Signs and Wonders (Part I)

What are signs and wonders? The gifts of the Holy Spirit are listed in ROM 12:6-8, 1CO 12:8-10,28-30 and EPH 4:11. Twenty-one different gifts are mentioned in these passages. These gifts are representative of the many more different spiritual gifts that God has given to His church. In other words, God has blessed His church with countless more gifts for its efficient functioning.

Spiritual gifts can be divided into two main categories:
(1) the non-spectacular, eg. gifts of faith, teaching, helps, administration,
(2) the spectacular or miraculous, eg. gifts of healings, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
The spectacular spiritual gifts are often called signs and wonders in the Bible (JOH 4:48, ACT 2:22, ROM 15:19, 2CO 12:12, HEB 2:4). They are also called "sign-gifts."

There are two categories of signs and wonders:
(1) work-signs, eg. healing, demon-casting,
(2) (2) word-signs, eg. prophesy, knowledge, tongues.

All signs and wonders (whether work-signs or word-signs) are always accompanied by the revelation of the "mysteries" of God's truth (ACT 3:1-26,19:11,20). They are "wonders" (or miracles, ie, deeds which go beyond the laws of nature and human experience) that serve as "signs" declaring that the miracle-maker is indeed a messenger sent from God and his message is true. Today, the Bible serves as the yard-stick of judging our message - whether it is from God or not.

Should all Christians possess sign-gifts? In the Bible, the only ones who possessed these gifts were the Apostles and those whom they commissioned (eg. Stephen, ACT 6:8). Paul calls these sign-gifts the "signs of an apostle" (2CO 12:12, HEB 2:4). The phrase "signs of an apostle" can be translated "signs belonging to an apostle." The book we commonly call "Acts" is properly titled "The Acts of the Apostles."

These gifts were called "signs" because they served as signs that "declared" the owners of these gifts to be God's specially appointed Apostles. In the period where the Bible was still incomplete, God revealed His truth through His apostles who infallibly preached and wrote God's Word (1TH 2:13, 2PE 1:20-21, 2TI 3:16).

Are there Apostles today? God only appointed twelve Apostles. They are often called "the twelve" (MAR 3:14, ACT 6:2 cf ACT 1:20-26). The number twelve is God's representative-number. For example in the O.T., God was represented by the twelve tribes of Israel.

There are two qualifications for apostleship, namely:
(1) personally chosen by Christ (MAT 10:1-4)
(2) personal eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection (1CO 9:1, 1CO 15:7-8, ACT 1:21-26)
Pastors are chosen by God through the agency of men (ie, the leaders of the church, 1TI 4:14), but the Apostles received their appointment directly from God (GAL 1:1).

If sign-gifts are only for Apostles why did Jesus say that "these signs shall follow them that believe" (MAR 16:17,18)? Does "them" in this passage refer to all believers? Or does it refer to the twelve Apostles? Mary Magdalene had personally seen the resurrected Christ (v.9) but when she told the Apostles ("them that had been with him," v.10), they believed not (v.11). Later, the resurrected Jesus appeared to two Apostles (v.12), who told the rest of the Apostles (ie, "the residue," v.13), but neither believed they them (v.13).

Mary Magdalene and their two fellow-apostles who had seen the resurrected Lord were credible witnesses, who had no reason to lie about such a serious matter, yet the Apostles were filled with unbelief. Therefore, Jesus "appeared unto the eleven…and upbraided them with their unbelief" (v.14). He then commanded them to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature..…."

Obviously such unbelieving, fearful men could not willingly and confidently set off to evangelize the world without additional words of encouragement and promises from Jesus. So Jesus reassures them with the words recorded in verses 16 to 18. Firstly, He encourages them that their mission is simply to preach the gospel, and that whoever believeth (whether Jew or Gentile) shall be saved (v.16). The first thought that probably came into the Apostles' minds on hearing this is; "Who are we that the hearers should believe our words and promises?" So Jesus, who knows the thoughts of all men, immediately adds "And these signs shall follow them that believe…" (v.17). The "them" in this verse refers to the Apostles who could believe that Jesus would indeed authenticate their preaching with signs and wonders. But if they disbelieved His promise, then these gifts would not accompany them. This is confirmed by verse 20 which says "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." This fact is supported by ACT 2:43 ("And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles"), ACT 3:33 ("And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus") and ACT 5:12 ("And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people"). And when Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake, he was unharmed (ACT 28:3-6).

Were miracles everyday events in the Bible? Charismatics often claim that miracles should be everyday events and that faithful Christians should expect to lead "miracle-filled" lives.
While the supernatural flows continually through the O.T. (eg. the Creation, the Flood, Babel), miracles involving human agency are extremely rare. Especially rare were healings and demon-deliverances. The scarcity of such miracles made Jesus' ministry so exceptional. Not even the greatest prophets could do the miracles that Jesus and His Apostles did, namely, healing of any and everyone (MAT 4:23,24, ACT 5:16). Sickness and demon-possession were almost banished from Israel during this period.

Besides Samson and his many deeds of supernatural strength, the only men in the O.T. who were prolific "miracle-makers" were Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha.

A careful study of the Bible reveals that most miracles were done during three periods of history, namely the times of:
(1) Moses and Joshua
(2) Elijah and Elisha
(3) Jesus and the Apostles.

Each of these periods of miraculous activity was related to a period of revelation of God's truth. The time of Moses and Joshua was related to the revelation of God's Law at Mt. Sinai. The time of Elijah and Elisha was related to the teachings of the Prophets. And the time of Jesus and the Apostles was related to the teaching of the Gospel. These three portions of scripture (the Law, prophets and NT) constitute the entire Bible.

These three periods cover a total of less than 200 years but the period covered by the Bible spans at least 4000 years. In other words, there were prolonged periods of time where miracles were extremely rare. For example, there was only one recorded miracle (GEN 5:24) in the 1700 year period between the Creation of the world to the Flood. There was only one miracle (GEN 11:9) between the Flood and the Patriachs (a period of several hundred years). Godly men like Solomon, Nehemiah and Ezra never saw a miracle.

If miracles are everyday occurrences they would not be "signs" or "wonders." In fact, they would cease to be considered as miracles!