Miracles Have Ceased
Many people today believe that God is still working miracles like He did in the first century. Many people say that they can speak in tongues or heal the sick, or that they know people who can. But the Bible does not teach this idea. A miracle in the Bible was a supernatural act. It was an event that was beyond the usual course of nature—like restoring sight to a man blind from birth, or raising a dead person (like Lazarus) from the grave. The Bible teaches that miracles happened in Bible times for a very specific purpose: to confirm the Word (Mark 16:20; Acts 8:6; Hebrews 2:3-4). How did miracles “confirm the Word”?
When an inspired speaker stepped forward to declare God’s Word, God confirmed His Word by having the speaker perform a miracle to show that he was from God. The miracle showed the hearers that God was behind the speaker’s remarks. Miracles authenticated the spoken word as God’s Word. Miracles verified the teaching of God’s messengers, as over against the many false teachers (read John 3:2).
Paul stated that miracles would cease and be done away when the “perfect” (or completed Word of God) had been revealed (1 Corinthians 13:8-10; James 1:25). Those things that were incomplete and partial (miraculous gifts) would be replaced by the total and complete (the fully revealed Word of God). Once God revealed all of the information that He wished to make available to people, the need for miracles to confirm the oral Word came to an end. Now, people can sit down with a New Testament, the written Word of God, and, with honest and diligent study, conclude that it is God’s Word. We have absolutely no need for miracles. Since there are no apostles living today, and since Holy Spirit baptism was unique to the apostles (Acts 2) and the first Gentile converts (Acts 10), there is no Holy Spirit baptism today. Likewise, there is no miraculous healing today. All those on whom the apostles had laid their hands are also dead (Acts 8:18). Once the last apostle died, the ability to perform miracles could not be passed on to others.
The Bible teaches that miracles are no longer necessary since we have everything we need to function in this life, to be pleasing to God, and to survive spiritually (Read 2 Peter 1:3).
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