God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Unless we read the Word of God, we cannot be instructed by the Spirit, and unless we are instructed by the Spirit, we cannot become godly and effective servants. To put it another way, loving the Word, learning from the Word, and living out the Word are interlocked in God's plan for our spiritual growth.
(Acts 3:1-11)
IT is not the purpose of this discourse to prove that
miracles were performed. We are going to accept
without question the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John. They were on the ground at the time the
miracles were performed by Jesus and the apostles, and
testify to the fact. Hence, their testimony is superior
to that of uninspired men born more than eighteen
hundred years later.
Christianity is founded upon miracles — the incarna-
tion, atonement and resurrection, and others. The
human mind is unable to grasp the things of the infi-
nite. Because we can not grasp the deep things of God
merely proves that the Bible is superior to the intellect
of man. We can only know what God has chosen to
reveal (Deut. 29:29). Everything has been revealed
that pertains to righteousness and salvation. That is all
we need to know (2 Pet, 1:3).
1. The purpose of miracles.
a. To substantiate the message. God never sent out
a special messenger without giving him the power neces-
sary to prove the message. The miracles performed by
Moses to prove his divine calling as the leader and de-
liverer of Israel (Ex. 4:1-9). The miracles of Jesus
Christ were performed that we might believe that He
is the Son of God (John 20: 39, 31; Acts 2: 22). The
apostles, going out with the new message of salvation
through Christ, were given this miraculous power. In
entering a locality, they usually performed a miracle to
prove that God was behind their message (Mark 16:
15-20).
A supernatural proposition requires a supernatural
proof. Consequently, signs were needed to confirm the
message of the resurrection of Christ (Heb. 2:3, 4).
God bore witness to their preaching by various miracles
and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
b. To demonstrate the power and glory of God. Be-
cause Moses took the glory to himself he was not
allowed to enter the promised land. He failed to sanc-
tify God in the eyes of the people of Israel (Num. 20:
7-13; Deut. 32:48-52; 34:1-6).
The attitude of the Master in raising Lazarus from
the dead (John 11:40). The opinion of Nicodemus
(John 3:2).
Peter and John display the right attitude in healing
the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. They gave the
glory to God (Acts 3: 12-16).
Men should always give the glory to God for every-
thing they do that is upright (1 Cor. 10:31).
c. Miracles were never performed to save any one.
Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus to make him an apos-
tle, but sent him to Ananias to find out what to do to
be saved (Acts 26:15-10; 9:6-18). God has ordained
that men shall find out what to do through His ministers.
2. The place of miracles in the Christian dispensa-
tion.
a. Everything in the divine economy starts in a
miracle. The creation a miracle. The exodus accom-
panied by miracles. The gospel attested by miracles.
The church endowed with miraculous gifts during its
infancy (1 Cor. 12 and 13).
b. The apostles endowed with this power in the bap-
tism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-8). They performed
no miracles previous to the coming of the Spirit on
Pentecost.
c. They transferred this power to others by the lay-
ing on of hands (Acts 8: 13-17). The church at Home
did not have this power until Paul visited them (Rom.
1: 11). This gift of the Holy Spirit was different from
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit by faith.
d. Miracles ceased with the infancy of the church.
This miraculous power could be transferred by the
apostles to those upon whom they laid their hands, but
there it stopped. Miracles performed to-day could not
prove events that happened nineteen hundred years
ago. Everything in the divine economy starts in a
miracle and continues by the operation of natural laws.
When the church was established, miracles were no
longer necessary. Now abides the more excellent way
of love (1 Cor. 12:31; 13:8).
It is useless for men to scoff at miracles. We can
not even explain the mystery of the food we eat, of the
water we drink, of the air we breathe; of gravitation
and electricity; of the universe, with its countless sys-
tems of growth and reproduction ; and a thousand other
processes that surpass human intelligence. Why, then,
discredit the miracles of the Bible?
