Something about the whole fascination with signs and wonders always makes me scratch my head. Don’t get me wrong—there’s no denying that miracles, healings, and those jaw-dropping moments in Scripture are captivating. But why, if they were so central back then, do they seem to have taken a backseat in the modern church, especially in grace-centered circles? The answer isn’t complicated, but it does demand that we carefully handle the Word, not twisting it to fit popular cravings for spiritual spectacle.
The Place of Signs and Wonders in Scripture: A Historical Context
Let’s be honest. Those signs and wonders were spectacular. Moses parting the Red Sea, Elijah calling down fire from heaven, Jesus walking on water—these events are literally unforgettable. But here’s the kicker: signs and wonders were primarily tools God used to establish authority in times of foundational revelation and transition. Think of them as divine footnotes that said, “Listen up, I’m serious,” when new covenants were introduced or when God’s messengers needed undeniable authenticity.
Back in the Old Testament, signs and wonders confirmed prophets and judges. In the New Testament, they authenticated Jesus’ ministry and underscored the apostles’ divine commission. Healing the sick, raising the dead—those miracles were never meant to be a permanent fixture in every church age.
When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 12:12, he talked about how signs, wonders, and mighty works proved his apostleship. That didn’t mean the same would be needed centuries later as the church settled into its identity under grace.
Grace Believers and the New Testament Shift
If you walk the grace path, you’re well aware that the dispensation we live in is different. The law was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14), and with it, the credentials of signs and wonders ushering in new leadership mostly faded.
Here’s where many get tripped up. Some see the absence of signs and wonders today as a lack of God’s power or favor. But could it be that the absence is, in fact, evidence of spiritual maturity? Paul exhorts Timothy to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), meaning we need to discern which instructions and events apply to which dispensations.
Signs and wonders under the law or during the early church served one purpose: to prove God’s ongoing revelation and authenticate apostles. Once the canon was complete and grace was fully at work through faith in Christ’s finished work, the need for such spectacles evaporated. Jesus summed it up famously in John 20:29 when he said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The Danger of Chasing Signs: When Faith Gets Distracted
Here’s a hot take: when a church is obsessed with signs and wonders, it’s often chasing flashes of light instead of the illumination of truth. It’s a bit like watching fireworks and expecting them to sustain you. Flashy things are cool in the moment but fade quickly and leave you hungry for more spectacle, rather than substance.
Scripture warns against loving signs too much. Take 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul talks about the “man of lawlessness” coming with false signs and wonders. Could pursuing signs today open the door to deception rather than genuine faith?
Faith isn’t a magic show. It’s built on trust in God’s Word, seen and unseen realities working quietly and powerfully beneath the surface. Modern signs and wonders often have more to do with human effort or emotional manipulation than with divine intervention. When that happens, the church risks turning into a spiritual amusement park where the main attraction is performance, not Jesus.
Why the Grace Message Doesn’t Need Spectacles
Grace is profoundly simple and powerful. It’s about what Christ accomplished on the cross—finished. End of story. There’s no need to validate that truth with a display of supernatural fireworks because the resurrection itself stands as the cosmic evidence.
Paul’s letters are packed with assurances of victory, peace, and salvation through grace, not through miraculous signs. When he penned Ephesians, he declared that Christ seated believers with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6)—a reality that can’t be duplicated with a sign or a wonder.
Grace frees us from the need to perform signs to convince or persuade. It invites us to rest in God’s promises and live in the power of the Holy Spirit daily, which operates quietly, teaching and transforming from within. That’s the kind of power that sustained the early believers after the age of apostles and will sustain us now.
So What Happens When Someone Demands Signs Today?
When someone says, “If God is really working, show me a miracle,” we have to tread carefully. Peter’s response in Acts 4:12 hits the nail on the head—nowhere else is salvation found except in Jesus Christ. The heart of the gospel isn’t a sign; it’s the sinner’s cry for mercy and the Father’s open arms offering forgiveness.
Can God still perform miracles? Of course. But they are not the norm or the standard by which genuine faith is measured. Relying on signs risks making God’s work contingent on our whims and tempers instead of His sovereign will.
The Church’s Real Power Source: The Word, the Spirit, and Faith
We can get caught up in looking for supernatural assurances, but the New Testament encourages us to anchor in what is already confirmed. The Bible, the Holy Spirit, and faith aren’t showy. They don’t dazzle crowds with light shows, but they change lives, hearts, and nations over time.
The fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience—that’s the real sign the church needs to wear. They show God’s power working internally, outlasting any outward spectacle.
A Personal Take: Why I’m Glad Signs and Wonders Aren’t the Church’s Currency Today
If every church were judged on how spectacular their miracles were, I might be consigned to spiritual obscurity. That truth is freeing. Because I don’t have to put on a performance. I simply walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), trusting the promise that God’s grace is enough.
To me, embracing grace means resting in what Christ has done and not chasing after the tent revival claptrap of signs. The real wonder is how God changes hearts through the plain and simple gospel. And that’s a miracle I see every day.
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We could obsess over what’s missing—the lightning bolts, the healings that make headlines—but the real question is, what has replaced them? Faith. Faith seated on the unshakable foundation of God’s finished work, not on the shifting sands of spectacle.
God’s work continues in quiet triumph, in changed lives, in hearts made new without a single showpiece miracle. Isn’t that a wonder worth celebrating?