Isn’t it a miracle when a person sees an angel or receives the Holy Spirit?

Answer:

Miracles are alterations of natural events. The birth of a baby is a wondrous event, but it is not a miracle because its birth follows the course God set for the world. Jesus healed people, but the reason we call his work miraculous is that they happened instantaneously. They weren't a mere reversal of the course of a disease; the disease ceased to exist. There was no recovery time as the body restored itself after a battle with disease; the people displayed full use of their bodies. Take the example of the lame man: "Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked" (John 5:8-9). Read through the miracles of the Bible and notice how often it is emphasized that the change was immediate and complete.

Angels are a part of God's creation. They are not commonly seen, but the fact that someone met an angel does not mean they experienced a miracle. "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:2). Angels' involvement with mankind is less than it once was. God used angels, at least in part, to deliver His message. That is no longer true in the New Testament.

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds" (Hebrews 1:1-2).

"For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?" (Hebrews 2:2-4).

That is why Paul warned that even angels cannot alter what God has delivered. "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).

The receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), which is the guarantee of salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14), is a promise of God. It doesn't require altering how the world naturally operates for a person to be saved. It requires a person willing to submit to the commands of God.

The gifts of the Spirit were another matter. Christians who received the gifts of the Spirit were able to do miraculous things. See: When Paul asked the Ephesians if they had received the Holy Spirit, what was he referring to? It is these miraculous gifts that have ceased as Paul stated would happen.