Acts 8:5-12 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. (6) And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. … (12) But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.”
The first example of the working of miracles which we will look at in this section is the miracle of multitudes being born-again. There are two main ministry gifts which the Lord uses to operate in the working of miracles in this area, i.e. apostles and evangelists. Philip is the only example of an evangelist that is given to us in scripture (Acts 21:8). In the above quoted account in scripture we can see clear evidence of the working of miracles taking place through Philip’s ministry, for this passage declares that multitudes were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus as they heeded the things spoken by Philip. And so we see that whenever an evangelist preaches the gospel multitudes are born-again, which is a display of the gift of the working of miracles operating through their ministries. As I have already mentioned, this same gift also operates through the ministry of the apostle, for example we see that when Peter and John preached the gospel in the temple that multitudes were born-again in response to their message (Acts 4:1-4).
Acts 8:5-7 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. (6) And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. (7) For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.”
The second example of the working of miracles that we will look at is the miracle of many being delivered from demonic oppression as demons are cast out of them. Again there are two main ministry gifts which the Lord uses to operate in the working of miracles in this area, i.e. apostles and evangelists. In the above quoted account in scripture we can see clear evidence of the working of miracles taking place through Philip’s ministry as an evangelist; for this passage declares that many were delivered from demonic oppression as Philip cast the unclean spirits out of them. And so we see that whenever ministry gifts are used by the Lord to cast out demons, it is a display of the gift of the working of miracles operating through their ministries. As I have already mentioned, this same gift also operates through the ministry of the apostle, for example we see that many that were tormented by unclean spirits were healed through Peter’s ministry (Acts 5: 16).
Acts 8:14-17 “Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, (15) who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. (16) For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (17) Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
The third example of the working of miracles that we will look at is the miracle of multitudes being filled with the Holy Spirit. There is one main ministry gift which the Lord uses to operate in the working of miracles in this area, i.e. apostles. We see that truth revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. The context of this passage is that this is a continuation of the account of the city wide revival that had taken place through Philip’s ministry. This passage reveals to us that although multitudes had been born-again and delivered from demonic oppression under Philips ministry, none of the new converts had been filled with the Holy Spirit. The reason for that was because Phillip did not have this particular gift operating in his ministry. Phillip knew that the disciples needed to receive the Holy Spirit, and so he sent to Jerusalem to ask for help in this area. When the apostles heard about Phillip’s request, they specifically sent Peter and John to them, and the reason that Peter and John went was because they had the gift of the working of miracles in this area, which as this passage teaches us, enabled them to lay hands on the disciples so that they could be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Michael E.B. Maher
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