Before Jesus ascended back to heaven, He told the apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4).  The power that Jesus was referring to was the baptismal measure of the Holy Spirit.  Receiving this power, gave the apostles the ability to be witnesses for Christ (Acts 1:8), for they would be guided by the Spirit into all truth (John 16:13).    It also gave them the sustaining ability to perform miracles, as well as transfer miraculous power to others (2 Corinthians 12:12; Acts 8:14-18).  This launched the church into what we sometimes call “The miraculous age.”

The miraculous age of the church only lasted for about 60 years, despite some who claim it is still going on today.  Miracles were essential for the early Christians because they did not have the word of God in written form.  One of the primary functions of miracles was to confirm the word of God.

Mark 16:20 (ESV)
²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

Hebrews 2:3–4 (ESV)
³ How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, ⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

We can see this in action in Acts 2 when the apostles spoke in tongues (one of the miracles the early church was blessed to possess), and then preached the word of God to the Jews in Jerusalem.  The result was around three thousand souls obeying the gospel of Christ (Acts 2:36-41).  The Bible says that those who obeyed the gospel “received the word.”   Why did they believe the word?  It was because they first saw, or in this case, heard the miracle performed by the apostles.

Miracles did more than just confirm the word.  They made it possible for the early church to survive.  Think about what it would be like if we had no access to the word of God at all and did not possess any miraculous power.  How would we know God’s will or grow in Christ?  How could we escape being carried about with every wind of doctrine?  How would we test teachers to see if they were of God?  All these things are necessary for local churches to survive but they would be impossible if neither the word of God nor miraculous powers were available.  What were these miracles that were needed by the church in the first century?  Paul gives us a list of them.

1 Corinthians 12:7–10 (ESV)
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, ⁹to 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.

Apart from the word of God, these gifts were indispensable.   However, once the word of God came and Christians had full access to it, the miracles were no longer necessary, and they ceased (1 Corinthians 13:8-10).

The first-century church had something we do not have today (miraculous power).  We have something the first-century church did not have (the written word of God).  We do not need miracles to confirm the word because we have the word in our possession.  We do not need the miracle of inspiration because we have “all truth” (John 16:13). The faith has been delivered in its complete form (Jude 1:3).  Let us be satisfied with what God has given us.  It is all we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

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