Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
Act 19:11-12
There is no doubt that the book of Acts contains many miraculous manifestations of the power of God by the hands of men filled with the Spirit. We saw last time that the signs and wonders performed in the early history of the New Testament church had specific purpose. They evidenced the fulfillment of prophecies such as the coming of the Messiah and the giving of the Holy Ghost, and these signs also identified the apostles, men chosen of the Lord to give us His word and upon whom He would found His church. (Act 2:22, 2:14-19, 2Co 12:12, Eph 2:20) But, with these purposes being accomplished, the visible signs began to wane in the church.
Paul was often used of the Lord to perform miracles. In Act 14:3, Paul and his companions stayed a long time in Iconium, “speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” Just a few verses later in Lystra, God used Paul to heal a man who had been a cripple since birth. (14:8-10) Our main text even reveals that Paul at one time could heal men by simply sending his handkerchief to them! But, as we read later letters written by the apostle, that ability was no longer present. He didn’t send his handkerchief to Timothy but rather instructed him to use wine in a medicinal way for “your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.” (1Ti 5:23) In Php 2:25-27, Paul was powerless to help his companion Epaphroditus who nearly died when he fell ill, but, as the apostle put it, he recovered because “God had mercy on him.”
To see these signs disappearing in Scripture may be confusing to us today when many claim to still be performing such things by the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember, we are instructed in 1Jn 4:1 to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” If we need to test the spirits, then we need to understand how to perform such a test. The next verse holds the key: “By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God…” (v. 2) This truth agrees with what the Lord said the function of the Spirit would be, namely, to testify of Jesus Christ by declaring His word and glorifying Him! Just listen:
Joh 15:26-27 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
Joh 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Joh 16:13-14 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”
If men are filled with the Holy Spirit, you can expect Christ to be at the center of what they are saying. Man won’t be in the spotlight. The Spirit won’t even be in the spotlight per Joh 14:13-14, but Christ will be glorified!! Brothers and sisters, we need people full of the Holy Ghost today. The truth is under attack. Persecution because of the word is beginning to be more evident in this land, and I’m afraid that some will be revealed to be stony-ground hearers as they stumble under such assaults. (Mat 13:20-21) I pray we will not shy away from declaring God’s truth. Remember, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God to salvation! (Rom 1:16) May we cry out as the church did in Act 4:29-31 for the courage to faithfully speak it and see the evidence of being full of the Holy Ghost: “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
Jamie