unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing"

(Isa. 35: 5, 6).

It was by these specific miracles, as Peter declares, God confirmed the Lord's ministry

and they were all literally fulfilled day after day before the people of Israel. Nor do they

cease at the crucifixion, for the Acts period is full of similar spectacular miracles (see

Acts 2: 43; 5: 12, 15, 16; 6: 8; 8: 6; 14: 3; 15: 12; 11: 11, 12; 28: 9).

These signs and wonders were God's confirmation of the kingdom message

(Heb.ii.3,4) to those of Israel who believed (I Cor. 1: 6, 7) and a divine witness against

those who believed not (I 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 the Acts, they cease as kingdom signs to Israel. God

can and does still work miracles, but they are not evidences of the mediatorial kingdom

of God relating to the earth. These were all public and spectacular in character. At least

twenty (20) of the Acts miracles were seen by witnesses, sometimes by great multitudes,

as on the day of Pentecost. Even the most vehement opposers could not deny their

genuineness. They were forced to admit "that indeed a notable miracle hath been done

by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem;  and we cannot deny it"

(Acts.iv.15,16). At the conclusion of the Acts period these great public miracles came to

an end.

It is most important that we should have a Scriptural understanding of these miracles

and signs performed by the Lord and the apostles. To take them out of their divine

setting can be dangerous, for it gives Satan the opportunity to travesty them and so

deceive the unwary. In the Acts period God gave to believers the gift of discerning of

spirits, to enable them to sift infallibly the true from the false. Hence the warning in