The Strand Study Bible

MARK

MARK

1610

Secondly, he makes it clear that the gift was given to declare the “mysteries of God” which is the gospel or good news of our redemption through the shed blood of Christ on the Cross as seen in Ephesians 1:7-10… Hence, Ireneaeus makes it clear that glossolalia was the gift given by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel in all languages. This then enables us to see that the gift given at Pentecost was the same as experienced in the time of Ireneaeus. 3

In Mark 16:15, our Lord commanded His eleven Jewish apostles to go and witness for Him. He then told them that miraculous signs would follow their witnessing efforts (vs. 17-20). During the course of the book of Acts, the Jewish apostles and deacons (Stephen and Philip) obeyed the Lord’s command to go and witness. As a result of them obeying the command to go and preach the Gospel, fifteen cases of either a tongue, miracle, or miraculous healing was performed. In every case, not only did a Jew perform the miracles, but also there were Jews present or involved in the miracles themselves. In every case but two, there was “recorded” witnessing being done on the part of the Jew performing the miracles. For example: * Acts 2:1-22 - Peter and the disciples witness to the unbelieving Jews from around the world in their own languages * Acts 3:1-19 - Peter and John heal a Jewish man in Jerusalem and then witness to the unbelieving Jews (vs 12-19) * Acts 5:12-16 - The apostles perform many signs before the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem before witnessing to them * Acts 6:7-10 - The Jewish Christians witness to the unbelieving Jews (vs. 7) while Stephen performs wonders (vs 8) * Acts 8:5-8 - Philip witnesses to the unbelieving Jews in Samaria (vs. 5) and performs miracles among them (vs 6-8) * Acts 8:9-13 - Philip witnesses to the unbelieving Jews in Samaria and performs more miracles among them * Acts 9:32-35 - Peter heals a Jewish man named Aeneas in Lydda and then witnesses to the people (vs 35) * Acts 9:36-42 - Peter raises a Jewish woman (Dorcas) from the dead in Joppa and then witnesses to the people (vs 42) * Acts 13:6-12 - Paul blinds a Jewish man (Barjesus) in Paphos and then witnesses to the people (vs 12) * Acts 14:1-3 - Paul witnesses to the unbelieving Jews in Iconium (vs. 1) and performs signs and wonders (vs 3) * Acts 14:8-20 - Paul witnesses to the unbelieving Jews in Lystra (vs. 8-9) and heals an impotent man (vs 19) * Acts 16:12-18 - Paul witnesses to the unbelieving Jews in Philippi (vs. 12-13) and casts out a demon (vs 18) * Acts 19:8-13 - Paul witnesses to the unbelieving Jews in Ephesus (vs. 8-10) and performs miracles (vs 11-13) * Acts 28:1-6 - Paul is bitten by a serpent (Mk 16:18) on the island of Melita and is miraculously healed in front of the unbelieving Jews who had been shipwrecked with him * Acts 28:7-9 - Paul heals many of the islanders in front of the unbelieving Jews who had been shipwrecked with him 16:17 b “ them that believe ” refer to the disciples in verse 15. If they (the Jewish disciples) obeyed the call to preach the Gospel, then God would “ confirm their word with signs following ” (vs 20). Just as Moses used signs in order to convince the unbelieving Jews of his day that what he had to say to them was from God (Exo 4:1-9), so the Jewish disciples would use signs to confirm God’s Word to the unbelieving Jews of their day. Unbelieving Jews, not Gentiles, required a sign (I Cor 1:22 & 14:22). 16:17 c This word ( new ) comes from the Greek word NDLQDL9 ( kainais ) and means, “ not brand new, but rather new to the ones who are about to put it into practice (use) .” The “ new" tongues spoken here by the disciples would not be some brand new “heavenly angelic” language that had never been spoken before by men here on earth. “ New" tongues refer to the old, known, established, earthly languages (such as, Parthian, Median, Elamian, etc. - Acts 2:8-11) that were “ new ” to the disciples who were about to speak them. 16:18 "Instantaneous miraculous healing" by the hand of God is one of the most enchanting aspects of possibility. According to I Corinthians 12:9, healing someone miraculously is a spiritual gift given by the Spirit to certain Jewish believers for the sole purpose of gaining the attention of Jewish unbelievers in order to confirm the Word of God to them (vs. 20 and I Cor 14:22). According to Mark 16:17-18, the ability to instantaneously and miraculously heal someone was part of the sign gifts (vs 17). Thus, if you possessed one of the "sign gifts," you possessed them all. NOTE - When addressing instantaneous miraculous healings, the following five biblical truths must be recognized: 1. Healing is always temporary (Heb 9:27) If it were God’s will that everyone be healed every time, no one would ever die. That, according to the Bible, is an unscriptural approach. Psalm 116:15 says, “ Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints .” Outside of Christ, no one who was ever raised from the dead stayed alive ( I Ki 17:22 ). In fact, no one who was ever healed stayed healed. Eventually they all grew old, had more health problems, and died. The gift to heal was not only temporary ( II Tim 4:20 ); it was only used for the sake of confirming the Word to unbelieving Jews (vs 20 and I Cor 14:22). 2. Healing is at the bottom of the gift list in importance (I Cor 12:28) The reason healing is at the bottom of the gift list in importance is because it’s temporal. Physical healers are never as important God is the only one who can heal. He may lead someone to pray for us (Jms 5:14) or even empower someone on our behalf (Mt 10:1-8 & Mk 16:15-20), but in the end only God can do the healing, if it is His will (I Jn 5:14). We cannot make God heal. Sometimes, we can believe, confess and pray and still hear God say, “ My grace is sufficient for thee ” (II Cor 12:9). Simply put, our limited human perspective is often inadequate to fully comprehend God’s divine plan for our lives. Unfortunately, some believers are under the impression that a failure to get healed during a healing service is their fault, due to their lack of faith to be healed. You never hear of faith healers taking the blame for someone not getting healed, do you? Alfred H. Pohl, who accompanied the famed, non-Trinitarian ( II Tim 4:3 & 4:20 ), Word of Faith Movement healer William Branham in 1947 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 17 Reasons Why I Left the Tongues Movement , notes: Needless to say, I grew up in a spiritual environment where divine healing was a prominent teaching and practice. as spiritual healers (i.e., apostles, prophets, teachers, exhorters, etc. - Jn 14:12 ). 3. God determines one’s healing , not men (I Jn 5:14, II Cor 12:7-10 and II Sam 12:14-22)