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Supernatural living through supernatural empowering is at the very heart of New Testament Christianity.
J. I. Packer
At the heart of Christianity is the supernatural. In fact, without the supernatural, you don’t have Christianity, you have a philosophy. And many people in the American church are pledging allegiance to a philosophy rather than truly believing in Jesus. The life of Jesus was marked by the supernatural. He was raised from the dead. It doesn’t get any more supernatural than that.
In our modern culture though, anything supernatural is shunned. We don’t believe it. If you can’t explain it, it must not be true. The modern mind says that only facts and figures matter. We must rid ourselves of the silly superstitions and ancient vestiges of the past and replace those thoughts with data. This is one of the primary reasons why we worship technology. Computers, A.I., iPhones and the like are our new gods. We have banished the old one with his claims of supernatural superiority.
This is most certainly true in the world, but it’s also descriptive of the modern church as well. One of the more deceptive doctrines to infiltrate the church over the past few hundred years is called cessationism. There’s many variations to this belief, but the end result is the neutering of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers today. Most proponents of this teaching believe that the gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy and tongues, have ceased and are no longer active. The line at which they stopped is often disputed. Some say when the apostles died off, others say when the New Testament was canonized.
1 Corinthians 13:8 “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
Cessationists have many objections to the supernatural gifts, but most of them are not rooted in Scripture. They tend to appeal to history or creeds or experience rather than Scripture. One of the most abused verses they will use is found in Paul’s treatise on spiritual gifts, encouraging people to earnestly desire them, especially prophecy (1 Cor. 14:1).
The confusing part for most new believers who are exposed to this type of teaching is that it flies in the face of the entire Bible. The Bible is filled with supernatural events from beginning to end. A talking snake, the parting of the Red Sea, slaying giants, supernatural provision, prophets, surviving fiery furnaces, are but a small taste of the amazing events that take place in the Bible and that’s just the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, God fulfills a promise he makes to the prophet Joel that in the latter days, he would pour out his Spirit on all flesh and the result would be that all people would be able to prophesy (Read Joel 2 and Acts 2). And this wasn’t given for just one lucky group of men, but it was a promise for generations.
Acts 2:38–39 “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
God’s promise of salvation and the Holy Spirit is for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself! Wow! What a promise! This wasn’t something that was meant to cease but is a promise for everyone who is saved! Rather than a philosophy of good living to be passed down from generations, we actually inherit a personal God who walks with us in the here and now!
Many Christians claim to believe in the supernatural but think (and live) like skeptics.
Michael S. Heiser
The other reason this is confusing to people is that Paul does teach that tongues and prophecy will cease. He says that prophecies will pass away, tongues will cease and knowledge will pass away as well. The questions is, when will this occur? He is clear that it will happen, but we need to know when. Thankfully, he gives us a time table. Let’s continue reading.
1 Corinthians 13:9–10 “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”
Paul says that “when the perfect comes” those things like tongues and prophecy will cease. Now, what is the perfect? That seems to be the key. Some cessationists argue that Paul is referring to The Bible. This obviously cannot be true because Paul had a Bible, it was what we call the Old Testament. He had no idea that what we called the New Testament was going to be canonized. That doesn’t make sense in context. Let’s read on.
1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Paul compares this perfect coming to our current age by talking about a dim mirror. He says essentially that currently that its hard to see, but when the perfect comes, we will see face to face. He also says that we will “fully know.” Now, this can only really refer to one thing…the coming of our Lord Jesus. When Jesus comes and we see Him face-to-face, we won’t need prophecy or tongues anymore. Why? Because Jesus is here!
This is clearly not talking about the Bible. The Bible is an amazing book, it’s the word of God, but it’s not “the perfect” that Paul is referring to. The perfect is Jesus. When Jesus comes again we won’t need tongues or prophecy because we will have Him with us forever. There will be no need for prophetic encouragement when we have the Great Encourager with us.
Prayer - Lord, when people say that you have left us or that you don’t move the same way anymore, I recall your promise that you would never leave us or forsake us and that you never change. Thank you for being our rock in this crazy world. Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to live in us and to work through us. We praise you because you don’t give gifts to your children and then take them away like a scrooge. You love us and give us good things. Thank you Lord, Amen.