Jesus did three things after his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist:

He retreated into the desert to prepare for his ministry.  After 40 days of fasting, at his physically weakest point, he was tempted by the Satan and resisted his deceptions with God’s Word. 

Jesus said “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”.

Matthew 4:4

He left Nazareth and traveled north to Capernaum where he called his first disciples – fishermen. Now Capernaum is on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, about a 10 hour walk from Nazareth.

He called his first disciples, four of them, fishermen from Bethsaida (Mat 4:18-22). His opening message when he went to Galilee was the same as that of John the Baptist.

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mat 4:17

The narrative in Matthew goes on to say:

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people

Mat 4:23

As a result of the healing miracles,

The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan

Mat 4:24-25

Luke’s gospel tells us:

a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

Luke 6:17-19

There are several observations here that are important:

• Demonic possession seemed common and recognized as such by the people of that day.  There apparently was nothing anyone could do for people with this affliction. 
• Jesus brought the kingdom of God near with miracles of healing and deliverance from demonic possession. People under the dominion of Satan were set free. The power of the evil spirits were no match for the Lord.
• The miracles are the reason people came to Jesus in multitudes.  Who wouldn’t want to find out about someone who could do such things. He had their attention.
• The healing and deliverance miracles opened the opportunity for the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom to multitudes.  Not one or two people – multitudes.

In summary, the early part of the ministry of Jesus was to many people who followed him hoping for an opportunity to be healed or to have someone they cared for healed.  The POWER of the Kingdom as demonstrated in the MIRACLES of the Kingdom gave opportunity for the MESSAGE of the Kingdom to the MULTITUDES of people who came to be healed. 

People heard the message of the Kingdom, and believed, often as a result of the miracles.

In today’s western church, it seems either one or the other is emphasized, but not practiced together as modeled by Jesus – and even by the Apostles of Christ.  Either the message becomes decoupled from the miracles of the Kingdom, or the miracles become decoupled from the message.  Honestly, if I had to pick one over the other, I’d choose the latter because the message of the cross is the power of God for salvation. But Jesus demonstrated how the message could be communicated much more widely and much more effectively through miracles of healing and deliverance from demonic possession that pulled in the multitudes. With Jesus, the miracles to heal and deliver demonstrated the reality of the Kingdom which then was paired with the message of the Kingdom, the Gospel. 

Healing ministries that have no message of the cross are fraudulent.  But preaching the gospel without the miracles of the kingdom, as demonstrated as Jesus had done, seems ineffective.  Why? Because there are no “multitudes”.  How do we advance the message of the gospel today?

Relationship evangelism – although commendable, this approach is largely ineffective. Years and even decades of praying for and sharing with one or two resistant people. It’s not really a model evident in the gospels.

Pulpit evangelism – I’ve been a Christian for many years, a member of many different churches since I traveled around a lot. I’d love to say I saw good examples of pulpit evangelism but sadly this is not the case. In the times pastors would do an alter call for salvation the message of Christ crucified had not been preached and there was no call to repentance – only to “ask Jesus into your heart”. While I appreciate the intent, this is not the gospel. Pastors seem to rely more on “eloquent words of wisdom” not wanting to offend people with the message of Christ crucified and the requirement to repent.

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

1 Cor 1:17

Crusade evangelism – well, certainly the multitudes were present and it seemed an effective model for Billy Graham called preach the gospel in this way. There were many decisions for Christ and it seemed God was doing something special in a narrow window of time following the second world war until the early 1990s. Such events are most likely a thing of the past with COVID and broad cultural suppression of the gospel.

Evangelism programs – churches who stand on the word of God and have a passion to see people saved will sometimes implement training and equipping programs such as Evangelism Explosion. This is closer to the biblical model. Evangelism Explosion (EE) was pioneered by D. James Kennedy in the 1960s when multiple evangelism strategies were communicating the gospel more widely than today. EE is still available and is perhaps the most effective evangelism training and equipping models for churches that exists today. I have been through it myself and highly recommend it to any church interested in the mission Christ gave us (his church).

No evangelism. This seems to be the model most preferred by the Western church, indeed, most of the worldwide church. The priorities of the western church have been mostly materialistic – multimillion dollar campuses, big sound systems, coffee shops, muffins, expensive seminary degrees, book deals, six figure pastoral incomes, etc. How is this money soaked, entertainment based model working for us now with COVID? What a waste. The results on our culture from the prioritizing money over biblically based ministry of the gospel has been disastrous. But I digress again – more about our glorious western church model in a later post…

Anyway, back on the point: without the multitudes, how is the church sustained from generation to generation?  Without the miracles how do we reach the multitudes. 

People are leaving the church here in America. Why? Because young people want results and we have little to show. Is Satan not more active today in oppressing, possessing, and deceiving people more than ever? Has he given up on the supernatural? I don’t think so. I think there is a demonically energized push towards the plans of the evil one to install his antichrist. A flood of supernatural darkness covering our land and our world as we turn away from the Lord.

Have we surrendered the supernatural to the forces of darkness who absolutely believe in and practice the supernatural to the bondage and deception of many?  The church needs results if it is to continue.  What we do today is not effective at opposing the darkness encroaching on our world.

Are we are hampered by “normalcy bias” that excludes the miraculous? We hear it’s not for today.  Its not in the church bulletin or we are afraid of pride and getting “in the flesh” with the practice of the supernatural. Well, fear and getting in the flesh are rampant in the church already. It comes from the selfish, prideful heart of man. So just like anything else in the practice of faith, we need to do all things in accordance with the Word. We need to follow the training as depicted in the Gospels.

One more point to make about the miraculous as modeled by Jesus:  He didn’t do it for personal gain.  There was no offering plate collecting millions of dollars to build lavish facilities and live a lavish lifestyle through some fraudulent and exploitive “healing ministry”.  What he had, he gave freely to anyone who would receive him expecting nothing in return except faith in Him and his message.  And what the religious leaders and the government did for him in return was to hang him on a Roman cross. But thank God for that, because in that, the door to God’s Kingdom was opened wide to those who would receive Jesus – who would believe on his name.

But have such unauthorized misuses of fraudulent healing ministries caused us as a church to throw the “baby out with the bath water”.  The part of the church that dismisses the miraculous as irrelevant today are not effective at reaching the multitudes.  The part of the church that dismisses the message brings dishonor to the Name.

The results we are seeing today (virtually none) in regards to people coming to Christ are not enough.  The numbers of converts are diminishing and the saved from the past are dying off.  Jesus Himself lamented about the state of our faith upon His return.

And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Luke 18:7-8

Will He find faith when He returns? Biblical, powerful, supernatural, disease healing, demon banishing, gospel preaching, saving faith? I hope so…I hope so. As the prophet said:

LORD, I have heard the report about You, and I was afraid. LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known. In anger remember mercy.

Habakkuk 3:2

Maybe the miracles and the message were always meant to remain tightly coupled together.  As Jesus modeled for us, miracles and message are two sides of the same Kingdom coin. Jesus brought the kingdom near and I believe it is still near.

Have we not heard the report of Him who healed and delivered? Have we not heard the report of His resurrection and salvation? Perhaps let us make the prayer of Habakkuk our own prayer today:

LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known. In anger remember mercy