When Jesus sent out his disciples, he conferred upon them power to heal the sick, cast out demons, and work other miracles. Concerning the twelve disciples, the Bible says that “he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness” (Matthew 10:1, Luke 9:1). He said to them, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).

Then he sent out another seventy disciples and also commanded them to heal the sick (Luke 10:1, 9). They returned to him and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.” And he replied, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19).

Those who have faith often claim these statements for themselves, as if it was to us that Jesus said, “Behold, I give you power.” On the other hand, those who walk in unbelief and rebellion would say that Jesus was talking only to the disciples who followed him at that time. They would insist that these statements cannot apply to us, and we do not have this power. (There are stronger statements that explicitly apply to everyone who has faith, but our topic is this kind of statements that Jesus said to the early disciples.)

Jesus was indeed speaking to the disciples who followed him at that time, but this does not lead to the conclusion that the statements cannot apply to us, or that we do not have the power to heal the sick and work other miracles. It is acceptable to notice the context, but the context — both the context of the biblical texts and the context of the history of redemption — enforces a different outcome. In fact, we will consider three reasons why it is self-damning to appeal to the context of these statements in order to deny that we have the power to work miracles.

 
The Right of Faith

First, the followers of Jesus never needed his direct ordination, or even his direct permission, to work miracles in his name. One random fellow took it upon himself to cast out demons in the name of Jesus, and the disciples tried to stop him and then complained to Jesus about him. They said that “he was not following us” and “he was not one of us.” But Jesus answered, “Do not stop him. No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me” (Mark 9:38-40, Luke 9:49-50). Thus Jesus not only approved of someone like this, but he assumed that the man would succeed.

Jesus told the twelve and the seventy, and whoever else, to preach the gospel and heal the sick, so of course they had the power. But this did not mean that anyone needed this before he could preach the gospel and heal the sick in his name. The idea that because Jesus made those statements to his disciples at that time, so that we cannot claim the same power, indicates a lack of basic spiritual sense and reading ability.

On the other hand, a person can receive a direct authorization from Jesus and still fail to perform a miracle because of unbelief. Jesus told Peter to walk on the water. Peter was able to do it at first, but then he paid attention to the winds and the waves, so that he became fearful and started to sink. Jesus held him up and rebuked him: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Didn’t Jesus authorize him? Didn’t Jesus say, “Behold, I give you power” to walk to me on the water? Jesus said it only to Peter, and he was an apostle, but he still failed because of unbelief. On another occasion, when his direct disciples could not cast out a demon, even though they had received power to do it, they asked Jesus why they failed. He answered. “Because of your unbelief” (Matthew 17:20).

Faith means more than even a direct authorization from Jesus, because faith itself is God’s direct ordination in the heart, and faith is necessary for even a direct authorization from Jesus to take effect. Those who walk in unbelief and rebellion are unable to heal the sick and cast out demons, not for the lack of authorization, but for the lack of faith. In fact, they would be in the same condition even if Jesus had directly authorized them. Just as the apostles themselves failed because of a lack of faith, these people would also fail because of their lack of faith. What is more despicable is that they wish to make their unbelief the standard of orthodoxy for all the followers of Jesus.

Since faith is the gift of God, faith is the ordination of God. If God has ordained me, whether by a supernatural experience, or by divine providence, or by the word of Scripture, then I am ordained by God. And faith in my heart will enable me to fulfill this calling. If I have the recognition of men, then good for them! It does not affect what I am authorized to do. If they refuse to recognize me, then they are the ones who are judged by God, not me. The Spirit of God made a point of including in Scripture the fact that a man who did not follow Jesus and who did not receive his commission could take it upon himself to work miracles in his name — against the opposition of the apostles. When they complained about him, Jesus took his side. What if I am that man today? If even the apostles could not stop someone like me, do you think you can? Bring in your theologians, your denominations, your creeds and such. Throw in a couple of Augustines and Calvins, or whoever your Popes may be called. And Jesus would still take my side.

In any case, if anyone could use the name of Jesus to work miracles during his ministry on earth, then a person who claims that we must have a direct verbal commission from Jesus in order to have this power to work miracles must be wrong. Perhaps he rejects the record of Scripture, and if so, he has no basis to accept other things that it says about Jesus. Although this person has access to the whole word of God, he remains inferior to a random fellow that admired Jesus from a distance enough to use his name to set people free from demons and diseases. He rejects the principle and initiative of faith, and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. This position is self-damning.

 
The Name of Jesus

Second, since that time the name of Jesus has been glorified, so that we have access to even more power to work miracles. During his ministry on the earth, his name had the power to heal the sick and cast out demons. The mere mention of Jesus would drive away disease and scare away demons. He commissioned his followers to do this, and they returned to report their success. Even someone who did not follow him and did not receive this commission could take his name and do the same things as his disciples.

All of this happened before Jesus fulfilled his mission and achieved ultimate greatness as the Messiah. What do I mean by this? As the Son of God he had always possessed all power and majesty. He had no need to do anything in order to be with God or relate to the Father on equal footing (John 1:1). However, to save his people and to succeed as the mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), he had to become human and earn his place at the right hand of God as the God-man. He achieved this by his ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection (Hebrews 2:14-17, 9:15).

This is summed up by Paul in his letter to the Philippians: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God as something to cling to. Instead he made himself nothing by assuming the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself in obedience to the point of death — even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-11).

As the Son of God he had always ruled all three realms, but to save his people and bring them to greatness with him, he had to join his people and then attain this place at the right hand of God as the divine-human Messiah. Now at the name of Jesus, every knee must bow in heaven, earth, and hell. My point is that when he authorized his disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons in his name, he had not achieved this ultimate greatness. When a random fellow took his name without explicit permission to do the same things his disciples were authorized to do, he had not yet paid the price to save sinners and not yet ascended to his throne. Still, before all of this, his name worked miracles.

But now, when we speak the name of Jesus, nothing happens? If the mere mention of Jesus was enough to drive off diseases and demons when he was something like an exiled prince, how much more should we terrify the forces of evil now that he is the king of all nations? I say, “I am from Jesus country,” and nothing happens? I declare, “Jesus sent me,” and the diseases and demons just yawn? No one can say, “He commissioned those disciples at the time. He was speaking only to them. He has not done the same for us.” A random fellow could name-drop Jesus without permission and it still worked. Much more should I be able to heal the sick and cast out demons, when I believe in my heart that God has raised him from the dead and when I proclaim with my mouth, “Jesus! Jesus is Lord!”

The name of Jesus has been enhanced since the time of his ministry on earth. The uses and effects of the name have not been reduced, but the authority has been magnified. Its power has not become symbolic or spiritualized. It can compel compliance in all three realms, including concrete, physical effects. After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, Peter and John healed a crippled man by the name (Acts 3:16). Paul cast out demons by the name (Acts 16:18). The congregation of believers still expected the name of Jesus to produce signs and wonders (Acts 4:30). The evil spirits that scream out in terror when I confront them by the name of Jesus have a better theology than the loser who moans, “He said these things to his disciples at that time. We don’t have this power.” The one who denies that we can work miracles in the name of Jesus today has the lowest spiritual intelligence in all three realms. He is a wicked and worthless servant. Throw him out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Any man or woman could take the name of Jesus and work miracles during his ministry on earth. Now that his name has been glorified and made even more powerful, if anyone disagrees that we can use the name and work miracles, it must mean that this person renounces Jesus Christ and denies his resurrection and ascension. This position is self-damning.

 
The Power of the Spirit

Third, since that time the promise of the Father — the Holy Spirit — has been poured out. The effect of this baptism of the Spirit (Acts 1:5) is to infuse the followers of Jesus with the same power to work miracles (Acts 1:8, Luke 24:49) that Jesus himself possessed (Luke 4:14, 8:46, Acts 10:38). This power could heal the sick and cast out demons (Acts 10:38, Matthew 12:28), and it also produces visions, dreams, prophecies, and speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4, 2:17-18). This is an additional dimension of power that is categorically and paradigmatically superior to the power that the disciples wielded before the resurrection of Christ. Thus it changes nothing even if we do not apply to ourselves what Jesus said to them, because what we have now is incomparably greater.

The apostles did not maintain a monopoly on this power. They did not even have first dibs on it. The apostles consisted of a tiny minority of those who received this power. In fact, from the first moment about 90% of those who received the miracle power of the Holy Spirit were not apostles (Acts 1:8, 15, 2:4). This percentage of empowered believers increased to possibly about 99.6% within a matter of hours (Acts 2:16-18, 38, 41). Since the number of the original apostles remained the same, and the number of believers who received the Spirit continued to increase, this percentage also continued to increase, so that within a short time, practically 100% of those who could work miracles were not apostles (1 Corinthians 12:7-10). And the apostles approached 0% of those who performed miracles.

The apostles not only consisted of almost 0% of those who could perform miracles, but they were also not the ones who experienced the most extraordinary miracles and visions. One of the most extraordinary miracles was the miracle of transportation or teleportation. This possibly happened under Jesus, but there is no record that it happened under the apostles. Philip, who used to serve tables, was the one who experienced this (Acts 8:39-40). The most extraordinary vision was arguably given to Stephen. The Bible says that he was “full of the Holy Spirit” when he looked through into heaven while fully conscious and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55).

Let us also consider the fact that the most significant initiation of a disciple did not happen by the hands of an apostle. Ananias was called “a disciple” (Acts 9:10). He was not called a prophet or apostle, or even an evangelist. Yet the Lord appeared to him in a vision and told him to lay his hands on Saul, who would become the apostle Paul, so that he would receive his sight again and also receive the Holy Spirit. He received the Holy Spirit at least three days after he received Jesus Christ (Acts 9:9, 17). Ananias argued with Jesus about this, which led the Lord to carry a detailed conversation with him about Paul to convince him. Ananias was one of the first to know about Paul’s calling: “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.” Paul the apostle was not initiated by Jesus in the flesh, or an apostle like Peter, or a prophet like Agabus, or an evangelist like Philip. He was initiated by a mere “disciple.” Luke did not refrain from calling someone an apostle, or a prophet, or an evangelist. So when he called Ananias “a disciple,” he meant a disciple, and likely nothing more. Yet Ananias laid his hands on Paul and spoke to him by revelation, just like any apostle or prophet might do.

You say, “But Jesus told him to do it.” Yes, but Jesus told HIM — an ordinary disciple — to do it. The Bible never called him a prophet, yet he received a vision. And it was a vision of the Lord himself, who then spoke to him extensively, explaining to him the calling of someone who would enter a higher office than Ananias. Jesus apparently never commissioned him to be a prophet, but Ananias could function as a prophet. The point is that after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a physical in-person commission from Jesus became even less relevant. Even an apostle would not necessarily receive a stronger measure of the power of the Spirit or receive more supernatural experiences than any regular disciple.

The disciples in the Gospels who received their commission from Jesus to heal the sick and cast out demons did not have this baptism of the Holy Spirit. They did not possess this level of miracle and prophetic power. But today, anyone who believes in Jesus can afterward also receive the Holy Spirit by faith. We are in an incomparably greater position than the disciples who received their commission from Jesus. As Jesus said, “It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I do not go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).

In the Gospels, the disciples worked miracles with the commission of Jesus, but without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And the random fellow worked miracles without the commission of Jesus as well as without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but by the name of Jesus alone — before the name was glorified. By comparison, he was like a man who could single-handedly defeat an intergalactic invasion with a toothpick, while that faithless religionist among us has the hammer of God at his disposal but cannot even subdue a hamster. He is a wicked and worthless servant. Throw him out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

If the Spirit is here, then power is here. Thus if someone denies that the followers of Jesus can work miracles, receive visions and revelations, prophesy and speak in tongues, it must mean he denies that the Father has fulfilled his promise to pour out his Spirit, and he denies that the Son stands as the baptizer of the Spirit, and he denies that the Spirit of God possesses the power to work signs and wonders. It is a comprehensive blasphemy against the Trinity. But there is no forgiveness for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. If someone has indeed committed this sin, then this person is guaranteed to burn in hell. He will burn, and burn, and burn. There can be no doctrine of cessationism for hellfire, because in hell “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”

 
The Matrix of Damnation

I have been answering those who would claim that the commission of Jesus to work miracles applied only to those disciples in the Gospels, so that we cannot expect to possess the same power today. The context indeed indicates that Jesus was speaking to the disciples that followed him during his ministry on earth. However, this observation has led to two different conclusions. The conclusion of unbelief and rebellion is that we should not expect to heal the sick and cast out demons, because Jesus has not given us the same power.

On the other hand, the correct conclusion is that if those statements do not apply to us, it is only because they are too weak to represent what we have received from God. There are stronger statements that explicitly apply to everyone who has faith, but these weaker statements remain useful to us, because they still describe what we are able to do by faith, by the name of Jesus, and by the power of the Spirit. But we must not forget that we now stand at a greater position even while we perform the same works of power. Jesus said to them, “Behold, I give you power,” but the word of God would say to us today, “Behold, I give you even more power, a million times more, to all of you, regardless of office, gender, class, and background, as long as you follow me in faith.”

In the context of the history of redemption, we now possess the whole word of God to teach us about the initiative of faith, we now possess the glorified name of Jesus that compels compliance in all three realms, and we now possess the power of the Holy Spirit who created the world at the beginning and who raised Jesus from the dead. This is the creed of faith. To deny that we have even greater power than the disciples who followed Jesus in the Gospels would be to reject these three points. To reject the first point is to renounce the initiative of faith, even after the word of God has told us about this man who took it upon himself to work miracles and how Jesus responded to him. It is a rejection of discipleship to Christ. To reject the second point is to renounce the name of Jesus, including its glorified form. This name could work miracles even before the resurrection of Jesus. To say that it would not work miracles as consistently now as it did before the resurrection of Jesus amounts to a rejection of the authority of Christ, even a rejection of the resurrection and ascension of Christ. To reject the third point is to renounce the promise of the Father, the words of the prophets that anticipated it, and the faithfulness of God to fulfill his word. It is to reject the role of Jesus Christ as the one who performs the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is to reject the Spirit himself as one who always comes with creative power and inspiration.

Thus when we take into account the history of redemption, the claim that we do not have power to perform miracles like the disciples in the Gospels, and even more power than they had, represents a triple renunciation of the Christian faith — the discipleship of faith, the authority of Christ, and the outpouring of the Spirit. Then the rejection of the third item itself represents a triple blasphemy against the Godhead — it makes the Father into a liar, it strips the Son of his role, and it speaks against the Spirit as the one who confers supernatural powers and prophetic experiences. A triple renunciation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. A triple blasphemy against the Godhead. This is the matrix of damnation. It is the creed of faithless religion and cessationism.

Faithless theology always backfires, often to the point of perdition. It comes from religionists who feign humility and scholarship, but it is a sign of reprobation. One of the amazing things about the Christian world is how people are eager to damn themselves in order to defend their unbelief and tradition. In one word, they deny Christ three times, and at the third time, they blaspheme the Godhead three times again. They portray themselves as superior in knowledge and interpretation. They ordain themselves to teach and correct others. However, this means that God will judge them as if their false doctrines are informed and deliberate. They are guaranteed an increased punishment (Luke 12:48, James 3:1). Their rejection of Christ and blasphemy against the Godhead will be judged as malicious and premeditated. If even a “careless word” would incur divine judgment (Matthew 12:36), then how can they escape the wrath of God? As Jesus said, “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

It is certain that many of them have committed the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Their theology opposes the faithful ones who have learned the initiative of faith to perform the works of God. What would they say when they see us heal the sick, cast out demons, and speak in tongues? Their theology requires them to say, “Jesus told only his early disciples to do these things, so this cannot be of God. This cannot be of the Holy Spirit, but it must come from the flesh, or even from demons.” And thus they pass the point of no return, and seal their damnation forever.

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