“Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;
and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son.” (
During his earthly
ministry the Lord said that once he had ascended to his Father, they that
believe on him would be able to do greater works than he had done. He had
healed the sick, driven out demons, raised the dead, miraculously fed thousands
of people and walked on water. Well the Lord ascended to his Father around A.D.
30 (Acts 1) and the last raising of someone from the dead by a believer was in
about A.D. 56.
“And there sat
in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep:
and as
I was greatly
disappointed when I looked around Christendom late in the twentieth century and
saw many claiming this kind of power but they were unable to demonstrate
anything greater than a kind of hypnotist’s show. They made people giggle
and/or fall over. One Pentecostal preacher even claimed to have healed a cow’s
‘white eye’. Far out.
Such wonders as the healing of a cow’s clouded eye never occurred while
I was looking. I never saw a withered hand restored to normality in front of a
live audience, and I never will.
And I remain sceptical
about what passes for ‘speaking in tongues’ today. A fellowship I attended for
several months were very keen for me to join in the tongues speaking. A guest
preacher from the
If believers today had
powers greater than the Lord during his earthly ministry, they would be in the
news every day. We would see television coverage of Christians walking across
the ocean and feeding the millions of starving people in
I really, really wanted
what
I lived in a constant
state of great disappointment. Through my reading of the books of
The solution to my
disappointment came after I got saved in 2006. The eyes of my understanding
were enlightened.
“The eyes of
your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”
(Ephesians
If our apostle Paul had
come along several hundred years after Calvary, it would not be so hard to see
that God introduced a new dispensation through him – just as God (through
Moses) introduced a new dispensation of the law to his people Israel, four
hundred and thirty years after the promises were made to Abraham and his seed.
God’s new dispensation
with the house of
“Behold, the
days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto
them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they
shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and
every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (
Spirit-filled
When the Lord saved an
ignorant, unbelieving, blaspheming individual (Acts 9, 1
This former blasphemer
(Saul, later Paul) got the most hazardous task of dispensing God’s grace among
the heathen, Gentile nations. Things are different under the dispensation of
the grace of God and the difference that affects the topic of this study is
that
“And when he was
demanded of the Pharisees, when the
God still does
supernatural stuff among his believers but he does it in secret. In this
dispensation God is not using signs and wonders to invoke belief in unbelievers
(as he did with
“But without
faith it is impossible to please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 AV)
Far from trying to woo us with signs and
wonders, in this present age the Lord responds to persistent and pressing
solicitation (importunity). I persisted with a simple prayer every day for
about three years, “Lord please show me your will for
me today.” I often added “Yeah right” as I could not see how God was going to
change me. My bitter and twisted mind was set in concrete. So he first gave me
enough rope to hang myself with and then, much to my surprise, I got saved. But
that’s another story.
“ And he said
unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,
and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to
set before him? And he from within shall
answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with
me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
I say unto you, Though he will not rise and
give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you. For every one that asketh
receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or
if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him
a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:5-13
AV)
Don’t expect others to get excited about it
when he reveals himself to you. It is an inside job. You won’t look any
different through their cameras but the view through your camera will be
transformed. Some will be jealous. Elders and deacons will talk over the top of
you and try to get you under their thumbs. They would even talk you out of your
own salvation if it were possible. (I thought those guys should be happy that I
am saved. Why are they always such aggressive control freaks?) You will
probably lose, or deliberately part company with, a lot of ‘friends’ who were
more comfortable with the pre-salvation you. In the words of
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and
what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians
The risen Lord had
declared specifically the signs which would follow them that believe;
“And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they
cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (
I initially tried to
attach these signs to the twelve’s initial great commission and detach them
from
“Now
there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences
of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the
Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the
same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to
another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to
another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 AV)
The signs followed our
apostle
“And there sat a
certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s
womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding
him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice,
Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw
what
“I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than
ye all:” (1Cor
“And God wrought
special miracles by the hands of
“And when Paul had gathered a bundle of
sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a
viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw
the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No
doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet
vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and
felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down
dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to
him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.” (Acts 28:3-6 AV)
On closer inspection of the scriptural evidence
it seems that the signs remained among believers for as long as the Lord was
trying to win over the Jews. He manifested signs through the early Gentile
church to provoke the Jews to jealousy.
“But I
say, Did not
“For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks
seek after wisdom:” (1 Corinthians
The Gentile Cornelius
and his household burst into tongues (spontaneously) after receiving the Holy
Ghost - in front of a delegation of Jewish believers.
“And they of the
circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with
God had used signs and wonders to persuade
Through
“And
when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken
one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this
people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have
they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is
sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said
these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.” (Acts 28:25-29 AV)
“Wherefore
he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it
but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that
descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he
might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ:” (Ephesians 4:8-12 AV)
1 Corinthians was written by
The gifts listed in 1 Corinthians
12:4-11 are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, the
working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues
and the interpretation of tongues. Most of these gifts are for convincing
unbelievers, not for the edifying and perfecting of believers.
“Wherefore
tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:
but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which
believe. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those
that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?” (1
Corinthians 14:22-23 AV)
The gifts listed in Ephesians 4:8-12
are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers - people who are given
for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry and for the edifying
of the body of
“But
when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done
away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope,
charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Follow after
charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” (1
Corinthians 13:10-14:1 AV)
So there we have it. Faith, hope and
charity now abide in our hearts. The greatest of these is charity because faith
and hope will become redundant once we see face to face. The spiritual gift we
should seek is prophesying for the edification of the church – insight into the
spiritual state of the saints around us. And let’s not think that charity
consists of purely practical good deeds for the less fortunate - the selfless
demonstrations to the world that allow worldly Sunday Christians to sleep
better at nights. The charity we need is the charity that only God sees - a
charitable heart attitude; looking for the good in others, seeing their needs
and limitations and waiting with a patient and longsuffering heart for an
opportunity to evangelize, minister and/or edify.
In this present age God is not in the business of
signs and wonders to impress
“For
this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the
word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as
it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that
believe.” (1 Thessalonians
“But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all
things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of
I believe that God still works healing miracles, but
quietly and in mysterious ways these days. I received nocturnal, supernatural
healing of my alcohol damaged, ultra-depressed, painfully negatively-charged brain,
after prayer for EXACTLY THAT by a Christian pastor - but nobody believes me!
And it is very mysterious that he saved me.
And lets not forget that we
are saved by grace through faith in the greatest sign of all – the sign of the
prophet Jonah.
“But he
answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a
sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet
Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so
shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
(
“Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also
ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep
in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4
AV)
I also believe that our eternal life in heaven is not
‘pie in the sky’ or the ‘opiate of the people’ but a simple matter of fact. Our
bodies will be transformed from vile, corruptible flesh to glorious,
incorruptible celestial (angelic) bodies. The realm we dwell in will be equally
glorious. It is hard for us to conceive that we are not in our ultimate state
or living in our ultimate environment. We are like caterpillars clinging to
caterpillar life, not believing or trusting that we are destined to fly about
in beautiful places as beautiful butterflies. The first caterpillar so
transformed into a butterfly returned to our caterpillar community and promised
us we too would be like him, but most of us didn’t believe him. We wanted to
prolong our life as caterpillars!
“For
whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit
a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (
“But
they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world,
and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the
children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” (
“There
are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another.” (1 Corinthians
“Behold,
I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:51-55 AV)
“Who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even
to subdue all things unto himself.” (Philippians
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter
After the rapture of the saints of this present age,
God’s dealing with Israel will resume, for he has promised that all Israel
shall be saved and that Israel are to be his holy nation of priests for planet
earth. The twelve and Paul and many other Jewish saints (e.g. Stephen, Philip, Apollos, Barnabas, Silas,
“And so
all
“And ye
shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy
nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of
The tribulation saints will be gathered from the four
corners of the earth in spectacular fashion.
“Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers
of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of
man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall
see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the
other.” (
Christ will return to earth with all
his saints during the battle of Armageddon and shall stand upon the mount of Olives.
“And
Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which
they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which
ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” (
“To the end he may stablish your hearts
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our
“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall
come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe
(because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.” (2 Thessalonians
1:7-10 AV)
“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge
the world? and if the world shall be judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” (1 Corinthians 6:2 AV)
“Then
shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in
the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives
shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and
there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove
toward the north, and half of it toward the south.” (