God had a reason for the performance of miracles in the first century. After Jesus rose from the tomb, He spoke with “the eleven” (remember Judas committed suicide, Matthew 27:5) apostles (Mark 16:14). He gave them the commission to preach the Gospel. “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed” (Mark 16:20). Note carefully that the miraculous signs served to confirm the genuineness of their message.
People were not going to automatically believe the word of some former Galilean fishermen or tax collector. However, their display of divine power was convincing. Please realize also that at this time the New Testament Scriptures were not yet written.
However, God had a plan in place, one that rightly can be termed, planned obsolescence. Normally this is a bad thing. It is unfortunate that some companies purposefully design into a product a limited working life. They want us to buy, use, throw away and buy again.
Consider God’s ingenious planned obsolescence. God gave only a few to be apostles (Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:29). These apostles received the miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4, 14 “Peter… with the eleven”). According to the Scriptures, the only way others received power to perform miracles was “through the laying on of the apostles’ hands” (Acts 8:18). Acts 8 is a classic case study. Philip the evangelist had gone to Samaria to preach (v. 5). He had been given power to perform miracles (v. 6). Yet, when “men and women were baptized” (v. 12), they sent for Peter and John (v. 14). Since Philip was already there in the city, why did he not just give these new Christians power to do miracles? It was because although he had the power to perform miracles, he could not pass on such power. They had to call apostles away from Jerusalem (Acts 8:1) to bestow miraculous abilities. Read carefully Acts 8:5-19.
As the church grew, slowly the books of the New Testament were being written. Simultaneously, Christians were sharing the message (Acts 8:4). Some Christians, not all, were given power, from the apostles, to perform miracles (1 Corinthians 12:29).
As the New Testament Books were being completed, and the first century drew to its close, the apostles were dying for the faith. The last living apostle was John, and he wrote the last book in the Bible about A.D. 96. Once the apostles were all dead (the means to pass on the power), and once all who had hands laid on them by apostles died, the miraculous gifts died with them.
The written Word was from then on the permanent record of the New Testament of Jesus Christ. The spoken message was confirmed with miracles until the written message was completed. What a plan!
