4252 — WORKING OF MIRACLES
By Editor
Did others besides Christ and the twelve apostles perform such miracles as healing the sick and raising the dead? When did the practise cease? We have the clear promise of Christ that “these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16: 17, 18. The twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians places healing and the working of miracles as among the gifts of the Spirit. James 5: 14, 15 gives instruction in regard to praying for the sick, and presents a promise for their recovery when the divine specifications are complied with. The Lord is able to do the same to-day, through the consecrated work of His followers, that He did when He was here upon earth in person; and in certain cases where the occasion demands, He does work miraculous cures through faith. But in the gospel message, God has revealed, for the curing of diseases, means that are to be ministered to us by skilful physicians and those called to that line of work. Sometimes our illness is occasioned by our own disregard of the laws of our physical being, and in such cases the Lord may allow us to suffer the effects in order to teach us not to transgress the laws of nature. Sometimes also we are permitted to suffer to refine us and purge our characters from dross. Not all the sick were healed in the time of Christ. And during Paul's labors, he said, “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.” 2 Tim. 4: 20. Yet we are told, concerning this same Paul, that by the exercise of the miraculous gift bestowed upon him by divine power, Eutychus was raised to life. Acts 20: 9-12. God's power manifested in healing the sick has never ceased from His church. There are well-authenticated instances of His mighty working in this respect all through the gospel age. In our issue of January 13 we told of a case where without question God interposed in a miraculous way to heal. But it should be understood that the individual is not called upon by the Lord to exercise the gift of healing, but rather God Himself is the power that acts through the individual, and in His wisdom He bestows this power where it will do good rather than harm. But the healing of the sick, or the raising of the dead, great though these miracles may be, is not so important as that far greater miracle of grace acting upon the human heart, so that the individual is completely renovated under the power of the gospel, and transformed into a new creature. The transformations that bring eternal salvation are the great objective of the gospel, and not such incidental things as the healing of the sick, and other miracles of that class.