The Signs of the Gospel
.... And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
(Mark 16:15-20)
.... Signs always point to something, and the signs of the gospel point us back to the gospel to serve as an example and a testimony to it's power. For example, let's say you've presented the gospel and you've mentioned the stripes that Jesus received during His sufferings. You have also claimed, in accordance with the Scriptures, that "by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). The stage has been properly set for a 'sign' to follow this word, and point back to it.
.... Or again, let’s say that you are sharing the gospel and someone cries out with a loud, guttural voice as a demon manifests itself. In the name of Jesus you command it to come out, and it quickly obeys. Great power has been shown through Jesus’ name – but another truth, in the context of the gospel message, has also been confirmed:.... ". . . And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."
(Colossians 2:14-15)
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Daily Bible Reading: Mark 10
posted by loren at 12:21 PM
7 Comments:
Are signs and wonders for our time? God has never changed, and that includes His faithfulness to His promise (Mal 3:16; Heb 13:8). “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:39).
Since salvation itself is the greatest miracle of all, and no one argues about it’s validity for our time, how can they argue about the validity of the fruit that it naturally bears? It’s as simple as saying: “These signs follow the apple tree: it bears apples.”
Or conversely, why should they think that vitality remains in the apple tree if it no longer bears any fruit?
There is really no valid argument to suppose that miracles have ceased for our time, that they ended with the apostles, etc. Essentially, that is simply unbelief in one form or another, which we will discuss in future lessons.
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loren, at 6/21/2005 12:31 PM
In the New Testament, healing most naturally occurred in the context of evangelism. At other times a spiritual gift called ‘gifts of healings’ seems to fill this role, and it comes from the Lord through certain people in the body of Christ who have been given this ministry (1 Cor 12:30). We may also call for the elders of the church to anoint us with oil and pray the prayer of faith, that we may recover from our illness (James 5:15).
In each case, the stripes of Jesus are the ultimate source for our healing, so we should still look for this correlation in the message (or prayer) that is given.
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loren, at 6/21/2005 12:32 PM
Next to salvation itself, casting out demons is the most powerful miracle that the Lord has ministered through me, personally, in preaching the gospel to others. Yes, unsaved persons can still be demon possessed in our time. But having said that, I’m also going to throw down a gauntlet:
You may have heard a teaching that Christians can be demon possessed also (sometimes called the ‘deliverance’ ministry,) but this teaching is entirely false. In fact, it is one of the end time heresies, and beyond any doubt the worst of them all. For it would build up the grandeur of the enemy and his power, which is to glorify him, in the same measure that it detracts from the Lord Himself and His glory.
As discussed in the posting itself, Jesus defeated all principality and power on the cross (Col 2:14,15). This is the understanding behind Col 1:13, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Thus, Satan cannot work against Christians in power sort of ways, such as demon possession. He can only work against us in non-power ways, such as tempting us or trying to deceive us. But when he does this, he tries to throw us up against something else that is powerful, which I have called a ‘powerful proxy’ (example: Acts 5:3-5). In other words, he uses the principle of the stumbling block.
In the previous verse (Col 1:12), our freedom from Satan’s power is called ‘the inheritance of the saints in the light’, and we have been Divinely qualified to stand in this inheritance, just as God has imparted righteousness to the believer apart from their works (Romans 4). Yes, even when we are faithless God remains faithful: “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” (2 Tim 2:13; 2 Thes 3:3).
Because the deliverance ministry addresses an aspect of the gospel and offers itself as an alternative (with lip service to the real gospel,) it must bear the indictment of being ‘another gospel’ (Gal 1:6-9). This will be the subject of a great deal of discussion in a much later lesson.
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loren, at 6/21/2005 12:34 PM
We know the ascension of Christ occurred 40 days after is resurrection, and that He sat at the right hand of God on this occasion (where He remains to this day!) But in strictly theological terms, His resurrection and His ascension may be viewed as one, essential act.
Now when Jesus returned to the Father, He sent us the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). Therefore when someone believes the gospel message and they begin to speak with new tongues, we are given a testimony to consider. Where did this new ability come from? From Jesus, who sent the Holy Spirit after His resurrection and ascension. It proves that He rose, and returned to the Father, just like we preached to them. It is another ‘proof’ to confirm that the gospel is true.
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loren, at 6/21/2005 12:35 PM
Another sign that follows the gospel is that if we drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt us. This doesn’t mean we should test the Lord by purposely drinking a large glass of Draino, or something equally hazardous (Matt 4:7) I believe it means that if we are poisoned at a meal, without our knowing it, God will deliver us from the poison as a testimony to our adversary who slipped us the poison in the first place. I actually heard a testimony to this effect, several years ago; and since there are no actual biblical examples of this sign in action, I consider it fairly.
Yet why would this be a sign that follows the gospel? In an earlier posting, I suggested that Christians should observe the Lord’s supper at every meal. This way when they bless their meal, they offer a testimony of His death till He comes (1 Cor 11:26). That, I believe, is the connection. For if death was ministered to us (in the poison), even so death was ministered to Jesus on the cross; and through His death and resurrection we have passed from death into life in our own situation – just like we preached to them.
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loren, at 6/21/2005 12:36 PM
Taking up serpents is the only sign that follows the gospel that I have trouble interpreting. Once again, I don’t think we should tempt the Lord by purposely placing ourselves in danger with deadly snakes (Matt 4:7). But rather, if we do come into contact with them and we are bitten, it will have no effect on us. The one and only Scriptural example may lend itself to this interpretation (Acts 28:3-6).
Since the Garden of Eden, serpents have represented the devil. This seems to include an allegorical example that the devil cannot harm us directly, which is similar to some things we’ve already discussed in an earlier comment (above). I don’t limit this sign to that allegorical meaning, but I think it should be born in mind as conceptual testimony for why Jesus offers it as a sign.
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loren, at 6/21/2005 12:38 PM
Might there be further signs that follow the gospel? Maybe. If you preached the gospel and God granted a different sign, but you can still trace it back to a benefit of the gospel, I would be willing to accept it’s validity gladly. But the signs Jesus mentioned are, by far, the norm.
If some other sign was granted, and it was genuinely from the Lord, I would be willing to bet it could be traced to some facet of the gospel that had a very personalized impact on the person who was being saved. For example, let’s say the hearer had an icon in their possession, and they had traditionally used it as an object of worship. But when they believed in truth, it was split in two like the tearing of the veil of the temple (I’m making up this example, I don’t actually know of such a case). This would be based on Heb 10:20. Especially if this meaning was reflected in the preaching they heard, I would be willing to agree that God had granted this sign to accompany the message.
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loren, at 6/21/2005 12:41 PM
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