I have a few problems with these 'apparent' miracles.....not that I don’t believe that they happened, but how and why they happened is more important to me from the biblical perspective.
First of all why were miracles part of the ministry of Jesus Christ? Why did he perform these miracles in the first place?
If you see what he did and what he commanded his apostles to do, you can see something that explains why....
Matthew 10:1, 5-8....
“So he summoned his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, in order to expel these and to cure every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity. . . .These 12 Jesus sent out, giving them these instructions: “Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter any Sa·marʹi·tan city; 6 but instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, preach, saying: ‘The Kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise up the dead, make lepers clean, expel demons. You received free, give free.”
The theme of Jesus entire ministry was “God's heavenly Kingdom”....it is what he taught his disciples to preach and to pray for....and yet exactly what the kingdom of God is, eludes most Christians. If you ask point blank what the kingdom is, and what is “good news” about it....it is often met with thoughtful stares and shrugs....and maybe’s....
We are supposed to preach about it, especially in this "time of the end". (Matthew 24:14)
So what is the connection with God’s kingdom and the miracles? Every one of them was a demonstration of what the Kingdom will accomplish when it “comes” to remove the present wicked world system under influence from the devil (1 John 5:19) and replace its evil rule with the best rulership that humankind could ever have, (Daniel 2:44)...in fact it was the rulership of God that they never got to experience because of the actions of our first parents. They lost it....but Christ came to get it back for us. Why would God not finish what he started? (Isaiah 55:11)
So what about the miracles? If they were a demonstration of the benefits of the coming Kingdom of God in the hands of his Christ, were they to continue? If not, why not?
The reason why we have to question the origin of the power behind these miracles is recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12....Paul was warning about a coming “apostasy” and what would identify it.....
He begins in the opening verses...
“2 However, brothers, concerning the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you 2 not to be quickly shaken from your reason nor to be alarmed either by an inspired statement or by a spoken message or by a letter appearing to be from us . . . . .
3 Let no one lead you astray in any way, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.”
So this “man of lawlessness” is a collective, rather than an individual....."he" was going to make his presence felt, and his activity was beginning to be discerned among the early Christians, leading many in the wrong direction, especially after the death of the apostles.
These would be the “weeds” of Jesus’ parable, (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42) which he said were “sown by the devil”...."while men were sleeping". What that meant was that a counterfeit form of Christianity would emerge, after the death of the apostles, and basically become dominant like “weeds” generally do and overtake the genuine plants in a field of “wheat”.
He went on to say.....
“But the lawless one’s presence is by the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and wonders 10 and every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth in order that they might be saved. 11 That is why God lets a deluding influence mislead them so that they may come to believe the lie, 12 in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness."
What do you notice about "powerful works...lying signs and wonders....every unrighteous deception"? They are the work of the devil....so should we trust that the devil cannot deceive us with miracles that appear to be from God? Some would be horrified by the suggestion, but what did Jesus tell his disciples to do?....
"Cure the sick, raise up the dead, make lepers clean, expel demons."
What do we see in these faith healing ministries today? Curing the sick? Yes.....but the placebo effect could account for a large majority of those. What about the many soul destroying failures? Jesus did not have any failures. (Matthew 4:23-24; Luke 6:19) His apostles didn't either....(Acts 5:15-16)
Expelling demons? Yes....but could the demons be play acting the part for those who fall for their trickery? There is only one thing that the devil cannot mimic......RAISING THE DEAD. Wouldn't that be front page news!
Why do we not hear about this? It was all part of the Kingdom's promises.
What else did Paul warn us about?
2 Corinthians 11:13-15...
"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps disguising himself as an angel of light. 15 It is therefore nothing extraordinary if his ministers also keep disguising themselves as ministers of righteousness. But their end will be according to their works."
What lengths will the devil go to in order to deceive.....especially if his works appear to be beneficial? That is for each of us to discern for ourselves.
1 Corinthians 13:8-
"...But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9 For we have partial knowledge and we prophesy partially, 10 but when what is complete comes, what is partial will be done away with. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, to think as a child, to reason as a child; but now that I have become a man, I have done away with the traits of a child. . . . .Now, however, these three remain: faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love."
When Paul said that the gifts would cease and be replaced by more mature reasons for our Christian beliefs (faith, hope and love) don't we have to wonder? If we are not identified by those three essential elements of Christianity, then of what benefit are the gifts if death still overtakes the ones who were cured? It only makes sense if it was a temporary demonstration of things to come.
If God pulled the miracles because he knew that the devil would produce counterfeits, then all that remain are the counterfeits......we don't have to wonder, nor do we have to ask why these healings are not used by those people who supposedly have "the gift" for the benefit of the sick and dying. Imagine....if all they had to do was sit and have a healer walk past and have his shadow fall on them like Peter.....I agree with
@Cassandra on this.
Does any of this add up? I'm sorry but its not what took place in the first century no matter how 'wonderful' it makes people feel. It taps into a power that is not from God.....its the difference between a miracle and magic....the real miracles are just ahead of us.....in the "new earth" that we eagerly await. (2 Peter 3:13) The devil is the magician.