Signs and Wonders of the Kingdom
by
Mike Endicott
It
is a truth, whatever the discussions and arguments about these things might be
today, that in New Testament times we would have fallen over miracles going up
the street.
These
days we don’t. We
don’t really know why we don’t, we just don’t. It seems such hard work
sometimes, trying to get God to turn around on his cloud, see our plight and
jump down to help us. In
times of grief, pastoral caring and compassion, our specific prayers are
specifically answered far
less often than we dare admit, to ourselves or to anyone else.
Of
course, one or two exciting things might happen at a Christian conference but
usually not for the other eleven months of the year.
It
is, in fact, such hard work that we then go and make it a specialist church
activity by calling it, unbiblically, an intercession ministry or a healing
ministry. Once we
have done that we can put it all in a box; we make it an optional extra that we
can take or leave, most of us leaving it well alone out of fear of something we
don’t understand.
If,
on the other hand, we are hugely enlightened Christians in leadership, we can
say how wonderful these things are but then teach our people that they should be
just as concerned with doing a thousand other good churchy works as well which,
incidentally, are mostly not mentioned in Scripture as being a part of the
ministry of Christ.
We
are taught consistently on Sunday mornings that God doesn’t change but he
certainly seems to have done so!
Jesus used to be completely reliable in matters of miracle working,
healing all who came to him, but now the number of asked-for miracles is very
small in practice. Consequently, we then develop enormously complicated
theologies to explain their absence and then turn our people away to ‘more
fruitful’ activities.
Many of our Christian leaders have become so hypocritical that they
actually earn their living in pastoral care, while at the same time appearing to
go to greatly thoughtful and philosophical lengths to ensure that our religion
collapses into communalism and the power of the Kingdom fades away.
It’s OK if Jesus gets a bit over-excited at conferences and does a few
tricks but it’s a lot more comfortable to leave him powerless outside such hot
house arenas, in the daily grind of life.
Out there we have to get practical!
So
why were the pavements strewn with healing in ancient days?
Did Jesus and the Apostles get any money for
this? Were
they just born-to-it showmen enjoying their art? Did they enjoy being the centre
of attention? Did they seek fame and fortune? Did they go on healing and
counselling courses and become important gurus on the subject? Did Jesus teach
healing at all?
No,
none of these things. And yet the working of miracles was easy for them. Why?
Because they simply held one thing at the centre of their hearts that the church
today has largely forgotten.
We tend to teach just about the signs and wonders, and very little
happens. We teach that it can all be down to how filled we are with the Holy
Spirit and yet very little actually happens. In those days they knew something
different. They knew that if they taught the Kingdom of God correctly, then
people would get healed around them. They knew that if they concentrated all
their passion on the good news of the Kingdom of heaven, on its grace rather
than its power, then those around them would receive its benefits without their
having to try. Stick
to teaching people about the Kingdom and miracles just fall off the back of the
lorry. In
those days they didn’t seek miracles, they sought the Kingdom and they got the
signs and wonders of it almost automatically.
Now,
it has been recently and rightly prophesied that these are the days of Simeon
and Anna. The
Kingdom is not something to be prayed in anymore - it is here.
It may only be the size of a baby but it is here.
The church hasn’t really noticed it yet, but it is here.
The church may never see the Kingdom through their radiation shields of
institutional doubt, but it is here.
This
is not apiece of wishful thinking or charismatic caffeine.
Over the last two years my eyes, and the eyes of a few others, “have
seen the salvation which God has prepared in the sight of all people, a light
for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to his people."
The number of miracles witnessed over that time as signs and wonders of
the presence of the Kingdom is well over a thousand in number, not through the
teaching of healing but through the proclaiming of the Kingdom of heaven on
earth.
Before
anyone suggests that unsubstantiated claims should not be made about the signs
and wonders of the Kingdom of heaven, let us remember one interesting point. The
Church has taught us for two thousand years that we are forgiven in heaven if we
confess and repent of our sins.
This is an unsubstantiated claim; it cannot be proved. It is a statement
of faith.
It
is much more than a statement of faith to say that the Kingdom of God is here;
it is merely a witness to something seen and reported on by thousands who have
been able to receive its benefits.
Well,
it’s OK to tell the pure in heart that they will see God – they’re the
only people who really want to, anyway.
It’s OK to tell the poor in spirit that the Kingdom can be theirs; they
need it so badly