Do the names Katherine Kuhlman, Oral Roberts, Benny Hinn, and Todd Bentley ring a bell with you? Perhaps some do, or at least one of them does. They are the names of well-known faith healers, past and present.

When I was growing up in Ontario Katherine Kuhlman was a household name and busloads of people, Christian and otherwise, used to travel across the border to Buffalo in order to get healed. At the same time we had Oral Roberts on the radio and television promoting his healing ministry and urging us to put our hands on the radio or buy his special prayer cloth and so get healed.

Nowadays we have a somewhat different scene. We have Benny Hinn, a Canadian living in California, jetting around the world in his private jet, staying in all the best hotels, and holding his healing crusades. In places like India and China, he is all the rage.

A few years back, we also had a local Abbotsford man by the name of Todd Bentley going down to Lakeland, Florida, where he ignited what became known as the Lakeland Revival. From all over the USA, as well as from around the world, people traveled to Florida looking for a miracle. Later, however, it all went sour as Bentley's marriage hit the rocks and his connections with Lakeland were severed.

In any case, all of these people and their ministries have one thing in common, and that is that they all stress that Christianity is a miracle religion or a healing faith. In so many places around the world it is being said that if you believe in Jesus and in his almighty power, your diseases, handicaps, brokenness will be taken away. Jesus can and will make you whole again!

How are we to evaluate these things? Should our churches be holding special miracles services? Should we be inviting all of the sick and broken to come forward and get healed? Is this what God expects of us? Is this something that we have neglected to do and that we now need to introduce?

One of the best things that we can do in dealing with the controversial matter of miracles is to step back and take a broad look at both Bible and church history. What does Bible history teach us about miracles? What does church history say about them?

The Testimony of the Old Testament⤒🔗

Turning first to the Bible, specifically to the OT, what do we see? Do we see miracles here, there, and everywhere? Do we come across healing after healing?

For an answer we have to say that, by and large, the OT was not a miracle testament. Indeed, there are only two OT periods that stand out in this regard. There is the time of the Exodus when the Lord sent all of those calamities to Egypt. Some see them as miraculous interventions, while others see them as divine judgments. No matter how you describe them, there is no doubt that they do represent special interventions in history and nature on the part of our God.

The other period that stands out is connected to the ministry of the prophet Elisha. His ministry is noted for at least ten miracles: dividing the waters of the Jordan, healing poisoned water, multiplying the widow's oil, raising the Shunammite's son, and so forth. Indeed, in the case of Elisha there is no doubt that many healings and miracles accompanied his ministry.

But for the rest, this is it. When it comes to most of the OT we do not hear much about miracles at all. During the days of the patriarchs, the judges, the prophets, and the kings miracles were the exception and not the norm. So by and large the OT church was not a miracle-filled church.

The Testimony of the New Testament←⤒🔗

But that brings us to the NT, and what do we see there? We see Jesus our Saviour and Lord. And we see that his ministry is filled with miracle after miracle. He does them constantly, everywhere and for almost everyone. He does them with great power and ability.

Indeed, look at his miracles closely, and what else do you see? You see at least eight characteristics:

Many of his miracles have to do with incurable diseases, and quite a few of them remain incurable to this day;

• Our Lord rarely used means, except when he once made clay and used it;

• Whenever he did them, restoration was complete and people were made entirely whole;

• His cures were instantaneous and without delay;

• We never hear about any of the recipients of his miracles suffering relapses;

• Sometimes his physical healings were used to confirm forgiveness;

• Often our Lord did not even wait to be asked to do a miracle;

• Finally, he never hired an advertising company and made publicity for himself.

Hence, it can be said that in a remarkably sovereign and singular manner, our Saviour healed the sick and cured the ailing. His power was on display almost every day.

Much of the same can be said of the apostles. Theirs was also a healing ministry. Think of Peter and John and the lame man in the temple court. Think of Paul who also heals a lame man, as well as a bedridden man (Acts 9), a feverish man (Acts 18), a dead lady (Acts 9), and a dead man (Acts 20), who casts out demons (Acts 16). Hence the apostolic age was also a miraculous age.

Still, we do need to be careful here. There were situations in which the sick were not healed by the apostles. Paul did not cure Timothy's stomach problems but advised him to try some wine. Paul also left the sick Trophimus behind in Miletus. As well, he mentions that Epaphroditus almost died. And then too there is the fact that Paul could not heal himself and get rid of the thorn in his flesh. Needless to say, all of this leads to certain conclusions. While Jesus could heal everyone of everything all of the time, the same cannot be said of the apostles. There healing ability is sporadic and limited.

What this shows you is that the NT church did not receive power to automatically heal everyone, not even everyone who had faith. While miracles happened, not everyone had a right to expect them, to claim them, nor to insist on them.

The Testimony of Church History←⤒🔗

Moving next from Bible history to church history, what do we see there? Do we see a constantly and continuously miracle-working church? The answer is "No!"

Rather, after the time of the apostles there is little mention of miracles. Also, any claims to miracles after the apostles rest on very shaky and questionable grounds. With the possible exception of one church father called Origen, none of the other church leaders ever claimed to have seen one or done one – not Augustine, not Athanasius, not Ambrose. Indeed, during the first four centuries of the church little is said about miracles.

The same goes for the church later on. Go to the time of the Reformation and after, and study the biographies of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Voetius, Brakel, Owens, Edwards, Hodge, Spurgeon, Chalmers, Bavinck, and other so-called "greats." What do you see? None of them possessed miracle working powers.

Hence what do Bible history and church history teach us? They teach us that not every age is a miracle age. They teach us that healing is not a daily feature of the church of Jesus Christ or a constant work of the Spirit.

The Role that Miracles Play←⤒🔗

Why not? Why do miracles come and go? Why are they characteristic of certain times and not others?

The answer is that, by and large, miracles in the Bible play a secondary role. What role is that? It is the role of authenticating, of legitimizing, of proving, of testifying.

Take Moses. Why did the Lord grant him miraculous powers? It was to prove that he really was a spokesman for Yahweh.

Take Elisha. Why was he allowed to do so many miracles? It had everything to do with the fact that in his day the Word of the Lord was no longer respected and heeded.

Take the Lord Jesus. Why did he do so many wonders on the earth? It was to prove that he really and truly was and is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer. On Pentecost Day Peter says,

Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.Acts 2:22

So what did miracles do for Jesus? They told the people that the kingdom of God had come and was coming. They were a preview of the fact that one day he would come and restore all things. Above all, they proved that Jesus was who he said he was – the Son of God and the Son of Man.

It is so easy for a man to stand up in a certain group of people and make all sorts of extravagant claims for himself. It happens all the time. As a matter of fact, it happens so often that people become cynical and skeptical. And then the remark can be heard – "Prove it!" As they say, "the proof is in the pudding."

Well, in the case of Moses, Elisha, our Lord, and the apostles, the proof was there. The miracles that they did proved that they were for real. They really were sent by God. They really were clothed with power from on high. The Holy Spirit was really upon them.

What About Today?←⤒🔗

But having said all of this, where does this leave us today? Where does this leave us in three particular areas:

• with respect to certain NT passages dealing with spiritual gifts;

• with respect to the claims of modern faith healers and miracle workers;

• with respect to miracles and us today.

Earlier 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 was cited and there you meet a list of spiritual gifts. It says in verse 8 and following:

To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

At the end of the chapter Paul comes back to these gifts and asks, Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts.1 Corinthians 12:29-31

So what is going on here? Is Paul saying that the Spirit who gives these gifts gives them all to the church all of the time? You can read the scholars and commentators and most of them will tell you that Paul is speaking about both ordinary and extraordinary gifts here, gifts that remain and gifts that fall away, gifts for the church yesterday and gifts for the church today, gifts that are lasting and gifts that are temporary.

Paul writes that the Spirit "gives them to each one, just as he determines" which means that the Spirit ultimately determines what is needed in the church, and when. What is especially needed in the early church in that time when the Bible has not yet been completed? The Spirit determines that miraculous powers, prophecy, and tongues were needed. What is especially needed once the Scriptures are complete? The Spirit determined that wisdom, knowledge, and faith were needed.

As for those who think that prophecy, tongues, and miracles are the end all and be all of everything, Paul has a word for them too – "eagerly desire the greater gifts." Yes, there are greater and higher gifts even. What are they? Read on into chapter 13. They are faith, hope, and love. "But the greatest of these is love" (v. 13).

Thus the point that Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 12 is that the Spirit is the great gift giver. He supplies what the church needs always. He supplied the church in Paul's day with both ordinary and extraordinary gifts. He supplies the church today with both ordinary and extraordinary gifts, and the extraordinary gifts are no longer tongues, prophecies, and miracles, but the Word, the Word of God which is the Word of the Spirit.

Miracle Workers Today?←⤒🔗

But then, what about the faith healers of today and what about their extravagant claims? What are we to think of them?

I would urge you to handle them with care, even skepticism. Indeed, is our Lord glorified by a Todd Bentley who kicks a man in the stomach and claims that his colon cancer is now gone? Is the Lord glorified by a Benny Hinn who makes hundreds of millions of dollars every year as a so-called faith healer? Is he glorified by faith healers who have their assistants picking and choosing who may go up on stage and get healed? Is he glorified when unhealed believers are told that the reason why they are not healed is because they are lacking in faith? Is he glorified by these men who make claims that are never proven, who specialize in ailments that are impossible to verify? In other words, where is the man whose withered hand has been healed, where is the leper without sores, where are the disfigured without scars, where are the dead now raised?

So, what does all of this mean? Does it mean that miracles no longer happen? Does it mean that we live in a closed universe and that God is not omnipotent but impotent and powerless?

That is not what is being said. Miracles ministries, healing crusades may be out. Equating gospel days and apostolic times with today may be out. Faith healers and miracle workers as such may be out.

Yet there is something that is not "out." And what is it? It is the fact that the Lord still hears the prayers of his people and still does miraculous things through the Spirit in his church.

We are reminded of that especially when we turn to the letter of James, chapter 5. What is James 5 about? Some think that it is primarily about miraculous healing. Others assume that more than anything else it is about instant wellness. Both are wrong, for it is first and foremost about prayer, the prayer of faith.

It is telling you that if you are ill, or if a family member is ill, or if a fellow church member is ill, or if a neighbour is ill, the best thing that you can do for them is – what? Put them on a plane to Lakeland, Florida? No, the best thing you can do for them is pray. Why? Because, as James tells us, "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (v. 16). Be an Elijah to him or her! Pray! Pray to the Lord, through his Son and in the power of the Spirit. The wonders of God never cease.