worshiping wooden images, the Scripture prophesied they would renounce these vanities and hope in Christ.

It is written: ‘Rejoice, thirsty wilderness; let the wilderness be glad and blossom as the lily: the deserts of the Jordan shall blossom and be glad: the glory of Lebanon was given to it, and the honor of Carmel. And my people shall see the exaltation of the Lord, and the glory of God. Be strong, weak hands and feeble knees. Be comforted, faint in soul: be strong, do not fear. Behold, our God gives and will give retributive judgment.

He shall come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers shall speak clearly: for water has broken forth in the wilderness, and a valley in the thirsty land; and the parched ground shall become pools, and a spring of water shall rise up in the thirsty land.’ The spring of living water that flowed from God in the land lacking the knowledge of God, namely the land of the Gentiles, was this Christ, who appeared among your people and healed those who were maimed, deaf, and lame from birth, causing them to leap, to hear, and to see by His word.

Having raised the dead and given them life, His deeds compelled people of that time to recognize Him.

But though they saw such works, they claimed it was magic. They dared to call Him a magician and a deceiver of the people.

Yet He performed these works and convinced those destined to believe in Him. For even if someone has a physical defect, if they observe His teachings, He shall raise them at His second coming perfectly sound, after making them immortal, incorruptible, and free from grief."