Category: Miracles

God told Ezekiel that he would “take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke” (Ezekiel 24:16).  The “desire” of the prophet’s…

The Christian’s belief that Jesus is the Son of God is not based upon feelings, traditions, or cultural beliefs. It is based upon evidence that is recorded in the Word of God.

The New Testament abounds with evidence that Paul was a genuine apostle of Jesus Christ. He possessed the authority of an apostle, and his epistles contain the teachings that we are to follow today.

No one should deny that the Spirit dwells in the Christian. The Bible teaches that the Spirit dwells in us through our faith and acceptance of His word. The Spirit can be said to dwell within us as we manifest the Spirit’s influence upon our lives. The fact that we dwell in the Godhead, and that the Godhead dwells in us, shows the closeness of the fellowship that we have with the Godhead. However, I believe we are in error to take the position that the Holy Spirit literally dwells within us. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit all dwell in us through our faith, and operate upon our lives through the word of God.

Peter, James, and John formed an “inner circle” among the Lord’s twelve apostles. We cannot know for sure why these three men were singled out, but we benefit greatly from the blessings they were allowed to experience.

Some people today believe that they have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues and to prophecy, to perform miracles, to heal the sick and cast out demons. Regardless of the sincerity of these individuals, these claims do not harmonize with the Bible’s teaching regarding the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. The miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were real. They were given to believers through the laying on of the hands of an apostle. These gifts were the means of equipping the church and confirming the word to unbelievers. When the last apostle died, these gifts were no longer available to mankind.

The purpose of this study will be to consider that view in the light of divine scripture; the “sword of the [Holy] Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). In addition, this study does not in any way deny the Holy Spirit’s divinity nor His power. He is God (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). He does have the power to work miracles (Acts 2). Thus this study is designed to consider His method of operation as it is laid out in the Bible, and as it pertains to followers of Christ.

Because the purpose of miracles was to confirm the divine origin of God’s word, miracles would only endure as long as it took to accomplish this task, that is, throughout the first century. This is how Paul tried to show the Corinthians that love was a greater gift than miracles, for it would outlast them (1 Corinthians 13:8-12). They were to cease when incomplete knowledge was replaced by a perfect – completed – New Testament revelation. The church would then emerge from infancy to maturity. We now have the faith once for all delivered, a perfect law of liberty (see Jude 3, James 1:25).

In John 2:1-11, the apostle records Jesus’ miracle at the wedding feast in Cana. There are many important things to note regarding this event, where our Lord first “manifested His glory” (cf. vs. 11), but we are here most interested in the words spoken on this occasion. Specifically, we wish to examine Jesus’ words to His mother, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come” (vs. 4).

Moses, Elijah, and the apostles had their word confirmed by signs that clearly and powerfully showed that God was the author and finisher of their faith (Exodus 4:1-5; 1 Kings 18:21-40; Hebrews 2:1-4). However, we see no such things from Pentecostal preachers who claim similar gifts and powers today.