“And these signs will follow those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)
The Christian life is a life of miracles. Anyone who follows Jesus Christ walks in the supernatural. The ministry of miracles is the universal standard minimum for the work of the gospel. Jesus has made it possible for all his people to be prophets. He has enabled us through faith and by his Spirit. This distinguishes us as followers of the true God through faith in Jesus Christ. And it separates us from faithless religious people who pretend to believe in Christ, who even teach about him, but who do not believe in him at all.
When someone denies that we can and we must have a life of miracles, sound the alarm. Even if someone claims to believe in a life of miracles, but if he casts doubt upon it or tries to undermine it a little here and weaken it a little there, be instantly alert. Wake up! Open your eyes! He is not your friend, and he is not a teacher sent from God. Become suspicious and hostile against him. If you do this, you will protect yourself and others, and you will protect the truth of Jesus Christ.
When we walk as followers of Jesus Christ, a variety of miracles accompany our lives. Jesus listed some examples. Paul listed several others in his letters. The Acts of the Apostles and the other parts of Scripture demonstrate additional possibilities. The examples in the Bible inspire us, but they are not meant to limit us. There are no limits, because God is the true miracle-worker, and he has no limits. The Bible says that all things are possible to God, and it also says that all things are possible to the one who believes, the one who has faith.
Still, it is worthwhile to consider specific things that we can perform by faith. You are not limited by your human abilities or talents. You can be more and do more by faith and by the Spirit of God. Train yourself to become miracle-minded. Have a supernatural mindset in both your everyday life and in the ministry. God is with you. He will work miracles for you, to prosper you and to deliver you. And as you take action to advance the gospel, God will give you success, and he will back you up with his power, working signs and wonders, and working in the hearts of the people who hear you.
Teach this to Christians, and frequently remind them. The supernatural cannot be separated from what it means to live for Christ. The supernatural cannot be separated from what it means to preach the gospel. The supernatural cannot be separated from what it means for Christians to gather and worship. We are a supernatural people. We are the only ones who have friendly contact with the divine, and we are the only ones who can live it and show it. This makes us different from those who do not follow Jesus Christ.
People who claim to believe in God but who reject the supernatural for their everyday lives in fact reject the reality of God. They live as if God is only an ethical principle in their minds, and that he makes no concrete, external, and obvious difference before them. Since they believe like this, or rather, since they do not truly believe in God, their religion becomes a gospel of political activism, ethical reform, social work and charity, friendship and courtesy, rather than a gospel that saves the lost, heals the sick, and speaks in tongues.
Jesus said that his witnesses must believe in the power to work miracles. No one should become a missionary unless he plans to heal the sick and cast out demons. No one should establish a church unless he plans to display the supernatural, a mark of the true church. Whenever we initiate a convert, that is, leading him to believe in the truth and confess the Lord Jesus, we must tell him the same thing that Jesus said, that he has been inducted into a life of miracles. And then we must offer him regular reminders to believe in miracles and to work miracles, at least as often as we admonish him to walk in love and integrity.
When the church ordains a minister, how can it charge him with anything less than the commission that Jesus gave all ordinary disciples? The church must declare to him, “You will heal the sick and cast out demons. You will speak in tongues. You will have immunity from snakes and poisons. God shall be with you and work signs and wonders in the name of Jesus.” How can it say anything else to him, when this applies to anyone who follows Christ? To ordain a minister with less is to proclaim him as less than a believer and unable to lead anybody. If the church ordains him to lead the people, then the charge is that he must become an instructor and example in healing the sick, casting out demons, and speaking in tongues. And he must send out teams of believers to do these things in the community.
Examine your spiritual diet. Remove preachers and scholars that do not deliberately build up your faith in healing, prophecy, and miracles. Condemn the ones who deny what Jesus promised and commanded. Do not listen to their sermons. Do not read their books. Regard them with contempt and hostility in your heart. Mock them in your conversations. By doing this, you will create a distance between yourself and unbelief, just as they create a distance between them and faith when they mock the word of God about miracles in Christian life and ministry. Safety is ensured when you embrace the true and despise the false. Strength is increased when you honor the power of God and trample the unbelief of men.
Meditate often on the possibilities of God in your life, on what God can do through you. Be inspired by the things that Jesus promised and the things that his early disciples experienced. Consider what Jesus said you are able to do when you follow him by faith. He said that if you will believe, you will see the glory of God.
You can cast out demons. Scripture, even at its very beginning, teaches us about the reality of Satan. He was the one who enticed Eve to sin, and Adam along with her. He was the one who destroyed human innocence. God declared that Satan would be our enemy, but eventually someone born from the human race would crush his head. Satan was also said to be the one who caused the sickness, poverty, and suffering of Job, although he could cause trouble only under God’s power. And then God was said to be the one who reversed the works of Satan and who caused healing and longevity, riches and prosperity, and comfort and happiness for Job.
The Bible never avoided the topic. However, when Jesus arrived, he flung away the curtain entirely. With unprecedented clarity, he exposed Satan as the culprit behind sin, sickness, poverty, and suffering. God is not the thief of our health, money, fulfillment, and happiness. Satan is the thief. He comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Jesus has come to give us life, even an abundant life. If you do not have an abundant life, it is the will of God for you to have more. Jesus said that it was his mission to make this happen.
During the ministry of Christ, there was a deliberate emphasis in pointing to Satan as the one behind man-made doctrines and traditions. Jesus even declared that those who imposed human commands on the people could not escape the fires of hell, especially those who subverted the commands and promises of God in the process. Now if human doctrines based on the Jewish religion would lead to hell, could human doctrines based on the Christian religion lead to heaven? Of course not!
Just as Jewish religionists had twisted and rejected the commands of Moses in a way that led to damnation, Christian religionists have twisted and rejected the teachings of Christ in a way that also leads to damnation. The Jews rejected heathen religions on the surface, but by their faithless theology, they invented their own heathenism, their own false religion, and their human commands and traditions. In an identical manner, people who claim to be Christians have rejected heathen religions on the surface, but by their faithless theology and their hearts of wickedness and rebellion, they have invented even more variations of heathenism, such as cessationism and other expressions of unbelief and idolatry.
The Bible, especially since the arrival of Christ, reveals that Satan is the one behind idolatry, sickness, poverty, and suffering, so that we must regard these things as our enemies. And it reveals to us that false religion under Jewish and Christian banners are also the works of Satan. Thus we are to regard legalism and ritualism just as we would regard idolatry. And we must reject cessationism just as we would reject cancer, or adultery, or voodooism.
What do you think about Satan? Think of Pharisaism the same way. What do you think about demon worship and human sacrifice? Take the same attitude about cessationism, sacramentalism, and other forms of heathen or faithless theology, such as any teaching that undermines healing, prophecy, prosperity, happiness, and victory by faith in God. They all come from the evil one. The devil wants to lock you into a system of powerless and oppressive religion, so that you will live in bondage all your life. But in Jesus Christ, you are free. As he said, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
Jesus did more than offer us more information about Satan. He also showed us what to do about this enemy. He demonstrated that he had more power than Satan, and that he could overcome demons by force. He said that when a strong man occupies a house, a stronger man can come and defeat him to seize his possessions. Jesus was this stronger man. Then Jesus demonstrated that when we operate under his banner, we can also confront Satan and overcome all his works. In the name of Jesus, we can heal the sick and cast out demons.
Naturally, we would think that someone is demon-possessed if he screams and thrashes about and attacks people as he foams at the mouth. When someone behaves like this, we confront the demons and command them to leave the person in the name of Jesus. But demons do not cause only insanity and violent behavior. They often afflict individuals in less obvious ways. In the ministry of Jesus, diseases such as stiff joints and spines and deafness and muteness were sometimes attributed to evil spirits. Just as the human spirit is the life of the body, and the body is dead once the spirit departs, an evil spirit can be the life of a sickness or condition. A doctor can prescribe medication or perform surgery to attack the symptoms, but the sickness can return, because it has never left. It is not physical or organic in origin, but spiritual. However, once the spirit or life of the sickness is cast out in the name of Jesus, the sickness dies at the roots, and the symptoms also disappear along with it. Christians have the power to do this.
Jesus said that he cast out demons by the Spirit of God. And he has given us the same Spirit. Casting out demons is a demonstration that the kingdom of God has arrived and that he is extending his domain in the name of the Son of God. It is an official declaration of a takeover. As his agents, we invade this world and fight back the darkness, and then we hold our ground. This is a basic part of living as a Christian in this world.
You can speak in tongues. The Bible says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The Holy Spirit enables you to speak in tongues, to speak in languages that you have never learned.
This can be a sign from God when someone around you understands the language that the Spirit gives you. However, it can be a sign even when those around you cannot understand, especially those who claim to follow Christ but who reject speaking in tongues and the powers of the Spirit. As the Bible says, “For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people, to whom he has said, ‘This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose’ — but they would not listen.”
The Faithless refuse to believe the word of God, so God comes to them with strange sounds and languages. This is the rest, this is the power, this is that which the prophets predicted, that in the last days God would pour out his Spirit upon all people. But they refuse to listen. Therefore, to them the sign of the fulfillment of God’s promise also becomes a sign of God’s judgment against them.
Speaking in tongues, especially when it is accompanied by the interpretation of tongues, can be a regular part of church gatherings. An intelligent and responsible use of tongues adds energy and inspiration to the people. And when Christians are alone, they ought to speak in tongues as much as possible, because it is a most excellent way to speak to God and build up their spirits. Speaking in tongues is not only a sign, but an enablement that enhances all areas of the Christian life.
You can pick up serpents. We will talk about this together with the next item. You can drink deadly poison. It is ridiculous how this has been twisted both by the Christians who believe it and by those who claim to be Christians but do not believe it. Pseudo-Christians are desperate to prove Jesus wrong, and so they challenge those who believe him to pick up serpents and drink poison. Those who make this challenge expose themselves as children of Satan, because Satan similarly said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread” and “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, since the Scriptures say that he will command his angels concerning you, and they will hold you up in their hands.”
The assumption behind the challenge is absurd, and also damning. The word of God says, “If we will confess our sins, then he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We must conclude that the ones who issue this challenge against miracles either do not believe God forgives, in which case they are not Christians, or they would deliberately sin even when they are not tempted in order to prove the promise of God on forgiveness, in which case they are also not Christians. Thus they damn themselves when they say, “If what Jesus said is true, then why don’t you pick up snakes? Why don’t you drink poison?”
The one who wrote that God is faithful to forgive us also said, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Or as Paul said, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” To say that we should sin in order to prove grace comes either from hardheartedness, which opposes grace, or from licentiousness, which abuses grace. The ones who make such a challenge against God’s grace for forgiveness cannot receive grace, and therefore cannot be Christians, and they will burn in hell. What will happen to those who make the same challenge against God’s grace for miracles? Are they the defenders of the faith, the pinnacle of orthodoxy? Or are they the sons of rebellion, the children of hell?
The things Jesus said about handling snakes and drinking poison appear on the same list that refers to casting out demons and healing the sick. However, we would not invite demons into people, perhaps by some satanic ritual, in order to prove the word of God by casting out the demons again. And we would not make people sick, perhaps by causing some injury to them or by exposing them to some contagious disease, just so we can demonstrate healing the sick by the name of Jesus. But if someone crosses our path that is possessed by demons, then we cast them out. And if someone is brought to us that is afflicted by sickness, then we call down healing upon them by the name of Jesus.
In the same way, we would not intentionally handle snakes, wishing that they would bite us to let us show off our immunity. And we would not intentionally drink poisons. Nevertheless, in the course of life and ministry, if we run into threats from dangerous beasts and substances, we should indeed claim immunity, deliverance, and healing by faith. Paul was bitten by a snake when he was gathering wood for fire. He was not looking for a snake, but for wood. When he was bitten, he shook off the snake and remained unharmed. This is the kind of situation Jesus meant. We have also heard of testimonies about Christians who were poisoned by the enemies of the gospel and others who ate foods that they did not know were contaminated, and then they prayed and recovered. But they did not poison themselves on purpose.
Pseudo-Christians expose the truth about themselves when they attack Jesus Christ by challenging those who believe what he said. They must have no part in this business of the gospel ministry. Jesus said that anyone who is not for him is against him. If a person disbelieves what Jesus said, or if he attacks someone who believes what Jesus said, then this person is against Jesus. Satan incited Jesus to put God to the test, and someone who incites Christians to put Jesus to the test is a person who thinks like the devil and speaks like the devil. Jesus said that the children of Abraham would behave like Abraham, but those who behave like the devil are children of the devil. Do not be gullible. Pseudo-Christians present themselves as preachers of truth and defenders of orthodoxy and leaders of the faith, and Christians believe them! But Jesus said we will know them by their fruit. They are servants of Satan.
There are indeed individuals who handle poisonous snakes to prove their faith. Such stupid people are rare. Instead of making the world think that they have faith and that the word of God is true, they make the world think that they have no intelligence and that the word of God is dangerous. If they have faith, they would not do this, because faith agrees with the word of God. There are multitudes of people suffering from various sicknesses and injuries. If they wish to prove their faith, they can lay hands on these people so that they can be healed. If they wish to prove their faith, they ought to do something beneficial instead of creating a problem where there was none.
Faith to work miracles and to experience the supernatural is an ordinary part of following Jesus Christ, but it has become a dividing line between real faith and fake faith, genuine Christians and pseudo Christians, sound gospel reasoning and absurd fallen reasoning. God knew this would happen when he revealed the gospel and its commands and promises. And if the word of God offers us such discernment to see through self-anointed teachers and leaders that are in fact imposters, we know that no one can hide from him. God will hold them accountable for their unbelief and mockery in the judgment.
You can lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Healing the sick is basic and essential to the ministry of the gospel. This refers to healing by miracles, by supernatural power alone. A consistent failure to present the whole truth is also a misrepresentation of the truth, so that there is no true testimony for Christ without healing the sick, and no one is a true witness for Christ without healing the sick. When healing the sick is so basic and essential to the gospel and to what it means to follow Jesus, a person practically becomes an enemy of the gospel just by neglecting to heal the sick, and even more so if he makes any effort to undermine it. Healing the sick is one of the first tests of orthodoxy and one of the marks of a true church.
Jesus placed no restriction on his followers when it comes to healing the sick. If they have anything wrong with them, they will recover. Nothing is too difficult. Nothing is beyond you. You do not need special gifts or ministries. You do not need special training or ordination. You only need to be a follower of Jesus Christ. You only need to have faith. And you can heal the sick by a mere touch of your hand.
Put a hand on the sick person, and pray. You can command the sickness to leave, or command the body to do what needs to happen for the person to recover. There is no need to cry and yell, or to tighten up your muscles. It is God’s power that performs the healing. Your energy does not contribute anything to the miracle. Sometimes you can almost say anything you want, any random thing, and the person would be healed. Sometimes you do not need to say anything. Just touch the person, and the power of God descends and heals the person.
The laying on of hands is only one way to heal the sick. Here we focus on putting your hands on the sick because this is what our text says, but we can heal the sick in the name of Jesus even if we do not touch them. We can pray to God, and God will hear us. We can speak to the sickness, and command it to depart. As Jesus said, anyone who has faith can speak to a mountain and command it to throw itself into the sea. Sometimes you do not need to say anything or do anything. The person comes close to you, and God begins to heal.
Although Jesus promised these signs in the context of the ministry of the gospel, they also benefit us in our personal life. The signs will follow the people — those who believe — and not just the ministry. In the name of Jesus, we can resist demons and overcome them when they attack us. It would be absurd to think that we can cast them out of anyone who is oppressed by them, but remain helpless ourselves and become possessed at their whim. We can speak in tongues and edify ourselves, building up our own spirits. By faith, we can claim protection against dangerous beasts and substances. And if we can lay hands on the sick and heal them, we can also receive healing in the name of Jesus. He said that if we have faith, even a mountain must obey what we say.