The New Testament is filled with marvelous miracles. Those miracles were performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul gives us a list of these miracles.

1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (ESV)
⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵ and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

The importance of these manifestations of the Spirit, as Paul called them, cannot be overstated. Remember, the first century church did not have the privilege of having the complete written Word of God. They were still obtaining revelation in piece meal fashion. When Paul wrote the passage above, only four or five books of the New Testament, at most, had been written, and maybe as few as three. This is why the miracles empowered by the Spirit were so important. The church needed revelation and the ability to confirm their word, which the miracles provided.

Mark 16:19-20 (ESV)
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

The Hebrews writer also referred to this confirmation process when he wrote, “while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:4).

This work of the Spirit was critical in the first century church. Without it they would not have survived. They needed the Word of God, but they also needed the ability to confirm it. How many people do you think would have believed that Jesus was raised from the dead just because the disciples told them it was so? Would you believe such a story without confirmation?

Even today, while the kind of miracles we read of in 1 Corinthians 12 have ceased (1 Corinthians 13:18-13), we still have confirmation of them in the Word. In fact, John tells us that the Spirit-empowered miracles of the first century were recorded for the express purpose of producing faith (John 20:30-31). We should be very thankful for the Holy Spirit. The work that He did was critical for the church in its infancy stage, and it continues to be critical for us today.

There are many other things we could touch upon regarding the Holy Spirit, but I hope the blogs this week have helped us to have a little more love and respect for the Spirit of God. His work, like that of the Father and the Son, is vital for the salvation of the souls of man.

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.