"Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus” – Acts 4:29-30
One of the best-selling toys is a collection of nameless stuffed animals—nameless, that is, until their new child owners supply them each a name along with the appropriate six-digit code on Webkinz.com. The popular children's social network allows kids to create a virtual room for a digital version of their plush pals where they can decorate, furnish, and add rooms as well as feed, dress, and interact with their pets. Children love the idea that the toys they hold in their arms are just copies of something much grander.
As children of God, we too have things that are much grander – signs and wonders. Have you ever thought about this? Why don’t we see more signs and wonders today? Was this something only for the apostles during the Book of Acts? I believe we ought to pray the same prayer that they did in Acts 4:29-30. We ought to long for the same thing they longed for which was an outpouring of signs and wonders.
In the face of great opposition the Christians cried to God like this: They cried for boldness in their witness; they cried for God's hand to be stretched forth in healing; and they cried for God to perform signs and wonders. They were not just "open" to signs and wonders. They were desperate for them. They prayed for them to come. Do we?
Now remember, this was the generation that had more immediate and more compelling evidence of the truth of the resurrection than any generation since. Hundreds of eyewitnesses to the risen Lord were in Jerusalem. This was the generation of witnesses whose word was least in need of supernatural authentication of all the generations following. This was the generation whose preaching (apart from signs and wonders) of the mighty, soul-saving word of God was more anointed than the preaching of any generation following--the preaching of Peter and Stephen and Paul. Yet, with all that they had going for them, they still wanted God to send them signs and wonders.
In Acts 5, we see a pretty clear answer to the question why the church wanted signs and wonders--with all their dangers, with all their abuses--why they prayed: "Lord stretch out your hand to heal and do signs and wonders in the name of Jesus." Acts 5:12 says, "Many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico."
When signs and wonders from God invade our world here is what to expect. Verses 13 and 14 describe two results of this demonstration of signs and wonders. First, the people of Jerusalem--the outsiders stood in awe of the apostles and the church. Ananias and Sapphira had died, signs and wonders were being done, and verse 13 says, "None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high honor." But that's not all. In the midst of all this fear and amazement and wonder, we see secondly, many were coming to faith in Jesus. Verse 14: "And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women."
So what is the connection for praying for signs and wonders? To bring multitudes to the Lord (v. 14). This is why the church prayed so earnestly for signs and wonders to be done. Signs and wonders helped bring people to the Lord. They helped bring people to saving faith. If we want to add to the church daily and regularly those who are in need of saving faith, signs and wonders are the tools God uses.
When you read through the Book of Acts, there are at least 17 times where a miracle helps lead people to Christ. We have seen the miracle of Pentecost lead to 3000 converts and the miracle of the lame man in Acts 3:6 lead to 2000 converts (Acts 4:4). Acts 9:34-35 and Acts 9:40,42 are the clearest examples. Peter heals Aeneas and Luke says, "And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord." Peter raises Tabitha from the dead, and Luke says, "It became known all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord."
There is no doubt that the working of miracles--signs and wonders--helped bring people to Christ. That is what Luke wants us to see and that is surely why the Christians would pray in Acts 4:30 that God would stretch forth his hand to heal and do signs and wonders. It would help bring people to Christ.
But not all my evangelical brethren would approve of such a prayer. Why? Because of two primary objections: First, they say that only an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign (Matt. 16:4). These words were uttered by Jesus, and while it is true, let me explain what I think was Jesus’ intent.
Seeking signs from God is wicked and adulterous when the demand for more and more evidence comes from a resistant heart and simply covers up an unwillingness to believe.
Remember the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15)? The youngest son took off with his share of his father’s estate and spent it all on lucid living. Afterwards, the son came back home to his father. Well, what if when the Son returned home to his father, he said these words: “Father, prove to me that you loved me. I don’t really believe you are my Father. I need proof. I need some kind of sign that you really love me” If that's the way we demand a sign then we are a wicked and adulterous generation. But this is far from what the apostles were praying for.
But if you come to God with a heart aching with longing for vindication of his glory and the salvation of sinners, and that's why you long to see him stretch forth his hand to heal and do signs and wonders in the name of Jesus, then you are not wicked and adulterous. You are a faithful servant, only wanting to honor your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Second, some say that signs and wonders only goes against the notion that the Scriptures are sufficient. Since the bible is sufficient to save people from their sins, why do we need signs and wonders? Thus to pray for signs and wonders only goes against the centrality of the Word.
But check this out: Acts 14:3 says that Paul and Barnabas "remained a long time [in Iconium] speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands."
Did you notice the crucial phrase, “witness to the Word?” Signs and wonders are God's witness to His word. They are not in competition with the word. They are not against the word. They are not over the word. They are divine witnesses to the value and truth and necessity and centrality of the word.
Here is how we can sum the relationship between the Word and signs and wonders: Signs and wonders are not the saving word of grace; they are God's secondary testimony to the word of his grace. Signs and wonders do not save. They are not the power of God unto salvation. They do not transform the heart--any more than music or art or drama or magic shows. What changes the heart and saves the soul is the self-authenticating glory of Christ seen in the message of the gospel (2 Cor. 3:18-4:6).
But even if signs and wonders can't save the soul, they can, if God pleases, shatter the heart of disinterest; they can shatter the heart of cynicism; they can shatter the mindset of false religion. Like every other good witness to the word of grace, they can help the fallen heart to fix its gaze on the gospel where the soul-saving, self-authenticating glory of the Lord shines. We should not feel hindered in seeking after signs and wonders as long as we have in mind and heart the saving of souls, the glory of God, and the witness to the Word.
Folks listen, the need today is for an authentication of God, of the supernatural, of the spiritual, of the eternal, and this can only be answered by God graciously hearing our cry and shedding forth again his Spirit upon us and filling us as he kept filling the early church.
What is needed is some mighty demonstration of the power of God, some enactment of the Almighty that will compel people to pay attention, and to look, and to listen. This is why we need to be praying the prayer that the apostles prayed in Acts 4:29-30. Here it is again: Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
Listen, when God acts, He can do more in a minute than man with his organizing can do in fifty years. So why should we slowly grind away doing our own thing when we can get out of the way and let God do His work, His way, using His power.
Let’s pray for signs and wonders. Doing so would greatly strengthen the church, get the attention of the lost, and as a witness with the Word, bring many of them to Jesus.
