55
`God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick
handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them'(19:11,12).
Lastly, on the island of Melita (Malta) there is the healing of the man with dysentery and `others also which had
diseases in the island came, and were healed' (28:9).
It is noteworthy that these miracles were just as much in evidence at the end of the Acts as at the beginning. It is
sometimes represented that miracles are found at the beginning of Luke's record and then soon fade out. They do
nothing of the kind, but are an integral part of the history of the book and go on to the conclusion. Then they cease
as far as Scripture is concerned. After the Acts period Paul now has to leave Trophimus at Miletum sick (2 Tim.
4:20). Epaphroditus was desperately ill, `sick unto death' but the Apostle cannot heal him. Timothy, in his physical
weakness, is advised to take a `little wine for his often infirmities' (1 Tim. 5:23) and this from a man who had
accomplished such spectacular healings previously! These were close friends and valued fellow-workers. We may
be sure that the Apostle would have healed them had he still the divine ability to do so. All he can say now is that
the Lord had mercy on me in healing them, as well as healing them for their own sakes (Phil. 2:25-27).
But the Acts miracles were by no means confined to healing. They included the casting out of demons (5:16;
16:16-18); raising the dead (9:36-42; 20:7-12); physical wonders (4:31; 8:39); miraculous deliverances (8:19-22;
16:26); immunity from ordinary dangers (27:23-26; 28:3-5); immediate judgment on some who opposed (5:111;
13:11); direct angelic ministry (12:7-8,23); and miraculous visions and communications (9:3-6; 10:9-16).
The miracles performed by the Lord Jesus were His divine credentials. Peter states:
`Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and
wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know' (Acts 2:22).
It was not that Christ performed miracles that proved His Messiahship - for Satan can work these, and at the end of
this age the Word of God warns us that many will be deceived by the man of sin `Whose coming is after the working
of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders' (2 Thess. 2:8, 9 and see Rev. 13:11,13-15).
The miracles of the Gospels and Acts were those predicted by the Old Testament as being characteristic of
Messiah's coming and ministry (Isa. 35:5,6). They were signs, that is, they signified truth to Israel who alone
possessed the countersign, the Old Testament Scriptures (Rom. 3:1,2). This was the fulfilment of the promise given
by the Lord in Mark 16:17,18:
`These signs shall follow them that believe; In My Name shall they cast out devils (demons); 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'.
All these things were important features of the Acts period. Hebrews 2:3,4 confirms this:
`... so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that
heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of
the Holy Ghost, according to His own will?'.
These signs and wonders were therefore a confirmation to those of Israel who believed (1 Cor. 1:6,7) and a divine
witness against those who believed not (1 Cor. 14:21,22). As long as the chosen people exist as a nation in covenant
relationship to God these evidential miracles persist, but when Israel is set aside in unbelief at the end of Acts they
cease.
Note we do not say that miracles ceased. God's power has not lessened. He can still heal and work miracles in
this age, if He chooses to do so. But they are not evidences of the mediatorial kingdom of God relating to the earth.
*
If anyone has a difficulty in accepting the text of these closing verses of Mark's Gospel we refer them to Dean
Burgon's spirited defence of them. We suggest that the doubts about them expressed later on by scholars arose from
the absence of instantaneous and miraculous healing after A.D. 70, leading them to question their genuineness.