From the beginning, I’ve tried to highlight God’s POWER as we’ve gone through Acts:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1.8, ESV)

As one who comes from a tradition that doesn’t deal much in “signs and wonders,” but having just read A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles by J. P. Moreland, I was hoping to get some insight. I suggested on more than one occasion that just because I am not experiencing some of these manifestations doesn’t mean they’re not happening. I also wrote on February 4:

I’m beginning to believe that there is power available whether I have availed myself of it or not. If you have a miracle story, please share it with us either as a comment, or you can send it to me in an email: bob@ewell.com.

So far none of you has written with such a story. The invitation is still open!

I reviewed all of Acts to remind myself of the POWER: signs and wonders and miracles. There are a lot. But there are also events in Acts that don’t include any such things. Are miracles supposed to be “normal” – happening all the time? Or are they more like “seasoning” – a little here and there? At this point, I’ll have to leave it at “I don’t know.”

As I was moving into our next set of readings in our 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Schedule, Hebrews 1 reminded me it’s all about Jesus. In fact, the opening of Hebrews contains one of the most succinct and powerful descriptions of Jesus you’ll find anywhere:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son: 

• whom he appointed the heir of all things, 
• through whom also he created the world. 
• He is the radiance of the glory of God and 
• the exact imprint of his nature, and 
• he upholds the universe by the word of his power. 
• After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1.1 – 3, ESV), bulleted for clarity)

Hebrews 1 ends with a reference to the reality of angels:

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1.14, ESV)

Moreland discusses five specific types of supernatural manifestations which are happening today, and one of these is angels (and demons). (The others are answers to prayer, healings, hearing God’s voice, and near-death experiences.) So there it is in Hebrews: angels! But then I remembered that the whole point of Hebrews is that Jesus is better than a lot of things, including angels. Even chapter 1 has one verse on what angels do and 13 verses on how Jesus is better.

HOWEVER, if we keep reading, the first four verses of chapter 2 seem as if they should have been included in chapter 1:

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

• It was declared at first by the Lord, and
• it was attested to us by those who heard,
• while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2.1 – 4, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

So we’re right back to “signs and wonders and various miracles,” but one key might be in the last sentence: “gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” It’s God’s gifts and God’s POWER, distributed by HIM, to be used for HIS purposes.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4.4, ESV)

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… (Ephesians 3.20, ESV)