There has never been an era of miracles, because there has always been a God of miracles, and he has worked miracles among men since the beginning. Since there has never been an era of miracles, there could never be an end to an era of miracles. Miracles happen because there is a God of miracles, and the life of God is everlasting. He will never cease. All of history is the era of God, and he is a God of miracles. This is God’s world. This is God’s time. This is the time for miracles. Every day is a day for miracles.
From the beginning of human history, men and women had walked in the supernatural. They would communicate with God in visions and dreams, and when they prayed, God would heal their sick, prosper their work, and perform signs and wonders for them. Even before the coming of Jesus, God would choose individuals among his people as judges and prophets, and he would anoint them with his Spirit to perform feats of strength and power, to receive visions and supernatural knowledge, and to prophesy about things to come.
Then Jesus came to the world. He was not the first one to perform miracles, but he did thousands upon thousands of miracles. He performed powerful miracles like opening blind eyes, walking on water, and feeding thousands of people. He even made dead people return to life. He possessed a freakish level of supernatural power, but he directed it in an intelligent and consistent manner. And he revealed that faith was the key that would enable anyone to wield the same kind of supernatural power. Thus he elevated the ministry of miracles to something that could be explained. We can discuss it. We can teach it. He made the supernatural life something that can be pursued and attained on purpose.
Jesus came to initiate a breakthrough for God’s people, so that all of them could work miracles the same way he did. Soon after he came on the scene as a miracle-worker, he sent out the apostles to also work miracles in his name. But the apostles were never unique even during the ministry of Christ. He sent out at least another seventy disciples with the same power to work miracles.
He sent them out himself. These additional disciples did not receive their power from the apostles, and they did not need permission from the apostles to perform miracles. They could heal the sick and cast out demons because of their association with Jesus, not because of their association with the apostles.
Therefore, even before the resurrection of Christ, most of the people who could work miracles were not apostles. And the apostles had nothing to do with how these disciples gained their power. The apostles had always been a small minority of those who could work miracles. Supernatural power was never an exclusive right or power associated with the apostles.
In fact, there was a man who cast out demons by sheer faith in the name of Jesus. He had no direction association with Jesus. He had no commission from him. He had no permission from the apostles, and the apostles even tried to stop him. When the apostles told Jesus about this, Jesus sided with the man against the apostles, and told them not to stop him. So any person who had faith to work miracles not only had no need to consult the apostles, but he could defy the apostles to their face even if they had tried to stop him. We see from this incident that there was no need to even consult Jesus himself, but when Jesus found out about it, he agreed with the man. Faith in Jesus is the only authorization needed to heal the sick, cast out demons, and walk in the supernatural.
Since the ascension of Christ and the ministry of the apostles, the potential for Christians to perform miracles has drastically increased. Our ability to perform signs and wonders continues to expand in every way and in every direction. Our faith grows broader and deeper. The Spirit’s empowering presence becomes more diverse, penetrating each gender and class, and extending to every location.
Miracles did not cease with Jesus Christ. He was preparing all things for us. He fulfilled the predictions of the prophets. He handed down divine teachings about faith, faith that can heal the sick, move mountains, and work miracles. He said that it is a faith that can ask and receive whatever we will or decide. He trained his followers to heal the sick and cast out demons, and he sent out more and more of them to perform various miracles in his name.
He fulfilled his role as the Messiah and achieved ultimate greatness, and he obtained the Holy Spirit from the Father, so that he may pour out this God-power upon all his followers, with the intention that all of them would work miracles. They are to be his witnesses and shake the world in his name. Miracles did not end with Jesus, but he was the beginning of an extreme and global explosion of miracles. He said that anyone who has faith in him could do even greater miracles that he did.
This doctrine is the voice of the shepherd. Anyone who rejects this doctrine, therefore, exposes himself as a wolf, as a false teacher, a false follower, an imposter, and not one of his sheep. This doctrine came straight from the Son of God, the true shepherd, and it applies to every believer. This makes it a test of orthodoxy and of true discipleship.
If anyone doubts the idea that every follower of Christ can work miracles in any era in history and at any location in the world, and with no credential other than faith in God, then this person cannot be orthodox or faithful in his theology, and he must be a false teacher. He must be publicly mocked and opposed, and if he refuses to repent, he ought to be excommunicated.
Jesus was preparing the ministry of miracles for his followers. He was teaching faith and pouring out his Spirit. Then he ascended to heaven and his apostles took over the work. They took over the leadership of the work, but they were a tiny minority among the disciples who performed miracles. And miracles did not cease with the apostles. The apostles were not rebels or demons. They did not shut down the project that Jesus started. Their doctrine and conduct were contrary to the trinity of evil — atheism, satanism, and cessationism. We see atheists, satanists, and cessationists all strive to terminate the work of Jesus. He labored. He taught. He suffered. He died. He rose from the dead and poured out his Spirit. But these people wish to throw everything that he did to the trash.
The apostles were not like these demons in human flesh. They were obedient to God’s program. They continued to prepare the groundwork for the expansion of the ministry of miracles to each gender, class, and location. For the ministry of miracles, it was still the beginning. Miracles would continue for thousands of years. And if Christians would walk in faith, miracles would become stronger and stronger, and more and more widespread. Jesus was called the cornerstone. Beginning with him, the apostles continued the groundwork. And so the apostles were called the foundation — the mere beginning of miracles. They were never called the termination of miracles.
Jesus did not entrust the ministry of miracles only to the apostles. The apostles themselves were the minority among miracle-workers even before the death and resurrection of Christ. And then they became the super tiny minority of miracle-workers from the first hour that the Holy Spirit was poured out. Over ninety percent of those who received the Holy Spirit to work miracles were not apostles, but they were ordinary believers that consisted of men and women from various backgrounds. Several hours later, thousands more were added and received the Holy Spirit, so that almost a hundred percent of those who had the power to work miracles were not apostles, but ordinary believers and new converts.
Make miracles a priority in your ministry. In your studies and sermons, devote yourself to miracles, to healing, to prophecy, and other related topics. Assert aggressively the God of miracles and the doctrine of miracles. Preach about it over and over again. To those who agree with the doctrine of faith and the life of the Spirit, make it your priority to provide guidance and refinement. Many of them are teachable, but meanwhile only make a lot of noise and offer very little in experience. They need to become deliberate in their faith and learn to produce consistent and powerful results. Then the life of miracles will become what it is intended to be – a spiritual and practical blessing to humanity, and an intelligent testimony to the reality of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.