WHY COULD SOME OF CHRIST’S FOLLOWERS DO MIRACLES?
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When we read the New Testament, we learn that Jesus worked
many miracles. In fact, Matthew 4:23 tells us that Jesus healed “all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.” Plus, in the
Book of John we read, “And Jesus did many other signs that are not written in
this book” (John 20:30).
But it was not just Jesus who performed miracles. The
Bible tells us in Mark 16:17-18 that Jesus Himself said, “And these signs will follow
those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with
new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it
will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So, some of the early Christians could perform miracles, too. But why did Jesus
allow some Christians to do miracles? Jesus actually had a very good reason for
doing this. In the first century, people did not have a Bible like we do today.
We can read about Christ’s miracles and see how they proved that He is the Son
of God. But the people in the first century could not read Mark chapter 2 or
John chapter 9 to learn about how Jesus performed miracles. So how could they
know that He was God’s Son?
Here
is the answer. People could know that Jesus was God’s Son because of the
miracles that His followers were able to perform. What kinds of miracles were
the early Christians able to do? We learn from 1 Corinthians 12:10 that some
Christians were able to speak in languages that they had never studied. That
would be like one of us today waking up in the morning and being able to speak
French without ever having taken French lessons. When people saw that
Christians could speak all sorts of languages without having studied them, they
knew that God was behind the miracle.
We
also learn from 1 Corinthians 12:10 that other Christians were able to predict
the future. They said that certain things were going to happen in the days,
weeks, or months ahead. When people saw those things actually happen, then they
knew that the Christians were telling the truth. But they also knew that God
was behind the miracle because no one can tell the future except God. The Bible
tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:9 that some Christians could heal people by
performing miracles. They could make blind people see. They could make lame
people walk. They even could heal terrible diseases.
Why did Jesus let Christians perform miracles? The Bible gives us the answer in Mark 16:20 when it says that the Christians “went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, confirming their message by the miracles they performed.” Early Christians needed a way to prove that Jesus was the Son of God so that people would obey Him and get to go to heaven. When people in the first century saw the miracles of Christ’s followers, many of those people believed in Christ and became Christians. Today, we do not need miracles because we have God’s Word, the Bible. It gives us everything we need to go to heaven. I would rather have the Bible than miracles, wouldn’t you?