Miracles
The power to perform miracles was one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Acts 3:12. I Cor. 12:10. Gal. 3:5. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and With Power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Acts 10:38. Christ promised the Apostles that they would be endued with POWER from on high. Luke 24:49. They were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:5. They were to receive POWER after the Holy Spirit came upon them. Acts 1:8. II Cor. 12:12. Rom. 15:19.
By Power was meant signs, wonders, and divers miracles through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the gift of the Holy Spirit was not confined to these. I Cor. 12:8-10. Gal. 3:5. The gifts of the Spirit embraced a much wider scope than just the performing of miracles. Some who received the Spirit were not given the gifts of healing and working of miracles; some of the gifts concerned teaching and prophecy.
John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, we are told. Luke 1:15. Yet, he did no miracle. John 10:41. He preached under the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and it manifested itself in prophecy. Luke 1:67. The same was true of John’s mother, Elizabeth. Luke 1:41. Simeon had the Holy Spirit; it manifested itself in divine instruction and revelation. Luke 2:25,26. So, by whatever form of manifestation the Holy Spirit manifested itself, it gave something divine to the receiver. It gave him something above and beyond the laws of nature.
When one spoke or preached by the Holy Spirit, it would be a divine source of knowledge that would enable him to speak accurately and unerringly. It was so with Christ. Luke 4:18. It was so with the Apostles. I Cor. 2:12,13. When we speak of the work, or activity of the Holy Spirit, we presuppose it to be something divinely accomplished that the unaided laws of nature could not effect, or bring forth. As an example, Christ was begotten miraculously by the Holy Spirit. The unaided laws of nature could never have produced an individual comparable to Christ. Luke 1:35.
Laying on of Hands
The Holy Spirit was generally given in New Testament times by the laying on of the Apostle’s hands after baptism. Acts 8:17-19. But there were exceptions. Paul, and Cornelius with his kinsmen and near friends, received the Holy Spirit before baptism. Acts 9:17,18. Acts 10:24, 33,44-38.
When the Holy Spirit was received by individuals, or by those of an ecclesia, it could move them to either say or do certain things that God wanted them to say or do. Acts 4:8, 31. Acts 13:1-4, 9. Acts 16:6,7. Acts. 10:19. So, under the direction and power of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles preached and made believers and formed and established ecclesias. Acts 2:47. Acts 4:4,33. Acts 5:12,13. Acts 6:7. Acts 12:24.
But, false teachers soon arose who pretended to speak by the Spirit. Some went so far as to call Jesus Accursed. I Cor. 12:3. The Apostle John warns his readers not to believe everyone who professes to speak by the Spirit of God, because many false prophets have gone out and were pretending to speak by the Spirit. “Try them,” warns John, because many false prophets are at work. I John 4:1.
The Holy Spirit Promised
Before Christ was taken up into heaven, He gave commands to His Apostles whom He had chosen. He instructed them to remain at Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. They were to be baptized (enveloped or immersed) with the Holy Spirit. They were to receive power, after the Holy Spirit came upon them, which would enable them to be witnesses for Him in all the earth. Acts 1:2-8. Heb. 2:4.
On the day of Pentecost this promise was fulfilled. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit which enabled them to miraculously speak with other tongues, that is, in languages they had never learned to speak. Acts 2:7-11. When those who witnessed this were amazed, Peter explained that this was what the prophet Joel had prophesied would come to pass. He quoted from Joel 2:28-32.
Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
The prophecy of Joel foretold the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. This would mean an effusion of the Spirit as a heavy shower, or rain. This pouring out of the Spirit was to be restricted to the “remnant whom the Lord shall call,” and ‘whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord.” Joel 2:32. It was not to be poured out universally upon everyone. It was to be poured out upon all flesh without discrimination as far as men and women, young and old, servants and handmaids, and Jews and Gentiles were concerned; but not without restriction as far as believers and unbelievers were concerned. The gift of the Holy Spirit was never intended to be poured upon, or given to, unbelievers to make them believe; or upon the disobedient to make them obey. It was to be restricted to those who obeyed Him. Acts 5:32.
The prophecy of Joel was not restricted to the event on the day of Pentecost and subsequent happenings in the days of the Apostles. It has a twofold application. What occurred in the days of the Apostles was only an incipient, or inceptive fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. The prophecy has a latter day fulfillment relating to the days subsequent to the return of Christ.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One